Prayer of Praise  

(adapted from Uniting in Worship Book 2, p279 & 280) 

  Almighty God, we give you thanks for the diversity of people who make up Your Church, the first peoples of this Land, as well as those others who proudly call this Country their birth place, and also those who have come from distant lands and cultures to become one of us.  We thank You for the diversity of gifts that they all bring to Your service, and for their generosity of time and effort.

  We give You thanks for this Land of bountiful resources and produce, for its rare and captivating beauty, for the way that it swings between plenty in times of flood and scarcity

in times of drought.

  We give you thanks for all who have seen Your vision of unity in this Country and across the World, for those whose efforts led to the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, and for those who maintain the vision of uniting with others in the future.

  We give You thanks for those who have answered the call to lead us in Social and Political life, and for those who You have called to lead us in Assembly, in Synods and Presbyteries, and in every Congregation.

  We give You thanks for Your readiness to lead us and keep us; for being the way, the truth and the life; for Your work of salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ; and for Your gift of our helper and advocate, Your Holy Spirit.  And as with all pilgrim people travelling through life, we value Your companionship and encouragement, Almighty God, as we bring to You praise and honour, glory and blessing, now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayer of Praise  

(adapted from Uniting in Worship Book 2, p279 & 280) 

  Almighty God, we give you thanks for the diversity of people who make up Your Church, the first peoples of this Land, as well as those others who proudly call this Country their birth place, and also those who have come from distant lands and cultures to become one of us.  We thank You for the diversity of gifts that they all bring to Your service, and for their generosity of time and effort.

  We give You thanks for this Land of bountiful resources and produce, for its rare and captivating beauty, for the way that it swings between plenty in times of flood and scarcity

in times of drought.

  We give you thanks for all who have seen Your vision of unity in this Country and across the World, for those whose efforts led to the inauguration of the Uniting Church in Australia in 1977, and for those who maintain the vision of uniting with others in the future.

  We give You thanks for those who have answered the call to lead us in Social and Political life, and for those who You have called to lead us in Assembly, in Synods and Presbyteries, and in every Congregation.

  We give You thanks for Your readiness to lead us and keep us; for being the way, the truth and the life; for Your work of salvation through Your Son Jesus Christ; and for Your gift of our helper and advocate, Your Holy Spirit.  And as with all pilgrim people travelling through life, we value Your companionship and encouragement, Almighty God, as we bring to You praise and honour, glory and blessing, now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayers for Others

Almighty God, knowing of your love for all of Humanity, especially of your compassion for the needy, we come to you with our cares and our concerns.

We bring to you our prayers for the World around us and for people individually.

We pray for the grace of freedom,

That you will free our hearts from fear and anxiety so that we may respond with love and concern in whatever you ask of us.

We pray for a spirit of reverence,

That our life goals may be based on the awareness that all life is a gift from you and should lead us toward an ever-deepening relationship with you.

We pray for the gift of courage,

That we may confidently bear witness to our values and principles even in times of opposition and resistance from the culture of the World around us.

We pray for a deeper commitment to the truth,

That we may readily speak the truth that the Spirit has planted deep in our hearts when we are presented with the opportunity.

We pray for all who are experiencing persecution for their faith,

That they may give faithful witness to Jesus and that you will strengthen and preserve them through all suffering and every loss.

We pray for all who live under the threat of violence,

That you will strengthen them against neighbourhood turmoil, gang or organized crime threats, or armed conflicts, and help them to bear witness to the truth and your redeeming love each day.

We pray for all who are struggling financially,

That you will calm their hearts, guide them to the resources they need, and open the hearts of many to accompany them.

We pray for all who are researching treatments and vaccines for dangerous illnesses,

That you will guide and inspire their work so that life and health can be preserved.

We pray for all elected leaders,

That you will give them insight into the effects of their decisions and help them to make choices that will bring about the greatest good for our society,

We pray for all who are grieving,

That you will heal their pain, give them a new vision for life, and restore their hope for tomorrow.

We pray for a listening spirit,

That family members, neighbours, and co-workers may listen more closely and work to understand the pains, values, and goals of one another.

We pray for the Church,

That we may live in the confident assurance of your abiding concern and providential care for us.

(Copyright © 2023. Joe Milner. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to reproduce for personal or parish use.  https://liturgy.slu.edu/12OrdA062523/ideas_other.html)

We pray for the peoples of Malawi and Zambia.

We are thankful for the biodiversity and natural wonders in these lands, for the church leaders who have spoken out and countered sexual violence and human rights abuses, for those who are dealing with challenges of migrations within, and to, these countries, and for stable governance and economies, and rising living standards for many people in recent years.

We pray for greater food security for those most vulnerable, especially in times of climate change, for an end to political and economic corruption, for rising standards of living, particularly for those most poor, and for an end to exploitation of resources and of the people, especially those who are young and/or female.

Prayers

Oh God, our Father, of all the people of the earth, look with favour upon us and hear the prayer we make for our country Zambia.  We ask for your loving guidance upon all men and women in all that they do so that your blessings will be upon them.

We thank you for your protection and the peace that we have enjoyed in this country for the past 50 years. We thank you for the peace you gave us especially during the Golden Jubilee celebration as an independent nation. Let the jubilee celebrations bring more blessings to our country. We, therefore, pray for all our leaders who are serving your people in various capacities that you will give them wisdom and knowledge to know you as the sovereign Lord who created the heavens and the earth and that you are the only God among all. You deserve to be praised.

We remember especially our political leaders and ask you to bless the work of their hand and to guide their decision so that our country may continue to be peaceful and that we may deserve an honoured place among all nations.

We pray for the young men and women upon whom the future of this country depends.  Teach them to be responsible citizens so that they can grow in the knowledge of your word, in the fear of sin and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world for the salvation of humankind.

We pray for all churches in Zambia. Bless all the clergy, the church workers and all the church members. Help us all to witness to others so that we all may be one in Christ Jesus. Be with the United Church of Zambia as they celebrate in 2015 the Golden Jubilee of its existence as a united church. We thank you for the blessing of this double golden jubilee, one as a country and the other as a church.

May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and protect us.  In the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord we pray, because he reigns for ever and ever.  Amen

(Sarah S. Kaulule, The United Church of Zambia, former vice moderator of the WCC Commission on Faith and Order)

God of love, God of compassion,
in the midst of death and evil,
you mercifully look after us:
protecting, providing and smiling,
constantly reassuring us of your care.
Grant to us the joy of this occasion,
especially as we celebrate our birthdays,
knowing that your love is life.
Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may acquire a heart of wisdom,
through him whose life has become our light, even Jesus Christ.

(Rev. Dr Augustine Musopole, Malawi. In: Africa Praying: A Handbook on HIV/AIDS Sensitive Sermon Guidelines and Liturgy, ed. Musa W. Dube, WCC, 2003, pp.164, 11-12, 89)

We pray for the work of the Bible Society Australia to produce audio Scriptures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which provide the gospel in a format communities can readily access.  A printed Bible, even translated into a heart language, is at times not sufficient for people to Open The Bible for themselves.  Some people are unable to fully engage with the printed text of their Scriptures due to poor eye health, low literacy skills, or other reasons.  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures are oral cultures; important information is conveyed through story telling rather than the written word. This means that Indigenous communities readily engage with audio content in a way non-Indigenous cultures do not often appreciate or understand.

We pray for the Bible Society in its working with World Hope Ministries to offer hope with God’s powerful word in some of South Africa’s darkest places – its prisons.  The objectives of this project are for prisoners to engage with the Scriptures through lessons on practical issues of Christian life.  Most of the prisoners have never owned a Bible and have a great need to hear the transformative message of God’s love. In addition to this, there’s an opportunity to reach out to Department of Correctional Services (DCS) Officials, who experience many challenges.

We pray for the Scripture Union run Jump Camp, Mackay, as that is held from June 25-28. We pray for a fantastic few days and for quality conversations as campers explore the big 23 questions of life around faith, meaning and purpose. We pray for OverComers Camp kicking off in Southern QLD this weekend. We pray that this camp, designed for young boys from difficult home-lives, would be a 24 safe and welcoming space for all involved.  We pray for Übertweak Winter Camp as that begins this weekend.  This camp caters towards young people with a love for technology, science and gaming – and we pray that there would be strong relationships built among the campers.  We pray for the Sports Holiday Program in North QLD taking place early next week, for primary school aged children who live in Townsville.  We pray for KidsGames Pittsworth also happening early next week just outside of Toowoomba. We pray for safety and a great time for all the young people attending, and pray for wisdom for our leaders running the event.

We pray for the work of The Leprosy Mission Indonesia as it partners with NLR Indonesia to work in one of the poorest districts in West Java, Indramayu.  The project supports the work of the local health facilities by intensifying case finding, improving leprosy control, providing a preventive antibiotic known as PEP (to household and social contacts of someone newly diagnosed with leprosy) and strengthening community involvement and empowerment. Two new projects with NLR Indonesia, supported by The Leprosy Mission Australia, started in July 2022.  They focus on mechanisms to make it easier for people who have – or suspect they have – leprosy to reach out to the health system.  One of these projects is called The Leprosy Friendly Village with an initial focus on northern Sulawesi.  The other project is the Urban Leprosy Project, with an initial focus near Jakarta.

We pray for the Church of North India, Diocese of Eastern Himalayas, in its support for a small school in a remote mountain village in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas, enabling boys and girls from neighbouring hills to access good and affordable education. 

The area is steep jungle-covered terrain, with families mostly eking out a subsistence livelihood.  To get to school, children previously had to walk up to four hours through jungle tracks.  The dropout rate was very high, especially amongst girls.  Young people were at high risk of human trafficking as they sought livelihoods in low-skill jobs. 

We pray for enough funding for post-graduate training for their teachers, to enable the school to become accredited for government subsidies, and so that the school can provide affordable, high quality education for children living in this remote region who cannot afford high fees. 

(https://unitingworld.org.au/project-update-education-for-remote-area-children-in-eastern-himalayas/)

We pray for the work of the Protestant Church of Maluku Indonesia (GPM) and their development agency to expand their initiative of planting community kitchen gardens to address growing poverty and food insecurity.  Three new community kitchen gardens have been planted in 2023, using the land of local congregations and individuals in the church.

We pray for the success of Day Camp being held next week at Pine Rivers Church and at Samford Church, that it will be a time for children to become aware of your reality in their lives and for them to be challenged to respond to your call come into a close relationship with you.  Please keep the leaders and helpers safe and healthy throughout the week, as they endeavour to bring your message of hope and grace to the children who attend.

We pray for those who will recommence Religious Instruction classes at Bald Hills State School this year.  Guide them in the words to say and the approach to take with the children in their classes.  May the Holy Spirit challenge the children in the RI classes to come to a closer relationship with you.

We pray for Kylie Conomos, the Scripture Union Chaplain at Bald Hills State School.  Please guide and equip her as she starts a new school year, and as she seeks to address the concerns and needs of children, parents and teachers at the school.

We pray for those who we have not seen for some time and who are unable to attend worship.  Please guide and comfort them in their particular circumstances.  May they be aware of your care for them as they meet what each new day brings.

Lord God, we bring these prayers to you, trusting in your lovingkindness.  To your glory we pray.

Lord God, we bring these prayers to you, trusting in your lovingkindness.  To your glory we pray.

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.