Peace Your promise Our hope Peace in our communities… Unite us to raise our voices against violence in our homes in our churches in our schools in our work places Peace on our earth… Unite us to take a stand, to act to become eco-churches to go green in our homes and communities to demand powers […]
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Holy and loving God, in this Advent Season [on this Sunday of Advent], we turn our hearts and our minds towards you. You are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with tenderness all that exists: Every creature that crawls or swims or flies, every plant that turns […]
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We come to worship and remember you. We come to hear and to learn more of your word. Your word is unchanging. From earliest time, to now, you have spoken things into being, and they are good. You are mindful of your people. Teach us to be similarly mindful of you. Give us the message […]
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Women taught me to pray. Fold your hands Bow your head Close your eyes were their gentle Sunday instructions. I was a child in the company of women planting seeds. For years I folded inward and prayed. In the dark Chin lowered Hands together I was tightly sealed, Yet there was life: the seeds became […]
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A prayer arising from 1 King 19 God ever-new and ever-old, Teach us to listen: To listen with patience, when we want immediate answers; To listen with openness to a new word, when we are more comfortable with the old; To listen with deep respect to the roots of our faith, when we […]
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Theme: Growing in the habit of prayer A complete Cafe Church worship service weaving together scripture, drama, reflection, conversation & communion Compiled & written by Ana Gobledale for Open Table This service is designed for a congregation gathered around tables. It can easily be adapted for a more traditional setting. The Leader’s Sheet includes the entire […]
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Appropriate for sharing with the dying, at a funeral, crematorium service or at a memorial service O my God, fill our souls with holy joy, courage and strength to serve you. Enkindle your love in us and then walk with us along the next stretch of the road before us. We do […]
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Preparation: Bag with telephone inside. The telephone should be easily recognizable, as a telephone, by the children. Gather the children around. I like to face the children, with my back to the congregation. I either sit on the floor or on a child’s small chair. The children either sit on the floor around me or […]
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Prayers for our world — inspired by Psalm 23 Let us turn our mind and thoughts to others. We will lift up prayers for our world, our nation, our community and our church, responding with the phrase: Good Shepherd, Guide us in love. Pray with me. . Good Shepherd, we hear the cries and joys […]
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Peace be within your walls and quietness within your towers. Psalm 122:7 I think of Advent as a “pray and prune” time –a whole liturgical season in which to weed and prune in order to reset our hearts and souls as we prepare for and make the pilgrimage to the manger. Advent is here. As […]
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Each September the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum of the World Council of Churches invites participation in the World Week for Peace in Palestine & Israel, a week of advocacy and action supporting an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine and a just peace for all in Palestine and Israel. Congregations and individuals around the […]
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Lofty, cavernous space Warm, earth-toned candlelight enfolding me in its womb. Nothing can harm you A suggestion of incense Soft, background chanting hinting at generations past and to come. Vast eternal community gathered in microcosm. Come and pray in us, Holy Spirit Majestic windows drawing my soul upwards on the rising […]
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Inspired by Genesis 1 which is included in the Sunday lectionary for Epiphany Year B, Trinity Sunday Year A, and Easter Sunday Years A, B and C. Our God, We come before you with minds, hearts and eyes open To the many ways in which you reveal yourself to us: In the colours of autumn, […]
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Inspired by Psalm 32 Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C Eternal One, You have blessed us. You have forgiven our hurtful actions. You have blocked out our mistakes and wrongs. When you add up our errors, the total always seems to vanish. And we start with a clean slate. You erase our shame […]
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We call to mind your deeds, and remember your wonders of old. We meditate on all your works, and muse on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who works wonders You have displayed your might among the peoples. When the […]
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Wild and restless spirit of God Accompany our Lenten journeys. Give us courage to spend time in the wilderness The place where you bring us face to face with ourselves. Help us to pray with honesty Help us to live with simplicity Make us hungry and thirsty for your life-giving presence. When we return to […]
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Our God We pray for Empathy – seeking to understand: ideas, people, situations, ourselves, our faith, our hopes, seeking, exploring the why of life, the why of who we are. seeking because we know that only by seeking, do we go beyond ourselves, to where answers reside, answers that we had never considered. And we […]
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Our God, The world is more magical, less predictable, more autonomous, less controllable, more varied, less simple, more infinite, less knowable, more wonderfully troubling than we could have imagined being able to tolerate when we were young. More surprising, able to operate without us adaptive, resistant robust fragile complex and into this environment, we are. […]
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Our God, Your living word is not static but the unfolding story of your actions in the world We pray that we would be part of that story as recipients and participants cutting across the addiction people have for the world cultural addictions of greed, of status, appearance, recognition, of voyeurism, celebrity worship, the need […]
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Words resting in the silence of our hearts Words spoken into eternal presence Word felt Words uttering our deepest need and strongest faith, our doubts and uncertainties Prayers for Sunday Prayers for Monday Prayers for Tuesday Prayers for Wednesday Prayers for Thursday Prayers for Friday Prayers for Saturday Prayers for today, words for you:
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Which words resonate for you? Our Mother… Our Father… Our Creator… We are Servants of the Word, not slaves to the words of worship. “We invite you to use the language for God that is most comfortable for you: ‘Our Creator,’ ‘Our Father’ or ‘Our Mother.’” –suggestion in the service sheet at the First Congregational Church, […]
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O Holy Spirit, Spirit of God You are Love. Fill our hearts so that we may know how to forgive. How to understand. How to cherish and how to let go. Holy Spirit, you are truth. Teach us the way of Christ. Expose all falseness in our values and cleanse us from prejudice. Give us […]
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Remember the Holy One is with you. Bring to mind this loving presence within you and around you as you pray the following: Open my mind to remember your presence. Open my mouth to speak your wisdom. Open my heart to extend your love. Open my hands to serve you generously. Open my whole being […]
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Where do you live, God? Where can I find you abiding? I find you in moments of awe – breathing in the odor of lavender I find you in moments of wonder – looking across the icy waters toward the snow-covered hills I find you in moments of anxiety—lighting the flame of a devotional candle […]
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Year A: Third Sunday of Easter A Prayer based on Acts 2:14a,36-4 God of new beginnings, Today we remember our baptisms: A day shrouded in an infant’s hidden memory A day chiselled in the sharp memory of a teenager A day gloriously shining in the memory of a new convert. Your promises live in […]
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We ask that when we are tired and weary and longing for rest, you come and provide for us. When we cannot find your peace in our country and long for your blessing, provide for us. As we join the great circle of prayer with all the saints, we ask you to come into our […]
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Merciful God, we pray for those whose land and lives are destroyed by climate chaos, especially today in [country/area names affected current climate-related event]. We pray for those who give immediate humanitarian assistance, and for [Christian Aid / or other organisation through which the congregation supports assistance] partners who support communities in the slow and careful […]
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Worried about Climate Change? Concerned for our environment? Wanting to be a good steward of God’s creation? Join other Christians committed to make a stand for climate justice. Each month, a new ‘Prayer Point’ is posted on the website: Pray and Fast for the Climate. Here is the posting for July 2023 as an example: […]
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As you gather with your loved ones this year, or pause to remember those you are missing most at this time, know that you are surrounded by a wider cloud of witnesses: your wider church family. Held together in God’s arms and encircled by love, may you feel God’s presence in this Holy Season. May […]
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You give us Advent, Lord, and we are grateful and glad to abide in your time, urgent, yet measured, imagining life. You give us Advent, Lord, and we are grateful and glad to watch by your light, candid, yet hidden, sharp as a truth. You give us Advent, Lord, and we are grateful and glad […]
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We pray for Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela, especially for the Programme of Ecumenical Accompaniment in Colombia which works to support communities affected by the Colombian conflict between government and the FARC rebels. We pray for the farmers of the Finca Alemania co-operative and their children also affected by the current political situation. Amen. The Ecumenical Prayer Cycle […]
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God, hear our cries. Our calm and trust have been shattered by the violent death in Woolwich. Keep us ever mindful that you are our God, that you are the Prince of Peace, the God of Love. Let our hearts not respond with hate or generalizations, not with phobias nor a desire for payback. We […]
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O Christ, you lived as an ordinary man not in style but simply, yet still you caused uproar, and questions everywhere; you drew the expectations of hungry crowds, and brought buried conflicts to the light. May we, who are sometimes swayed by the crowd’s approval, and who often avoid conflict for fear of its cost […]
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From Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, Fr. Edward Hayes To You, O Divine One, from whose hands comes the work of creation, so artfully designed, I pray that this work I am about to do may be done in companionship with you. May the work that I will soon begin sing praise to you, as songbirds […]
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