Prayers of Adoration & Confession

Watch or 8:40

Great Creator, Maker of all that is,
Poet and Potter, who is unafraid of mud.
We praise you for making yourself manifest in human loving and humble making
in care for the vulnerable.
We praise you for the hope implicit in making.
We give thanks for Tabitha, first named woman disciple,
for her delight in giving and the bonds of care.
For your call to her from death to life.

Forgive us our snagged thoughts, our rushed impatience,
our habits of buying that overlook making.
Forgive us for being preoccupied, for believing we never have enough time.
Forgive us our compulsions,
when our generosity tips into pride and we neglect the commandment to rest.

Good Shepherd
You bring us to green pastures, to places of peace.
Even in the valley of the shadow
At the frightening door of death,
the cup of your kindness runs over.
May we dwell with you,
in the place of true belonging
forever. AMEN

May we hear now Christ’s word of Grace,
Your sins are known and forgiven,
Thanks be to God.

Julie Perrin, offered for worship 08/05/2022, Easter 4C

Prayers of the people

Watch or 50:19

My name is Kirsty and I will lead us now in the Prayers of the People. At the conclusion of the prayers, I invite you to light a taper in the chapel space, or at home, for the prayers of your heart.  Today in the spirit of Tabatha, our prayers of the people are framed around a scarf, woven, of many colours.  Let us pray:

We begin with a single colour. Beautiful in its own right, strong and defined.
-May we celebrate our individuality, and have the courage to be our true selves and respect others for who they are.

We see there are more colours. Similar, but each slightly different from the one next to it.
-May we look to our left and right and see what we have in common, what we share.

We see the range of colours is surprisingly great from one end to another, changing from red to purple.
-May we look around and celebrate the diversity among us.

We see the colours combined, and the richness that is possible when we join together rather be apart.
-May we work together to achieve your vision, knowing that we can do some much more in community than on our own.

We see the a different range of colours, and realise that they are the same colours as before, just put together in a different combination to create a new possibility.
-May we be open to new ways of doing things, of connecting our many parts in a different way to create something new.

As we look at the whole, we see creativity, a vision of something new brought to life.
-May we live out your vision for a new way of living, one with love and kindness at its centre.

We see care, we see the result of skilled hands taking the time to turn the simple into something beautiful and complex.
-May we care for those around us and those afar, taking the time and celebrating the work of our hands.

In this scarf, we see an object created by so many different people:
those who grew the sheep, those who gathered the wool, those spun and dyed it, those who wove it, those who transported it, those who sold it.
-May we never forget our interconnectedness, the importance of each of the things we do.

Creative God, Healing Jesus, Spirit of compassion,

We pause now to weave our own prayers, for ourselves and our neighbours,
for the people and places we know and love, and those we don’t know but are connected to through our shared humanity, as we pray for the world, the church and our community.

Pause

May we be your hands, continuing your work and generosity in the places we are, giving of ourselves to others, remembering that a small act can have an enormous impact.

Amen.

Kirsty Bennett, offered for worship 08/05/2022, Easter 4C