Prayers of Adoration & Confession

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Let us pray. Let us invite Gods loving Presence.
Let us sit quietly for I minute being embraced by Gods‘s loving arms around us.
Breathe in that love, let it well up in your heart and immerse your soul.

We praise you O God, for Love
It is your creation, we are part of it, bound eternally through  love to you oh God.
We praise you oh God for our mind that can prompt us to loving,
our heart that loves and letting our soul be love.

Oh God we praise you for your passionate love, your patient love,
your demanding love, your yearning for us to love you in return.
For the living, loving, beating heart of your Son who offered up life itself.

We confess O God, we do not love ourselves enough
nor are we always compassionate enough to love those close, much less those far.
We confess that we have tried but our love is restless and fragile, ego bound,
demanding, tentative & uncertain.
But we have shown up here, at least, Oh God, to be present here in your love.
You yearn for our love, you made us for love.

Out of love Moses walked and lead your people to the promised land,
even if he didn’t reach there himself.
God you ask that of us, to be loving like Moses, like the loving sacrifice of Your Son.
Take us to the edge, Oh God, to peer into the promised land,
loving enough and standing in your promise, like Moses , that your Love is enough.

May we know this love with all our heart and soul mind and might
that God is one & God is love.
We claim your forgiveness for our lack of love, through the Love of your only Son,
who leads us into the Promised land. Thanks be to God Amen

Jenne Perlstein, offered for worship 25/10/20, Pentecost 21A

Prayers of the people

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As I lead us in our prayers of the people today, I would like to share a painting with you that I love.  It is a famous painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, but it is not of a famous setting.  It is a scene of ordinary life, and it shows us how the ordinary can be special and is something to be cherished.  Let us pray as we look upon this painting:

God of love, of the ordinary which is extraordinary,

We see a street scene with houses
We pray for people who do not have a place to live,
whose homes are not peaceful, are not safe, are not places of love.
-May we remember how precious it is to have somewhere
to live and strive to make this possible for everyone.

We see a house that is part of a neighbourhood, with a seat at the front
We pray that our neighbourhoods will be welcoming and inclusive,
with good public transport and community spaces.
We pray that we will make the most of our street frontages,
using them to offer a welcome to those who go past, and a place to gather and connect.
-May we make our neighbourhoods better places for everyone.
May we welcome our neighbours, and invite them to stop and talk.

We see women working
We pray for people who are without work, and are looking for work,
for people who work hard and do work that is often undervalued.
-May we celebrate all types of work, paid and unpaid.

We see a woman darning
We pray that we may take skill and care in whatever we do.
May we use our skills to repair, to reuse and
repurpose our possessions as we care for the earth.

We see people doing ordinary things, in their neighbourhood.
We are called to be faithful, wherever we are and whatever we do.
May we know the value of doing the ordinary things that are expected of us,
as we live God’s love in our day to day lives.
Amen.

Kirsty Bennett, offered for worship 25/10/2020, Pentecost 21A