Prayers of Adoration & Confession

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Adoration
I could hear the birds today. A child’s laughter in the distance. Could you hear it? Could you see it?

I heard the sound of the tide coming in and going out. I follow its sound and it leads me to still, clear, open waters. The news reports fade away. And they sink into this deep deep ocean. And in this moment, this very moment, I am found in the stillness. Connected deeply with the glory of God most high. Mother of all creation. You breathe life into me. You breathe life upon these waters. And as I stand or sit or lie in this still glory, the presence of God fills me from within.

Breath of God. Make yourself known to us. Breathe life into as you breathe life on these waters. Breathe life into us afresh as we sit, listening with our eyes and our ears and our heart open. We sit here, connected to our breath. It comes in, it goes out. Just like the waves. Lord we acknowledge your presence that runs deep in our being, your spirit breathed within us, Your Spirit breathed upon us, the very essence of our being. We acknowledge your presence. In this room, in this zoom. You are here.

You are here in the in-between. You are here in the pain. You are here in the glory, you are here in the stains. And God, we adore you. We need you. Help us to realise your closeness despite our fear. For your love conquers all fears. It is in and through Love that we realise the fullness of you.

You being here in your midst. Thank you that you’ve never left us. Thank you that you won’t forsake us. Loving God, Mother God. Hold us close. Show us compassion like a child of your womb.

Reveal to us your purpose in this time. Even if all that means for us, is the breathe. We breathe you in. We breathe you out.

Thank you.

Confession

God, in Jesus you showed us the way to joy.
Yet we confess, at this time in particular

That it’s somehow easier to be miserable,
to stick with what’s known and familiar,
even if that robs us life’s riches.

We confess we are afraid, God.
afraid of what might happen if we let you in,
what renovations you might make to those houses within.
We forget that you love us deeply,
that you long to tend our souls
like the angels do the gardens of heaven.

Lord, today we want it all to change.
The fear, feeling sorry for ourselves.
Come like a loving gardener, prune away the rubbish.
Be thou, our vision, O God.

Your long vision of hope,
Speaking to us from the past,
Living with us in the present
And running towards us from the future.
In Jesus, the Christ, we pray. Amen.

Hear again Christ’s words of assurance: your sin is forgiven. Thanks be to God.

Hannah Friebel and Dave Hall, offered for worship 06/09/2020, Pentecost 14A
Prayer of Confession adapted from Rev Garry Deverell

 

Prayers of the people

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For this wild world, these crazy times, this one and only life we have been given –
We give thanks.
For the tiny toes of a newborn child
And aged souls that fade into muted twilight;
For the creeping morning light and the silence of our streets:
This is our lot – we give thanks.

For the random crash of unexpected storms,
For the cracking winds that thunder at our door,
For lives lost and broken in its path.
We cry out and lament your absence in the midst of grief.
For the many who have little,
For the few who have much
That overflows, yet trickles down;
For those crushed in spirit and limb,
For the hearts that will not heal.
For the grim injustice of this life
And the mystery of who you are in the midst of it all; whose face we cannot see and hand we cannot touch – we lift up our questions to the silence.
The warming tingle of a hug; the cafe corner seat; the smell of cinema popcorn; a haircut,
We shrug – it is all relative.
And we are hopeful.
Hopeful because the wattle dusts our footpaths, the coffee brews, the numbers drop and footy never dies;
Apart in body, united in love, twos and threes, cats and dogs, gathered up,
Huddled but good hearted,
a good book, food on the table,
the joyous freedom of time of our own.

And hopeful because, although we walk a different road, we are ready,
Ready for a new day, a renewed way,
Ready to greet you once more in our wanderings and our wondering.
Ready to break the bread and share the wine and take another by the hand.

And so,
For the arms that hold us
the unseen Spirit, beyond and behind us,
The Galilean whom, we are persuaded, travels with us, still.
For all these things,
We give thanks.
Amen.

Peter McKinnon, offered for worship, 06/09/2020, Pentecost 14A