Prayer of Praise

 (from Moira Laidlaw Liturgies Online Year C, Prayers for the Seasons of God’s People Year C p175 to 177) 

 Almighty and glorious Lord, we meet to worship you and to give you our praise.  Your Word reminds us that those who put their hope in you find love and a restored soul.  For we trust in you, O God, and in you alone.  We rejoice that your love for us is stronger than our fears.  We rejoice that the life and light of Christ penetrates the darkest and most fearful corners of the World, giving hope and strength to those who seek after you.  Your Word provides a light to our path.  It guides our thoughts and our actions so that we can live a life of morality, of justice, of gentleness and of purity.  For the person who seeks after your Word finds a treasure beyond all value, a treasure that promises eternal satisfaction and contentment.

  Sovereign God, you give life to all things.  You give order and pattern to your Creation, to what we can see close by around us, to what we can glimpse in the night sky, to what we can only discover through a microscope.  Your glory and majesty are seen in the knowledge and the wisdom behind how all created things are formed; it is seen in the authority behind the Laws of Nature that guide how the smallest cell replicates itself or how the planets in our Solar System orbit the Sun; it is seen in the power of the great ocean waves or the fiery volcanic eruption. 

  Loving God, we give thanks for your willingness to be in an intimate relationship with each one of us.  We give you thanks that you hold each of us equally dear to yourself.  We give you thanks that your love for us is beyond our comprehension, yet we see it clearly in your gift of life to us, made so evident through the sacrifice of your Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross, so that our sins can be forgiven and our lives restored to fellowship with you.  We give you thanks for life though we do not deserve it, nor can we ever earn it.  We give you thanks on the basis that you give because you love.  May our lives be a faithful confession of our adoration towards you, so that all the World will acknowledge you and give you the praise and honour due to you as our living and loving God.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession 

(from Moira Laidlaw Liturgies On-line Year C, Invocations and Benedictions p143, Prayers for the Seasons of God’s People Year C p175 to 177 ) 

Merciful God, we come before you humble and contrite, knowing that we have failed to be the person who you seek for us to be, knowing that we have failed to be a witness to your grace and mercy with those we meet in our daily lives.

We confess that we just presume that you are there with us each day.  We fail to stop to talk with you, we fail to share our deepest feelings and hurts with you, we fail to give you praise for our joyful moments and our happiest occasions.  Merciful God, forgive our sins.

Merciful God, we acknowledge that there are many things which cloud our vision so much that we fail to notice people in need.  Our busyness and our personal priorities lead us to put our needs ahead of the pressing needs of those around us.

We confess that too often we close our eyes to the things we do that are hurtful to our family and friends, to the things that hinder our fellowship with those with whom we are supposed to meet to share worship, to the things that harm our relationships with those with whom we live and work.  Merciful God, forgive our sins.

Merciful God, you challenge us to live by your Gospel, yet we fail to practice with our lives what we proclaim with our lips.  We seek the apparent security and comfort in the things we can gather around us and are blind to how temporary and transient these things really are.

We confess that too often we value someone’s worth by their job or their status or their wealth, and neglect that it is you who gives value to each individual regardless of who or what they are.  Merciful God, forgive our sins. 

In your mercy, O God, guide our thoughts so that they may be filled with the knowledge of

your presence.  Guide our words, so that all who hear them may be drawn closer to you.  Guide our actions, so that you are evident in all that we do.

Transform our lives into lives offering true worship to you and true service to others.  In your name we pray.  Amen.

Assurance of Forgiveness  

(from 1 Timothy 6:13) 

Paul writes to Timothy reminding him that it is God who gives life to all things, and renewed life to all who repent of their sins.  Having confessed our sins before God, let us rest with the assurance that God has indeed heard our prayers, that He has forgiven us and has restored His life in us.

Thanks be to God.

Prayers for Others

Let us come before God with our cares and our concerns.

Loving God, we bring these prayers to you, trusting in your compassion and care.  To your glory we pray.

In a world where a great gulf separates rich and poor, we pray for a new spirit of caring.  Give to those who have authority in the rich Nations the desire to aid Nations in need.

Have mercy on the destitute who have no shelter and no means to sustain themselves.  Have mercy on the rich whose love of money has led them into evil ways.  Please lead them back to know the true wealth of a love and caring for others.

  (Raymond Chapman in Leading Intercessions p117)  

We pray for National, regional and local officials, that they may serve with honesty and with respect for the Law.

We pray for the sick and the ailing, for the maimed and the crippled, for those with unsound minds and troubled souls, that all may experience your healing and wholeness.

We pray for humble leadership of your Church, that they will seek to be strengthened by your spirit so that they can lead effectively and according to your will and purpose.

  (David Hostetter in Prayers for the Seasons of God’s People Year C p176 & 177) 

We pray for the peoples of Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay.

We are thankful for individuals, churches and other organizations who remain committed to seeking healing, justice and truth, for the furthering of human rights and democratic institutions, for the ways in which those of different faiths and ethnicities are working together for the common good and for the needs of people and creation, and how churches, from out of what people are experiencing, have led global ecumenical work for an economy that serves life.

We pray for a greater respect for Indigenous people and greater acceptance of all peoples across bounds of ethnicity and religion; for the protection of children from violence and abuse, and recognition of their rights and dignity, for effective help and empowerment for those who live in poverty and other marginalizing situations; for those who protect and care for the region’s threatened soil, forests, waters, and glaciers; for truth and justice in continuing investigations to find those responsible for crimes against humanity, and continued healing for those affected; for economic development that benefits all and effectively addresses the systemic factors that impede it.

Prayers

God of life,
you put in human beings
the imprint of your image and likeness
and made us to participate with you in your creation.
Forgive our incapacity to respect and protect life in all its forms. 

God of justice,
you call us to travel this path
which is the only route leading to true peace.
Forgive our daily acts of injustice
which condemn many, many persons to death
by hunger, exclusion and war,
and lead us to the abyss of endless violence. 

God, incarnate in history,
forgive us because we imprison you in our dogmas,
limiting you to our religious institutions
and crucifying you alongside the vulnerable of our time. 

O God, strengthen us in our daily work for a world more just,
accepting differences, built on diversity.
Renew our commitment to peace with justice,
a commitment which denounces the arrogance
of those who believe that they are powerful
and own the lives of all the rest.
Give us a vision to banish violence in all its forms.
Establish as the foundation of our lives,
and the lives of our people, respect, equality, truth and justice.

(Bishop Nelly Ritchie, Buenos Aires, Argentina. © Red de Liturgia del CLAI; English transl. Terry MacArthur, WCC)

O God, Lord of the wind and the sea,
of the mountains and the valleys,
of the world and of the church:
in the midst of fear and insecurity
give us trust and hope in you. 

We live in a world
where the gales of power
blow strong enough to shake life itself,
where from the arrogant and the interests of the powerful
roll the waves of injustice and violence. 

We pray for those suffering
because of their poverty, their ignorance,
their limitations,
because of their colour or status, social or sexual.
We think of your church sailing on a sea
where the waves of racism, militarism, sexism
and economic marginalization hurt human life. 

Take care of your church and put in it
a sincere love for those who suffer,
a clear vision of your will,
healing, pastoral words for the needy,
and a valiant, prophetic proclamation
against those who create violence and pain. 

O God, rebuke the uncontrolled wind of terrorism and war.

Turn it towards peace and human development
so that in place of lies, truth is strengthened,
in place of weapons, there are schools for all children,
in place of luxury, the world adorns itself
with bread for the hungry
and life blossoms everywhere. 

O God, Lord of the wind and the sea,
may your strong mercy calm the whole earth.
In the name of Jesus Christ.

(© Bishop Aldo M. Etchegoyen, Evangelical, Methodist Church of Argentina.)

Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay | World Council of Churches (oikoumene.org)

We thank you for an effective and vibrant prison ministry within Argentina, that is bringing the Gospel message to the inmates.  We pray for your continued support for prison chaplains when they visit prisons, and for the inmate4s as they seek to live out their faith while inside prison.

We thank you for the growth of involvement of churches in Argentina’s National Council of Christian Evangelical Churches, and the promotion of a unity among believers, which is essential for growth and revival within churches.

We pray for a maturing of the indigenous church within Argentina, and for sensitivity to this on the part of expatriates in the agencies working with these churches.

We pray for support and guidance for the ongoing translation programmes involving indigenous languages within Argentina.

We pray for moral leadership of Paraguay, willing to lead the country with wisdom and uprightness.

We pray release from superstitious traditionalism within the church in Paraguay, and its bondage to pre-Christian deities and customs.

We pray for the development of strong leadership within churches in Paraguay, who have a vision for working with both indigenous communities and those who live in the cities.

We pray for safe completion of current translation projects within Paraguay, and for an effective distribution of the resulting Scripture.

We pray for an effective ministry in Uruguay through Christian radio and TV programs.

We pray for a spiritual awakening in Uruguay, and that the evangelical churches will be prepared to take advantage of every opportunity to present the Gospel.

We pray that you will hold back the influence of spiritualists and non-Christian sects that seek to present an errant message to Uruguayan society.

  (Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk in Operation World) 

We pray for the work of the Church of North India among the excluded castes in the slum areas of West Bengal and Amritsar that is supported by World Vision.  We pray for your blessing on the community and wellbeing programs, on the efforts to provide better access to medicines and health services, on the provision of social empowerment schemes and services, for the centres providing remedial education, for the training to strengthen teaching skills, and for the enabling of self-help group to access training on financial management and income generation.

Project Update: Empowerment of excluded castes in Punjab and West Bengal, India – UnitingWorld

We pray for the new Scripture Union run SUPA club that is being set up at Larapinta Primary School in Alice Springs.  We pray for the leaders and a good start to the program.

We praise you God for new lunch time groups run by Scripture Union starting in Western Sydney primary schools.  We pray this would be a blessing to the young people involved.

We pray for chaplains as they find new ways to connect and support the families of their schools communities.

We pray for the success of Scripture Union run September Camps throughout Queensland, for the safety of those participating, for guidance or the leaders and helpers, and good health for all who attend these camps.

SU Prayer-Guide-Sep-2022-Brisbane.pdf

We pray for the Religious Instruction classes at Bald Hills State School, that the Holy spirit will reveal to the children who attend the classes that God is real and that His love for them is real.  Please encourage those who lead the classes that they will have the right words to say so that a convincing message to given.  We pray that they will be supported by the Administration staff of the School in the successful leading of these classes.

We pray for Kylie Conomos, the chaplain at Bald Hills State School, that she will be encouraged and supported in her task of caring for the needy and troubled children at the School, and of ministering to their families.

We pray for those whom we have not been able to worship with us recently. We ask that they may feel your close presence with them each day, that they will experience your support and encouragement as they journey through life in this time of uncertainty and change.

Loving God, we bring these prayers to you, trusting in your compassion and care.  To your glory we pray.

Amen

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.