Theme: ‘Teach us to Pray’
Preparation
Opening
Opening hymn: CP348 We cannot measure how you heal
A prayer of approach based on Psalm 138
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
I will sing your praise everywhere I go.
I give thanks to you for your steadfast love,
for your name is Love above all things.
When I call, you answer me,
I will sing your praise everywhere I go.
All the peoples of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
they shall sing of the ways of the Lord;
for great is the glory of the Lord.
The Lord raises up the lowly;
but the mighty he brings down to earth:
they shall all sing of the ways of the Lord.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you protect me in the face of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Let us sing of the ways of the Lord. Amen.
Readings
Refrain: bless this house O Lord we pray
Jesus teaches his friends how to pray and tells them to pray simply and ask God for everyday needs.
Audio reflection: based on the Lord’s Prayer
Reflection:
- What does ‘give us each day our daily bread” mean for you ?
- What do you pray for every day ?
- How might you be the answer to someone’s prayer ?
Poem: ‘Prayer’ Carolyn Forche
Begin again among the poorest, moments off, in another time and place.
Belongings gathered in the last hour, visible invisible:
Tin spoon, teacup, tremble of tray, carpet hanging from sorrow’s balcony.
Say goodbye to everything. With a wave of your hand, gesture to all you have known.
Begin with bread torn from bread, beans given to the hungriest, a carcass of flies.
Take the polished stillness from a locked church, prayer notes left between stones.
Answer them and hoist your net voices from the troubled hours.
Sleep only when the least among them sleeps, and then only until the birds.
Make the flatbed truck your time and place. Make the least daily wage your value.
Language will rise then like language from the mouth of a still river. No one’s mouth.
Bring night to your imaginings. Bring the darkest passage of your holy book.
Anthem: Now the green blade rises
Prayer
Prayers of intercession based on the today’s gospel
For those who need bread
because they starve during the daytime and go to bed hungry,
because they lack the means to provide for their families and communities…
God of all: we ask on behalf of those in need.
For those who seek love and companionship with other human beings,
yet find only ill treatment and injustice,
cruelty in the place of tenderness…
God of all: we ask on behalf of those in need.
For those who have come to border crossings,
desperate for asylum and a welcome from danger,
a place where they can have a life
and the opportunities we so take for granted…
God of all: we ask on behalf of those in need.
Amen.
Collect for today:
Creator God, you made us all in your image: may we discern you in all that we see and serve you in all that we do; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Affirmation of Faith:
We believe in God the Father
From whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.
We believe in God the Son
Who lives in our hearts through faith and fills us with his love.
We believe in God the Holy Spirit
Who strengthens us with power from on high.
We believe in one God
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. based on Ephesians 3
A Sending Out Prayer
Persist in prayer.
Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking,
as Christ taught you so to do.
Amen.
Hymn: CP507 Lord of all hopefulness
Organ Voluntary:
Georg Böhm – Vater unser im Himmelreich
Organist: Andy Dewar
https://youtu.be/cvSi1xpLHSw