Prayer of Praise: –
Bounteous God, we give thanks for this ancient and beautiful land of ours,
a land of despair and hope, a land of wealth and abundant harvests, a land of fire, drought and flood.
We pray that your Holy Spirit may continue to move in this land and bring forgiveness, reconciliation, and an end to all injustice.
We bless you, God of the Universe, for this land, for its contrasts of landscape and climate, for its abundance of wealth and opportunity.
We bless you for our history, with all its struggles in adversity, its courage and hope.
Give us, in our diversity, tolerance and respect for each other, and a passionate commitment to justice for all. Bless us so that we might be a blessing to others.
[https://www.defenceanglicans.org.au/resources/events/australia-day-26-january/]
God, Great Creator, from the dawn of Creation you have given your children the good things of our Earth.
You spoke and the gum tree grew. In vast deserts and dense forest, and in cities at the water’s edge, Creation sings your praise.
Your presence endures as the rock at the heart of our Land.
When Jesus hung on the tree you heard the cries of your people and became one with them.
The sunrise of your Son coloured the Earth anew and bathed it in glorious hope.
In Jesus we have been reconciled to you, to each other and to your whole Creation.
Lead us on, great and glorious God, as we gather from the four corners of the Earth.
Enable us to walk together in trust, into the full day which has dawned in Jesus Christ. To your glory and honour we pray. Amen.
Rev Lenore Parker, NATSIAC Life Member, A Prayer Book for Australia p.218
Prayer of Confession
God our Creator, we confess that we have sinned:
we have used Creation not cherished it;
we have lived selfishly; not watched the balance of life;
we have been greedy – not sharing Earth’s gifts;
and our footprints are heavy not gentle.
Forgive us for the damage that disturbs our planet.
Grant to us to live for the World’s healing and our own,
For in you lies our hope for transformation.
(https://www.arrcc.org.au/reflect-prayers-christian)
God our Father, the One fully engaged in our lives,
forgive us for our ‘whatever’ attitude.
Forgive our nonchalance in the face of your call.
Forgive the indifference we show in regard to the suffering and life needs of others.
Forgive our apathy to join wholeheartedly in your work for justice and the common good.
Forgive our hesitancy in giving more of ourselves in loving service to people who need it from us.
Forgive our fear of really following you which we mask with false confidence in doctrine and surface spirituality
Forgive our attempts to defer guilt from not truly living out your way through Sunday religion and weekly religiosity.
Awaken real faith in us again.
Startle us anew with the power of your love.
Engage us once again in your work of love and grace.
Call us back to the transformative power of loving service and faithful witness to you, that we might know that you are in our lives, and the lives of all people,
working for good no matter whatever we do.
Call us to do whatever we can to work with you,
to do whatever is needed for the good of all,
whatever the cost, whatever can be. To your glory we pray. Amen.
(Source: Jon Humphries, Transforming Worship Facebook page, Uniting Church in Australia)
Assurance of Forgiveness
(from 1 Peter 1: 3)
The Apostle Peter reminds us that, because of God’s great mercy, He has given us new life by raising Jesus from death, filling us with living hope and keeping us safe by His power. Having confessed our sins before God, we have this assurance then that God has heard our prayers, that our sins have been forgiven and our lives made clean in God’s sight.
Thanks be to God.
Prayers for Others
Lord, we thank you for the beautiful, life-sustaining gift of Creation.
We pray that, as individuals and communities, we become better stewards of what you have entrusted to us.
Lord, we pray that we will see the World through the eyes of faith.
May we bring whatever gifts we can to the work of making your Kingdom come on Earth.
Lord, we pray that the way we live our lives is guided by your values of love for people, especially the poor,
and not by the allure of having and possessing more.
Lord, we pray for those in the World already affected by extreme weather events,
we pray that Humankind responds to their need to live full and healthy lives.
Lord, we pray for our own political leaders.
May they be guided by concern for the common good, not by expediency or by vested interests.
Lord, we pray for this generation of children and generations yet to come.
May we preserve for them an environment that is able to meet their needs.
Lord, we thank you for the beauty and diversity of all that lives on earth.
We pray that World leaders will respond to the call to protect the environment, and not to use and abuse it for personal gain or ‘profit making’.
Lord, help us to trust that you are the bread of life,
and not to seek false happiness from Worldly comforts and possessions.
Lord, we thank you for providing so well for us in our society.
Keep us mindful of sharing what we have with the needy.
(https://www.arrcc.org.au/reflect-prayers-christian)
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil,
For the Kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.