Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 9:06

Mother and Father, God of miracles, great and small.
We sing to you like Mary.
To You, who set the planets spinning in the infinity of space.
Formed the earth, the waters and the skies.
Filled our world with astonishing plants and animals.
You created us with the capacity for great intelligence,
we can send rockets into space and walk on the moon,
but have trouble comprehending that the God of Creation,
would come to an obscure town, in an obscure country
and be born to an unimportant girl.
Jesus, your new Covenant. God with us.

Mother and Father, God with us.
Forgive our self importance, our arrogance,
when we think we are better than others, our selfishness,
when we fail to share our abundance, our indifference,
when we ignore need, exploitation, and suffering,
our ignorance, anger, and intolerance, for we are all guilty.
Faithful God, forgive our faithlessness, and in your love,
forgive us when we see the tinsel and ignore the Baby and the Cross.
Amen

This is the word of Grace.
Mother, Father, God of Miracles, great and small.
You have given us a miracle, a new Covenant in the birth, life and death of Jesus.
And we know that through Grace, our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
Amen

Helen Burnham, offered for worship 19/12/2021, Advent 4C

Prayers of the people

Watch or 56:29

Let us pray

God beyond time and space,
Beyond the strictures of human existence,
We come to you in this season advent,
This season of expectation,
Of hope,
Of anticipation,
Of Your breaking in to time and space,
Into lives and life as we know it.

In this season of advent our hearts and minds are expectant,
Like the two expectant mothers
Mary and Elizabeth
We are filled with anticipation in the season advent,
As we contemplate the birthing of your kingdom,
Into the world as we know it.

We pray for the activity and life of this church,
For all the arms of outreach that extend to the community that surrounds it:

We pray for the arts,
That the creativity, imagination, and love of the arts community
Would extend with open arms to the community

We pray for the Olive Way,
That the gestures of hospitality, welcome, acceptance and healing,
Would extend with open arms to the community

We pray for the children and youth families,
As they are held in open arms,
We pray they would find support, comfort and peace.

We pray that our expression of worship on Sunday mornings,
For it’s faithful witness,
To the miracle of advent,
To the presence of God amongst us,
To the resurrected Christ,
Would extend with open arms to the community.

We pray for the many other expressions of love,
welcome,
and the search for justice that come from this place.

In this season advent, we pray that our voices may be heard,
For the voice and the witness of this church,
And the church around the world,
For the voice of justice,
For the voice of reconciliation,
For the voice that pleads for climate justice,
For the voice that pleads for economic justice,
We pray that this voice, this call,
Would be heard amongst the cacophony of other voices.
We pray that your church would be faithful to it’s calling,
Ignoring and shunning the seduction of power and influence.

Lord, where there is pain
We pray for healing,
Where there is violence,
We pray for peace,
Where there is destruction and degradation,
We pray for restoration.

In the name of Jesus we pray,

Amen

Peter Blair (Olive Way Pastor), offered for worship 19/12/2021, Advent 4C