Category: Prayer items

Good day everyone. There is no online prayer meeting tonight due to holidays. However, prepared below are prayers, readings, songs and some thoughts, to help guide you through a time of prayer. We ask you to draw together in your homes at 7.30pm and begin the prayer service, thus joining our combined prayers towards God.

If you can’t manage at 7.30pm then anytime suits. Prayer is always heard.

OPENING WORDS

We gather here to worship God
With ears ready to listen
With hearts and minds open to receive
All: With voices ready to sing praise

God knows us
God guides us
God raises us up
All: God is with us now

We gather together to worship God
We come to God who inclines an ear to us
We come to God who gives us words to speak
All: We come to God in reverence and awe

God gives us life
God sets us free
God speaks a better word
All: We gather to worship God

Psalm 103

Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
   and all that is within me,
   bless his holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
   and do not forget all his benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity,
   who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
   who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works vindication
   and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
   his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

You can’t be half-hearted about this passage. It is generous and life-giving and seems to amplify the energy of the other passages.

The first part of the Psalm seems to be the words of an individual, while the second part feels more communal – “all who are oppressed”, “the people of Israel”, etc. Youth is renewed (v5), which contrasts with a common view that people need to hurry up and mature. We have misappropriated the idea of youth – we yearn for the physical aspects of youth as we get older, but young people are desperate to be adult.

What part of youth is being renewed? Is it the energy and excitement of new faith? What aspects of the eagle relate to or represent youth? Flying, freedom, an aerial view – you have a different perspective when you’re younger.

Psalm 71

Prayer for Lifelong Protection and Help

In you, O Lord, I take refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
   incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge,
   a strong fortress, to save me,
   for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
   from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
   my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
   it was you who took me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.

LET US PRAY

In you alone we put our hope, God the Father, Creator and Sustainer, who gives all good things seen and unseen. In you alone we put our hope, God the Son, Saviour and Redeemer, who died for our sins and rose again. In you alone we put our hope, God the Spirit, Teacher and Comforter, who moves us to sing “Our God reigns!” In you alone we put our hope. AMEN

Sunrise, Sunset, Sin

My soul praises you, Lord. You are to us whom you were to Moses–compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Your love is so generous it seems to stretch from my back porch to the full moon. If we stand on one side of the globe, you exile our failures to the opposite side. They can no more catch us th an the sunrise can catch the sunset. My soul praises you Lord. AMEN

We continue in prayer

O Lord, you have indeed carried me on your wings. By your mercy, you have delivered me from sin and death. You have set me free from their bondage. Once I was a slave, but now I am free to be your servant. Thank you, Lord. Even as I seek to live faithfully as a child of the new covenant, help me to live each day by grace. May I continue to ride on your wings as you guide and empower me to serve you in every aspect of my life. All praise be to you, gracious Lord, because you carry me on your wings.  Alleluia! Amen.

Prayer of Intercession

God, You are a God of compassion and love. Time after time we have experienced your care and provision. Time after time You’ve answered our prayers and met our needs— often in ways we could never have dreamed possible. We praise You for Your faithful love toward us. Because we have known Your love, we come to You with confidence, offering our prayers for the world that You love.

We see so much pain and suffering; so much anger and frustration and despair. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the needs around us. But we continue to bring our prayers to You in faith, because we know that nothing is impossible for You. You are the God who rained down bread from heaven, and made water flow from a rock in the desert; the God who resurrected Jesus Christ from the dead, and who brings new life and hope to all who believe. For You, all things are possible.

Hear our prayers.

We pray for those suffering the effects of recent  natural disasters….
(insert your own private petitions here)

Because nothing is impossible for You, O God,
hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.

We pray for the regions of our world caught up in violence and threats of violence: Because nothing is impossible for You, O God, hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.

We pray for those who live with serious illness,

•    those with chronic pain,
•    those without access to proper medical care,
•    those for whom treatment is no longer an option.

Because nothing is impossible for You, O God,

hear our prayer, and in Your love, answer.

Merciful God, You sent Your Son, Jesus Christ, to show us a different way to live— the way of deep humility and obedience. You’ve called us to love one another, and to work together with one heart and mind, balancing our needs with the needs of those around us.

Give us courage to follow faithfully, and with integrity— with actions that bear witness to the words we speak, and worship that overflows into our daily tasks and relationships— so that our lives will bring glory and honour to You, our Redeemer and Lord. Amen.

Blessing

Send us out Loving God – our hope and trust from our youth –
that we would not shame, but recognise the dignity of all Your children,
that we would incline our ear and listen for Your call,
that our actions may be just and compassionate.
May our lives be lived in continual praise of You.
Amen

Call to worship

God of creation, You brought life to all that we see.
You set the boundaries of the universe and placed us within its care.
Creator God, breathe life into Your creation

Holy Spirit, You bind Your children together in community.
Your bonds transcend borders created by humankind.
You kindle the fire within us that stirs our passion for faith, justice, and reconciliation.
Spirit God, inspire us to reconcile

Jesus the Christ, You came to teach and to lead. You showed us the cost of discipleship when You stood up against the powers of the world, and they tried to suppress Your truth by sentencing You to death. Your life was more powerful than death and Your truth lives on in us.
Jesus the Christ, help us reflect Your light of truth and peace

People of God,
We are called to know our place in the great cloud of witnesses.
We are called to run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
We are called to worship as those who put their trust in Jesus,
the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

Let us pray

Gracious God,
We know You to be generous and full of compassion
but in our anxiety we have stumbled and lost our way.
Called to be a voice for the voiceless we have been silent.
Challenged to fight for justice we have turned away.
Co-opted to the work of breaking down barriers
we have been quick to judge and slow to welcome.

Forgive all the moments when we have neglected
to seek out Your will and to follow it.

Silence

Grant us the courage to be Your faithful people
that Your compassion may flow through us to heal a broken world.
Amen

Psalm 80

¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
²   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us!

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches;
¹¹ it sent out its branches to the sea,
   and its shoots to the River.
¹² Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts;
   look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
¹⁵   the stock that your right hand planted.
¹⁶ They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
   may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷ But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
   the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will never turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Assurance of forgiveness

God would have us be honest in all things.
To cry out when we are in pain
to seek guidance when we are lost
and to trust in God’s strength when we are afraid.

Give thanks that we are reconciled to God
and free to be the people that God would have us be.
Amen

Prayers of intercession

God of the ages,
You have walked with Your people
from the moment that first we walked on the earth.
You heard our cry when we were oppressed,
gave us strength and courage when doubt and despair threatened.

The earth has been divided and brought to destruction
by human fear, greed and the lust for power.
We, Your people, turn to You,
knowing that only in You can we flourish and grow.

Where division has given rise to distrust,
build bridges of understanding.
Where greed pollutes and threatens life,
open hearts to share and build in partnership.

God of the present moment,
Your love does not stop at borders.
Your grace is given freely to those who
are willing to hear and to trust.

The people of Korea have lived too long
divided and fearful for the future.
Grant them the courage to believe
that their cry has been heard.
Where nuclear weapons have been used
to threaten and keep apart,
turn swords into ploughshares
that people North and South may be fed and prosper.

God of all that is to be,
with people across the world
we pray for the end of war
and the dawn of a new age.

Let all that threatens the earth with destruction
be banished for ever.
Let the voice of those opposed to nuclear threat
grow in confidence and strength.

We will work together with partners across the world
until division is overcome and hostility ended.
We will walk together with You, our God,
into a future where the whole created order lives in harmony.

God of the ages, God of the present, God of all that is to be,
alone we may stumble but together we pray Your kingdom come.
Amen

closing prayer

Lord God,
Fill our minds with Your wisdom
Fill our hearts with Your love
And guide our words and actions
that we might become the living presence of Your peace.
Bless our homeland
That we might witness to Your transforming universal call to justice,
And inspire all that we do in and with Your whole human family
to protect and nurture all of Your creation.

Place within us the mind of servants,
that we might build and nurture a world without violence
in the building of your kingdom of love, justice and peace.
Amen

Opening sentences
My soul waits for the Lord
more than those
who watch for the morning,
more than those
who watch for the morning.

Call: Out of the depths I have cried to You.
Response: O Lord, hear my voice.
Call: With my whole heart I want to praise You.
Response: O Lord, hear my voice.
Call: If you, Lord, should mark iniquities:
Response: Who could stand? who could stand?

I will wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in His word do I hope.

Expressions of faith
Lord, You have always given
bread for the coming day;
and though I am poor,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
strength for the coming day;
and though I am weak,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
peace for the coming day;
and though of anxious heart,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always kept
me safe in trials;
and now, tried as I am,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked
the road for the coming day;
and though it may be hidden,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened
this darkness of mine;
and though the night is here,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken
when time was ripe;
and though you be silent now,
today I believe.

Today’s Scripture Reading

Psalm 8:2-6  Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

Genesis 3:21-24 And the Lord God made garments of skins for the man and for his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, ‘See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever’— therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life.

Revelation 21:22-22:3a I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street

of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more.

Today’s Meditation

Be open to the night…

Pray with open hand, not with clenched fist…

Shapes loom out of the darkness, uncertain and unclear: but the hooded stranger on horseback emerging from the mist need not be assumed to be the bearer of ill…

The night is large and full of wonders…

Lord Dunsany

Prayers for others

Canticle
In the shadow of Your wings
I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

The Lord is my light, my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the refuge of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

In the shadow of Your wings
I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

One thing I ask of the Lord,
one thing I seek;
to dwell in the presence of my God,
to gaze on Your holy place.

In the shadow of Your wings
I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

I believe I shall see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living.
O wait for the Lord!
Have courage and wait,
wait for the Lord.

In the shadow of Your wings
I will sing Your praises, O Lord.

Blessing
See that ye be at peace among yourselves, my children,
and love one another.
Follow the example of the wise and good
and God will comfort you and help you,
both in this world
and in the world which is to come.