Leader: Welcome to this time of prayer
All: May it be a home to all today
Leader: Loving God of our whole world
All: Open our hearts to Your presence
Leader: Touch us with Your loving hand
All: And bring peace to us and between us.
Amen
Scripture Sentence
2 Corinthians 3:18
18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Prayer of thanksgiving and confession
God of the ordinary and extraordinary,
in a world where money counts,
where awful things happen,
where power is abused.
It’s hard sometimes to see beyond it all
and sing Your praise for the blessings we have.
But we persist
because You have promised to care for the humble
to love us in our confusion
to come to meet us in the silence
or the surprising moment of joy
or the quiet comfort of friendship
With the Church around the world this evening
we join our voices together in praise
and keep silence in prayer.
Forgive us for the times this week when we’ve not done well
when we’ve struggled to say the right thing
or go the extra mile.
When we have looked arrogantly at others
and forgotten to open our souls to Your gaze.
Help us to hope
and to share Your love with all around us
in Your name and with your blessing, Amen
Prayers of Intercession
Loving God
we pray for our world
for all the millions of people whom You know, though we do not.
We are blessed that we can worship in peace and safety.
We pray for Christians especially today in The Ukraine, North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya, Pakistan, Eritrea, Yemen, Iran, Nigeria, and India.
Give comfort and strength to those who try to make peace and justice
and turn the hearts and minds
of those who work against them
to good, not evil.
We pray for our own leaders
especially at this time
when wise leadership is so much needed.
Help them to see beyond immediate concerns
and think, above all, of those who are most vulnerable in our communities.
We pray for our work here in Scotland.
For all those who try to fill the gaps
and give hope in dark places.
We ask Your blessing on Viewpark, Bothwell, Burnhead and St John the Baptist Churches who are opeing their doors for a place of warm in this difficult time in our community.
Here in our own church community,
we pray for those sick and in difficulty.
May they know the comfort and gentle touch of Your love,
the love that calls us by our names and says, “You are mine”.
Around us here are things that remind us of the people of the past
who have worshipped and worked in our midst.
In a moment of silence, we remember those we love who have died
We miss them, and remember them
even as we take comfort that they are in Your care.
God of light and love
You created us for both joy and suffering
You came into the world as our Brother and Saviour
You abide with us in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.
Be with us in our speaking and our thinking and our hearts and souls
today and this week
in Jesus’ name
Amen
Benediction/Closing prayer
L: May we find a place
All: For love to belong in the world
L: May we make a welcome for the lost
All: On the paths of our lives
L: May we find in each place
All: God already waiting for us
L: May God be our vision
and may Christ be our pattern,
may the Spirit be our energy,
and may the love of God
Creator, Saviour and Holy Spirit,
be with us, and those we love
today and always.
Amen
Bellshill Central Church 