Prayers for the week commencing Sunday 27th March 2022

Living God,
you do not save us from our mistakes,
but you release us to learn from them.
Thank you for being there
to welcome us back when we have lost our way,
to challenge our resentment when we have lost our grace,
to embrace our need
when we have exhausted our self-sufficiency.
We are so grateful.

Amen

Prayer of Confession

God of the prodigal and the elder sons,
we are sorry for the times we get lost in our world with no
thought for others.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we use our resources selfishly.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we doubt your love, and our pride prevents
us from admitting our mistakes.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we resent your generosity towards others,
and judge their failures more harshly than our own.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we hurt those we love and abuse their trust.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.

Assurance of forgiveness

Faithful God,
in a world that judges and blames,
you forgive and understand, and we too can forgive and understand

because you place your forgiving heart in us.
In a world that has no time for failure and mistakes,
you forgive and understand, and we too can forgive and understand

because you place your forgiving heart in us.
Thank you that your heart is so full of love,
it can never run out.

Thank you that you really do make the changes in our lives that we need.
Amen.

Prayers of the People

Gracious God,
          We pray that your reconciling love may bring harmony to our World.
We pray for those caught up in conflicts between nations and states;
for all who live in fear of the bullet or the bomb.
May the leaders of the nations listen to each other,
and commit themselves to peace.
          We pray for those whose relationships have broken down.
May your love bring reconciliation, your peace dissolve bitterness,
and your grace disperse anger.
          We bring to you homes that are filled with conflict,
and pray for all who suffer from domestic violence and abuse.
           Bring healing to those who bear the scars
of the ways they have been treated,
and enable them to experience love.
           We pray for all who seek to mediate,
to bring reconciliation and peace,
that they may have wisdom, patience and compassion.

Reconciling Christ, bless our efforts to bring about reconciliation.
Give us the strength to persevere without counting the hurts,
and to find within ourselves the capacity to keep on loving.

Give us the grace to be able to stand in the middle of situations,
and to be a conduit for the deep listening
which can lead to healing and forgiveness.

Help us to conduct ourselves with dignity,
giving and expecting respect, moving from prayer to action,
and from action back again into prayer.

Grant that we may be so grounded in your love,
that our security is not threatened if we change our minds,
or begin to see a better way to act.

Bless those who are called to reconcile on a large-scale –
politicians, world leaders, leaders of business,
and those who stand in the midst of bitter conflict.

Reconciling Christ, bless us and bless all who engage
in the sacred work of envisioning new wholeness,
and bringing people and nations together.

(Source: Ann Siddall, Stillpoint Spirituality Centre)

COCU22C.Lent4C.27March2022 | pilgrimwr.unitingchurch.org.au

God of hope,
we pray to you when hope is scarce
as our world convulses with the horror of war.
You alone know the extent of the crimes committed in Ukraine:
the people murdered, the homes and infrastructure destroyed,
the way violence comes as a calamity,
cutting a swath through the world.
Why is power concentrated in the hands of so few?
How can we make this war stop?
You alone know a way out of this quagmire of evil.
Help us find it.
Awaken those who dismiss this as someone else’s problem.
Give world leaders wisdom as they impose sanctions,
looking for diplomatic and economic ways to end this aggression.
Raise up resistance to war in Russia itself.
Protect the people of Ukraine,
who are reeling from the trauma of invasion.
Open the arms of neighbouring countries
to take in refugees.
In times like these,
fill us with resolve rather than hatred.
Help us believe that justice will prevail,
that crimes will be prosecuted,
that peace can be found
even in the roar and rubble of war.

[Copyright Carol Penner www.leadinginworship.com]

https://leadinginworship.com/2022/02/prayer-for-the-war-in-ukraine/

God of grace,
we see the damage inflicted on the world around us
and the resulting harm to our siblings
in climate-vulnerable places
and we mourn.

We lament the broken relationship
between humanity and the rest of creation.
Teach us the humility of the younger son,
so we can be honest with ourselves and one another
about our failure to care for the planet in the ways that we are called to.

We call to mind those times
when we, not just as individuals but as a society,
have failed to tread lightly on Your earth,
and we ask for your forgiveness.

Lord, we thank You
that You are a God of forgiveness,
who, as the Father welcomed his lost son home
with open arms
wants to restore our relationship with one another
and with the earth.

Even as we acknowledge our role in the overuse of resources
and a failure to live sustainably,
may we not be burdened by guilt and shame,
instead, free to work for climate justice,
To hope for a better future.

(From Young Christian Climate Network Week 4 episode of the Walk Humbly podcast)

27 March, 4th Sunday in Lent | The Church of Scotland

O Lord, you love justice and you establish peace on earth.
We bring before you the disunity of today’s world;
the absurd violence, and the many wars,
which are breaking the courage of the peoples of the world;
human greed and injustice, which breed hatred and strife.

Send your spirit and renew the face of the earth;
teach us to be compassionate towards the whole human family;
strengthen the will of all those
who fight for justice and for peace,
and give us that peace which the world cannot give.

Guide the leaders of all nations,
that justice may prevail throughout the world.
Let not the needy be forgotten,
nor the hope of the poor be taken away.
Make us instruments of your peace
and let your glory be over all the earth.

Reconcile the differences which divide the Church,

which divide us from one another
and bring us back into the unity of love
which may bear some likeness to your divine nature.
Grant that we may be spiritually one,
both within ourselves and with one another,
through the grace, mercy and tenderness
of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Christian – World Healing Prayers

We bring our prayers in the name of Christ,
through whom all are reconciled to you, our God.
Amen.