Sunday Prayers 26/1

Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Bäpa means father in the Yolŋu languages of NE Arnhemland and in Bahasa languages.

Abba, Father,
Bäpa God,
source of all life,
answer our call,
as a mother responds
to the cry of a child in the night.

Jesus Christ,
brother and friend, Liberator,
stand beside us
as bearer of our humanity, and sharer of God’s grace.

Creator Spirit,
giver of new life,
purposeful guest,
prod us to praise,
calling us to be a people
of hope and faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

From Day of Mourning 2020 worship resources, Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress

God of Jesus Christ
we come to you because there is no-where else to turn.
There is a famine in our land, a famine with regard to living and telling the truth.

We confess that we invaded this land and enslaved its peoples,
the people who have cared for this country and its waterways
for thousands upon thousands of years.

We confess that we have wilfully ignored the wisdom of the First Peoples,
wisdom about how to live in this country in a way that honours and preserves all life,
that we have trampled their knowledge underfoot and treated it with contempt.

We confess that we have treated the land itself with contempt,
and its seas and waterways also.
We have not cared for it as we ought to have done.
Instead we have exploited and raped it to feed our selfish appetites.

Now the land is sick.
It weeps and cries out in pain.
Its plants and animals, the rich tapestry of its eco-systems,
are burning up for lack of nourishment and care.
And it is our fault.

Teach us, O God, to amend both our lives
and the political and economic systems in which they are embedded.
Teach us to treasure the First Nations of this land
and their wisdom about how to live here with respect and sensitivity.
Teach us to treasure the country and waterways on which we depend,
its cycles and seasons, its plants and animals, its fragile and beautiful ecosystems.
Teach us to call our political leaders to account.
Teach us, O God, to live and tell the truth.

God of Jesus Christ,
We come to you because there is no-where else to turn.
Have mercy on us and free us from our sins.
Amen.

This is the best of all:
When we are empty, God fills us;
when we are disheartened, God is compassionate;
when we are wounded, God brings healing;
when we confess our sin, God forgives.

A prayer of confession in the face of ecological catastrophe for use by the settler churches. Offered to the settler churches
by Garry Deverell a trawloolway man and Anglican priest from trouwerner (Tasmania, Australia)

In Christ, through Christ and because of Christ, our sins are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
You refill the cup of life, O God.
In Christ, we find refuge, strength and hope. Amen.

Ian Ferguson, offered for worship 26/1/2020, Epiphany 3