A contemporary service in a United Church of Zambia congregation will usually include a ‘Prayer of Adoration, thanksgiving and confession’ following either the Call to Worship or the first hymn.
The prayers included on this post are written by students of ministry and theology at the United Church of Zambia University in Mindolo, Kitwe. They were used during the daily morning chapel service.
By Cynthia Kabanda – Prayer of adoration
Your unfailing love covers us like the eagles wings. Like the mother hen in winter, you warm us and offer us protection.
With hearts full of thanksgiving, we acknowledge the gifts of impundu, amasuku and other wild fruits where we get our vitamins. The hilarious songs of the birds of Kasanka Bird Sanctuary are simply a marvel. Nkundalila and Mambilima Falls display your greatness. In the depth of the Lake Bangweulu, Kariba and Mweru Wantipa we get our lovely and tasty species of fish. Further more we find joy as we delight in the Nachikufu Caves, the lovely Zambezi and Muchinga escarpment.
God of our ancestors, we plead for mercy in the way that our own hands have destroyed the forests of Chati and Chichele, building resorts in the name of development. We are sorry for adopting other people’s livelihood through abandoning our Ubuntu theory as a way of economising. Forgive us for these and many other sins.
By Precious Mwape
Great and Might God, we worship and praise you for your wonderful works.
Human philosophies, ideologies and science have failed to explain who you really are. There is no mathematics that can calculate your worth. Seasons come and go, and generation come and go, yet you remain the same.
You have made different races of human kind yet male and female are common in all the races showing that there is only one Creator. Thank you for our families, friends, and the lecturers of our university.
Faithful God, despite your love and kindness we have sinned against your will. We have injured other people’s emotions and have betrayed the trust of others. Forgive us.
By Wellingtone Bawalya
Gracious God, our Creator, redeemer and sustainer of our lives, you have gathered us here from many parts of the country and you have made us one loving community. We have come to offer you our praise and thanksgiving, to confess our need for each other, to affirm our common faith and to seek your guidance as we work towards a community that is accepting, supporting, reconciling, and healing.
Forgive us for our ecological sins we have committed. There is a loud cry from mother earth crying for help because we have plundered nature in the name of development and civilization. Mainly when we destroy what is made by humanity, we call it vandalism and yet when we destroy what you created, God, we call it civilization. Due to our selfishness, have mercy upon us.
Give us love that we may protect nature–the world, and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty not pollution and destruction. Teach us to recognise that we are profoundly united with the creation as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us. We pray for justice and peace.
By Thomas Bwalya
God, we praise you for creating this world in all beauty. With adoring love, we acclaim your glory. All praise and glory be yours.
We thank you for our friends and families and for all you are doing in our lives.
Gentle and gracious God, we confess before you the evil of our hearts. We acknowledge that we are too inclined toward anger, jealousy, revenge and pride, which often give rise to unpleasant feelings between others and us. Forgive us, through Jesus Christ.
By Stephen Bwalya
Eminent and immeasurable God, being Mother and Father of the universe you incarnated through Jesus as the first born among the creations. We praise you.
When we look at the beauty and wonders of your creation, they are convincing that indeed you surpass human description and you are beyond what is written about you in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing in this world and in the world to come can comprehend your greatness.
Despite your goodness toward us, we have abused nature and wandered from your ways knowingly and unknowingly. Therefore, we ask for your forgiveness. It is through your son Jesus Christ we pray.
