Prayer of Praise    

  Almighty God, your creative power is revealed in the myriad of wonders in the World around us, your authority is revealed in the order and the balance in Time and Space, your righteousness and wisdom are revealed in your Holy Word, your steadfast love is revealed in your covenant relationship with your People throughout History to the present time. 

  In the beginning, your Spirit swept across the face of the waters, bringing order and beauty out of chaos.  You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. 

Through the waters of the Red Sea you delivered your People from suffering and oppression.  At the foot of your sacred Mount Sinai you called your People to truth and holiness.  In the words of your prophets you called your People to a life of justice and compassion.  Through the lives of your saints you taught your People wisdom and faithfulness.

Though we often turn away from you, your love remains sure and certain.  In the fullness of time you sent your only Son, Jesus Christ, whose life, death, and resurrection was the means for our salvation and the Salvation of all of Humanity.

  (A Great Prayer of Thanksgiving) 

  Compassionate God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, how can we come with anything other than praise and adoration for you.  That you should so care for us is beyond our imagination, that You should promise to protect and provide for us is beyond our comprehension.  Loving God, it is right to give you thanks and praise, for you alone are the true and living God.  May we always be a faithful People dedicated to your worship and service.  May we always be ready to trust and obey you as you call us to a life of discipleship.  Amen.

Prayer of Confession   

Merciful God, we know that we have failed to obey the call of Jesus to love you and one another with our whole being;

But we come also to you as one who reaches out to us with healing and reconciliation. 

We confess, O God, our readiness to affirm our belief in your guidance,

Yet we fear to move into the unknown on behalf of the Gospel.  We find that it is risky enough trying to shape our own future.

We confess that we want to experience the new life that the Spirit breathes into us so that we too can give shape to that future. 

Yet we fear that it may disturb our present comfort too much.

 Break through our resistance and our fear, merciful God,

With your perfect and all-reaching love; forgive our sins and our mistakes.  May we hear and respond to your call, your promises, and your leadership in our lives with heightened enthusiasm and deepened faith.

Merciful God, forgive our lack of trust in you; help us when we hesitate, and strengthen us where we are weak. 

Blow your Spirit afresh into our hearts and our minds so that we have the courage to follow Jesus wherever he leads us.   Amen.

  (ShortGuideforDailyPrayer2009.pdf) 

Assurance of Forgiveness 

(Romans 4: 5b) 

The Apostle Paul tells us that “it is God who declares the guilty to be innocent”, that it is our faith “that God takes into account in order to put (us) right with him”.  Having confessed our sins before God and having professed our faith and trust in God and His grace, let us hold onto the promise that God has heard our prayers, that God has listened, and that God has forgiven us.

Thanks be to God.

Prayers for Others

Loving God, knowing your love for all of Humanity, especially 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 Leaders of Nations, for those who wield the influence over others and make the decisions that affect so many people. 

May they heed your gentle call to bring about stability and prosperity to their Lands.  May they not yield to the temptation to exercise power so as to accumulate wealth or to oppress others.  May they seek to bring about peace between Nations and not to make a grab for land and resources.

  We pray for the poor and the homeless, for all who have been left behind and are forgotten, for the defeated and the broken hearted, for those who are sick in body, mind and spirit. 

Befriend, comfort and heal them.  Grant them the confidence to put their trust in your promises to care for and to protect them. 

  Have mercy on those whose anger and resentment holds them back from fullness of life.  Help those who hurt but cannot forgive, those who hold onto a bitterness that is eating into their soul and darkens their existence. 

Show them the way to forgive and to forget.  Bring to them a release from their burden and a relief from their cares.

  We pray for the peacemakers of our World, for those who act to bring about reconciliation and the resolution of conflict, for those who focus is on building up relationships and of breaking down barriers. 

Give to them the strength for their endeavours and the encouragement to persevere.

  We pray for Your Church in this and every Land, those who confess their faith in you as their Lord and Saviour, no matter what language they speak, no matter what hymns they sing, no matter how they worship. 

Please sustain and guide them so that your people will not grow weary of doing what is right, or of proclaiming your word of grace and mercy to all, or of confronting discrimination.  May your Church indeed be the bearer of your divine light to shine on all Nations to show the way to the deliverance from sin and reconciliation with you and each other.

Make us loving towards our neighbours, eager to forgive and to heal. 

May we radiate your presence to those who we meet in the streets of our neighbourhood or in the aisles of the shopping centre.  May we show love and hospitality in all we do and say.

(Prayers for the Seasons of God’s People Year A p60,  Leading Intercessions pp8, 10, 11 & 12)

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

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.