Prayer of Praise
Almighty God, we gather together with joy to offer you our thanks and our praise, we gather together in humbleness to acknowledge you as our LORD.
You have shown your supreme power and incomparable abilities through what we see and experience around us, by and through what you have created. The Universe has been set in its place through the Laws of the Cosmos which you have determined. Our World follows patterns and cycles of Nature which you have decreed.
You have expressed your nature of kindness and graciousness by the way you sustain all of us. You have provided for our needs both at the least significant time of our life as well as those times when we face the greatest turmoil. You provide the necessities of life for all people, you provide rain for those who acknowledge you as their God and for those who don’t, but should.
You have expressed your love for us so clearly through the sending of your Son into the World so as to undertake your work of redemption and reconciliation with Humanity. We recognise the brokenness of our lives and the barrenness of our own abilities to rebuild our relationship with you and to repair our relationships with others. We recognise the sacrifice you made in sending Jesus Christ into the World and of his willingness to suffer on the cross on our behalf. We acknowledge your power over sin and death through his resurrection. We praise you for making possible the forgiveness of our sins and for the complete cleansing of our souls from all that is impure and ungodly. We submit to your will and purpose in the World and individually in each of our lives.
May our worship here today be tied to a renewed commitment to serve you daily in thought, word and deed. May each moment of our lives be an expression of our love for you and of our gratitude for what you have done and continue to do for us. To your glory we pray, amen.
Prayer of Confession
Merciful God, we come acknowledging our failures and our faults, our sins and our stumblings.
We come confessing the wrong things we have done and the right things we have not done.
We confess that we have often sought meaning in the trivialities of the attractions of this World, and have been enticed away from your path by this World’s values.
Forgive us, we pray.
We confess that we have often neglected your Word and have sought meaning and understanding from what the World tells us.
Forgive us, we pray.
We confess that we have compromised our witness to your love for the World by uncharitable thoughts and actions.
Forgive us, we pray.
We confess that we have devalued our relationship with you by depending on what we can accomplish by ourselves.
Forgive us, we pray.
We confess that we do not readily welcome into our fellowship those who are different or who challenge our level of comfort.
Forgive us, we pray.
We confess that we tend to act in competition and not by co-operation.
Forgive us, we pray.
Merciful God, cleanse us from the defilement of our sins, deliver us from the evil that leads us astray.
May we be guided daily by your Word of truth and nourished by that which endures to eternal life. In your name we pray, amen.
Assurance of Forgiveness
(from Romans 8: 30)
The Apostle Paul writes that those who have responded to God’s call, He has put right with Himself. We have placed our faith and trust in the everlasting love and mercy of God, and, as such, having confessed our sins before God, we have the assurance that God has listened, that God has forgiven, and that God has cleansed us of all unrighteousness.
Thanks be to God.
Prayers for Others
Almighty God, we bring to you our prayers for the World around us,
and for people individually.
We pray for the Nations of the World,
that the false truths and lies of those who seek to manipulate power and position for their own gain will be exposed,
that stealing from the weak by the strong be outlawed,
that killing by suppression, starvation, terrorism, or war be banished forever.
We pray for our Nation, Australia,
that political and cultural idols may be broken and replaced by a sincere reverence for you,
that greed and a desire for material gain lose its power over us,
that there is a genuine desire to listen to and to respond to those who call to us for help.
We pray for comfort and for healing for those who suffer with long-term and wasting diseases,
Give skill and guidance to Doctors and Nurses, and patience to all who care for the invalids.
We pray for your Church,
that it may be released from all adultery with materialist culture and power,
that it be renewed in its call to share the riches of your grace with fallen Humanity,
that it be the visible witness to the World of what is good and praiseworthy, true and noble, right and pure, lovely and honourable. (Philippians 4: 8)
Where people have forgotten to laugh,
touch them with your joy.
Where they have lost the art of mercy,
graft compassion and forgiveness within them.
Where they neglect to share bread and medicine and trust and friendship,
stir new growth of love within them.
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.