Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Due to technical difficulties these prayers were not recorded.

Listening God, our loving creator,
You hear us when we cry for help and heal us,
You restore us to life, even when we have felt dull and empty.
You have turned our mourning into dancing, and clothed us, and all of creation with joy.

Christ the healer, God-on-earth,
You spoke out against injustice,
You challenge us to be your servants,
You call us to be at ease among strangers, and to spread your message among all people.

Holy spirit, God-among-us,
You move among us and within us,
You heal our wounds and drive our passions
You give us courage to step out in faith, and heal division in our communities.

Listening God, Christ the Healer, Holy Spirit
Hear us when we cry out to you,
Heal our broken world,
Forgive us when we choose comfort over action,
when we choose judgement and division rather than listening and understanding,
when we fail to lift up those who need our help and support.

Siblings in Christ, the Psalmist tells us that even when we have turned away and have done our worst, God’s anger lasts only a moment. Listen and know that God’s favour to us lasts for a lifetime. God turns our weeping into dancing, and clothes us with joy.

Through Christ, in Christ, and because of Christ,
Our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

Having all been made one through our peace maker.
Let us now share God’s peace with one another.
The peace of God be with you. And also with you.

Natalie Sims, offered for worship 03/07/2022, Pentecost 4C

Prayers of the people

Watch the pre-recorded prayers here
noting that there were technical difficulties with the livestream

Our lord and our God we come to you in a time of deep stress,
Our world suffers from the pain of war,
Famine, drought, climate change, political and social unrest.
The days of easy peace seem to be in the past.

We can feel overwhelmed by the needs of those around us,
For the needs of our planet,
For the needs of those close to us,
And even our own needs.
Give us wisdom and discernment to know how to care for our planet,
For our loved ones,
And our selves.

We pray for those who are experiencing homelessness
In the cold winter on Melbourne streets,
And just outside our doors here in Brunswick.
We think of those who come to Olive Way for warmth,
For food,
For friendship,
For companionship,
We pray for that they may be held in compassion,
We pray that they may find peace, welcome, and warmth in this place.
We give You thanks for the volunteers who come alongside them
In friendship and companionship,
We give You thanks for the support and generosity of this church community,
And we give You thanks for those who cook and prepare the meals.

We pray also for those seeking asylum,
We pray that they may be treated with dignity,
That they may be called by name, not by number,
They may be treated as humans in need of compassion, safety, and help.
May our government treat them as such.
And we give you thanks for the Welcome Centre that we share this space with.

In all these things, may we be not overwhelmed,
But rather, may we stand with courage,
Carried forward by prayer, compassion, and generosity
May we bring it all before You,
Knowing that You hear the cries of our hearts and our yearning for peace.

In the name of Jesus we pray,
Amen

Peter Blair (Olive Way Pastor), offered for worship 03/07/2022, Pentecost 4C