Abstract
These prayers are written as resources for worship services. They pick up on themes from the readings for each week, and develop them into prayers that can be used in a variety of settings.
October 3
A Prayer of Praise
Maker of heaven and earth,
we approach you in wonder.
What are human beings, that you are mindful of them,
mortal beings, that you care for them?
Yet you have made yourself known
through acts of creation, salvation and
reconciliation. You sent your Son to live among us,
as one of us. Through his faithfulness
in the face of suffering and death,
our eyes have seen your goodness,
beyond the evil in the world,
your desire for life and peace
beyond violence and death.
You have made known your love and
brought us into fellowship with you,
calling us brothers and sisters of Christ.
Keep our hearts and minds on you,
even in hardship and suffering,
that your goodness may enlighten our lives,
and your love shine in our darkness.
A Prayer of Lament
There are times, O God, when I am knocked sideways,
When my life becomes derailed or threatened,
or when life itself seems too hard to bother;
when the smile has been wiped off my face, and
I can’t see how the darkness will ever lift.
I call to you, but my suffering remains.
Are you even there?
Do you even care?
Does not my faithfulness deserve a reward?
Be with me in my struggles.
Give me better questions,
that I may trust in your faithfulness
that shines like the sun,
though the clouds may cover its light.
Where else shall I turn, for you are the source of light,
and your goodness works in wonderful ways?
Protect my integrity, that I may cling to you in trust.
October 10
When our complaints are bitter,
when God remains hidden and
our sufferings are unabated,
we will trust, like Job, that God will
hear us. We will not close our minds
to possibilities beyond our imaginings,
nor discount the prospect of new beginnings.
In our felt forsakenness, you may yet be working,
saving, healing, restoring to life.
Before you, living God, we cannot hide,
but are naked and laid bare. Your word cuts through
our pretences and illusions, loving us into fullness,
truthfulness, reality, though it may cause us grief.
We pray with Jesus, who sympathises with us,
our guide and our priest, that we may approach you
with boldness, trusting in your love and grace, open to
your word.
Your word is living and active, calling us still
into new life, new missions, new beginnings.
Let not our gifts or our compassion on others
go to waste. Draw us forward from our distractions
in which we hide.
October 17
On Greatness and humility
With the Psalmist we pray:
You laid the foundation of the earth—
Who are we to question you?
You stretched out the heavens like a tent.
Who are we to challenge your ways?
Yet in your greatness you do not
lord it over us. In Christ you came among us,
walked beside us, stooped below us to wash our feet.
You trod the same dirt as we do, suffered when others
lorded it over you, and did not glorify yourself.
Your greatness is a humble, vulnerable power, which
seeks the good of all. It comes from light, not darkness;
is serving of others, not self-glorifying.
October 24
I love goodness when I see it,
acts of kindness that could have been otherwise,
humility rather than vanity,
mercy rather than severity,
compassion rather than judgement.
You, O God, are goodness itself,
and I will tell of you.
You seek out the lost to bring them home,
you bind up those with broken hearts,
you draw us to yourself to share in your life,
to be at one, in communion with you.
I repent of my demands of you,
My list of requests and how you must help me.
My speech is one way, like a one-sided phone call,
with no room for your voice before my ‘Amen’.
Teach me to listen, to await your word,
to discern your voice, to follow your call.
Give me wise guides that I may know your ways,
and do not confine them to my small world.
Like blind Bartimaeus, I cannot see you,
unless you open my eyes. You may be moving
near me, but I miss it, for I was looking elsewhere.
Your healing presence is nearby.
Open my eyes, that I may know wholeness,
And follow you.
October 31
Purify our conscience from dead works,
Detach us from our addictions and distractions,
Turn our hearts from our death-dealing ways,
Give us compassion on the poor and oppressed,
May we protect the weak and watch over the stranger,
God of love,
And how shall we love you?
We shall not divide our hearts, loving you only partly,
as one thing among others,
but shall love you wholly, and through you, love all
that you have made.
And we shall love you
We shall not chase after other gods, as if money
or power or prestige will satisfy our deepest yearning.
Keep us true to you, finding ourselves in you,
Loving ourselves and others through you.
And we shall love you,
All that we can learn comes from you.
All the marvels that attract our minds are
from your creation. May our minds serve you,
loving, sustaining and discovering all that you have made.
And we shall love you,
With our bodies we shall care for the sick, the elderly and
the little children. With our courage we shall speak for the voiceless.
With our power we will seek to do justice, and with our energy we will
lift up those who are bowed down.
You do not wish to be placated with offerings,
but to be loved with our whole selves,
that your name may be glorified through us.