Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 7:48

Pure love,
pure truth,
pure justice,
God

Light first candle

Loving God, God of truth, God of justice
We know that you created the world in all its goodness
And long to see a world where all of creation lives in harmony
We believe in you.

Pure love,
pure truth,
pure justice,
God

Light second candle

Loving Christ, Teller of truth, Bringer of justice
We know that you challenged the structures that hurt the vulnerable ones,
And healed those who were sick.
We seek to follow you.

Pure love,
pure truth,
pure justice,
God

Light third candle

Loving Spirit, Spirit of truth, Spirit of justice
We know that you have moved through creation since the beginning of time
And are present in our world, and in our lives today.
We believe in you. 

Pure love,
pure truth,
pure justice,
God

Loving God, Creator, Christ and Holy Spirit,
We confess that have not loved you with all our heart nor served you with all our strength;
We have been blind to your vision of a renewed world
and deaf to your call to costly discipleship,
We have been indifferent to suffering and unwilling to forgive one another.

In your mercy, forgive and restore us,
so that together we may serve you with joy all the days of our life. Amen.

Sisters and brothers, nothing can separate us from the love of God, who knows all of our weaknesses and all of our dreams, and who gives us the Spirit to strengthen and guide us.
Hear the good news of grace through Christ, our sin is forgiven.
Thanks be to God.

Natalie Sims, offered for worship 31/10/2021, Pentecost 23B/All Saints Day

SONG:  Pure Love, Lyn Bauman and Linnea Good, from More Voices, United Church of Canada, Woodlake Publishing Inc.
Reproduced with permission under ONE LICENCE # 604502

Prayers of the people

Watch or 38:29

In today’s readings we have heard of Naomi going from knowing God’s plenty to feeling God’s hand against her.
We have heard Jesus words to the scribe that he was not far from the kingdom of God
And as we gather today, we anticipate All Saints Day tomomrrow.
These themes will weave their way through our prayers.

Let us pray:

We give thanks to you, O God, that people are drawn to your reign without them or us even knowing about it. We give thanks for those who remind us of God’s love and presence when they do not realise they are doing so. Keep us alert to such reminders amongst those with whom we live and work.

Lord, hear our prayer. (Light candles)

We pray, loving God, for those whose faith has emptied out and find themselves in a time of dryness, including those whose faith has been emptied out by the demands and the sins of the church itself. Rekindle that spark of faith that begins to fill them again.

Lord, hear our prayer. (Light candles)

We pray, persistent God, for those who resist your reign, that your love may works its way in their hearts and minds. We pray that world leaders gathering in Glasgow this week will not resist your reign, or your call for justice, for this broken and tired earth.

Lord, hear our prayer. (Light candles)

We pray, sustaining God, for our fellow Christians whose faith is full, but who are mocked or rejected or persecuted because of it. Sustain them in faith and hope, and keep them in love. We pray especially for the Christian communities in Nigeria, Sudan, China and Pakistan.

Lord, hear our prayer. (Light candles)

We give you thanks, faithful God, for the saints, that wonderful community of people who, in their diversity, their eccentricities, and their ordinariness, have served and loved you, have made your love known to us, who have pointed us to your reign and drawn us to it, and who now rest in your eternal love.

We pray for each other, that we may be saints to one another, in our eccentricities, our ordinariness and our diversity, that we build one another up in faith, hope and love.

Lord, hear our prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Geoff Thompson, offered for worship, 31/10/2021, Pentecost 23B/All Saints Day