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Litanies and Occasional Prayers
A
Litany for the Dedication of a Cross
Christ said of
his death on a cross:
‘Now
is the moment when the truth will be unveiled;
now the
ruler of this world will be driven out.
And I,
when I am lifted up from the earth,
I shall
draw all people to myself.’
Lord
Jesus, by your cross, draw us from lies to truth:
Lord Jesus, by your
cross, draw us from
lies to truth.
The Apostle
Paul wrote:
‘Jews
demand dramatic signs from heaven,
and Greeks
desire knowledge and wisdom;
but we
proclaim Christ crucified,
a stumbling
block to Jews and mere foolishness to
Gentiles.’
Lord Jesus,
by your cross,
confound
our ‘wisdom’ and destroy our yearning
for power.
Lord
Jesus, by your cross,
confound
our ‘wisdom’ and destroy
our yearning for power.
Christ said of
his death on a cross:
‘If any
want to become my followers,
let them
deny themselves and take up their cross and
follow me.
For those
who want to save their life will lose it,
and those
who lose their life for my sake,
and for the
sake of the gospel, will save
it.’
Lord
Jesus, by our death on your cross, save our lives and make us whole.
Lord Jesus, by our
death on your cross,
save our lives and make us whole.
Blessed are
you, O God our Saviour.
In your
great mercy you sent Jesus
to
accomplish what we couldn’t accomplish for
ourselves.
By our
baptism into his death and resurrection,
you
released us from our bondage to sin and death.
Now we are
free to walk freely in the wide open spaces of
your love.
Today we
dedicate this cross to your service.
May it
stand here, always, as a resonant reminder of your
costly grace.
Because we
have already died with Christ,
grant that
your people may, with him, be ever ready to lay
down our lives
for the
peace and salvation of our neighbours.
This we ask
in the name of Christ our Lord,
who lives
and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy
Spirit,
one God for
ever and ever.
Amen.
Pray for us
Great
Lifegiver, maker of the whole universe,
pray
for
us.
Spirit
Wind, whose breath sustains and animates,
pray
for
us.
Sorrowing
One, whose tears water the earth,
pray
for
us.
Mighty
Liberator, who leads the poor out of slavery,
pray
for
us.
Angry
Whirlwind, whose prophets cry out for justice,
pray
for
us.
Suffering
Christ, body broken and blood poured out,
pray
for
us.
Fiery
Cloud, ever leading God’s people home,
pray
for
us.
Transfiguring
Light, poised to make all things new,
pray
for
us.
Now
and in
the time of our greatest trial,
Lord,
set
us free!
For battered women
We lament
today a culture in which women must
struggle
so
very hard
to possess what is already theirs.
Hear,
today,
the cries of the woman whose dignity has all
but
disappeared under the yoke of masculine vanity.
We
pray for
the woman who, today, has gathered sufficient
strength
to
leave that abuse behind;
We
pray, too,
for the ones who have returned because the
voices
of
self-loathing were too great.
We
pray for
the woman whose bones are broken, whose soul
is
scarred,
whose children have been violated.
May
she
glimpse her worth, even in the tears, and, grasping
her
anger,
make a step towards life.
God our
Sister and Mother,
encourage
this little one:
Strengthen
her now, and in the time of her greatest trial.
In
your
mercy, let her cry come to you. Amen.
When hope has gone
Coming
God,
In
the
resurrection of Christ the reality
of
your
coming becomes transparent.
Lord,
open
our eyes to see.
In
the
presence of your Spirit we groan
with
the
birth-pangs of a new justice.
Lord,
renew our commitment to your cause.
In
the
hope of your coming we imagine a new world
where
your
Spirit fills and transfigures all things.
Lord,
restore our hope.
Amen.
When lost or alone
God, you
stick with us through thick and thin.
Even
when we
feel lost and alone,
you're
there
in the background,
waiting
'til
we're ready to receive the care you offer.
You
assure us
that when there's nowhere to turn,
we
can still
turn to you.
In
a smile or
a hug or loving word
you
greet us
with peace and with a heart that knows our pain.
Thankyou
God
for being with us. Amen.
For insight
God
of
breakthrough,
You
spoke
wisdom to the crowds on the hills of
let
us
hear your voice anew in the lyric of our poets.
You
healed
broken bodies by the pool of Siloam;
let
us
meet you again in the work of our healers.
You
brought calm to the troubled mind of the Gerasenes;
through
the care of friends let us experience your peace once more.
You
bore
the sin of many on the tree of
in
service
and solidarity may we share in your sacrifice.
From
the emptiness
of death you rose into life's fullness;
lead
us
beyond our sin to the abundance of grace.
Amen.
For new hope
God,
you
are our
horizon.
Help
us to
stop looking at our worn-out shoes;
help
us to
stand up straight.
and
feel the
warmth of the rising sun
on
our faces.
Amen.
At Pentecost: for reconciliation and unity
God
of
Pentecost
We
are
gathered today as a people of the Holy Spirit,
born
anew
from the watery womb of your love.
We
are aware
today that there remains much to divide us.
We
lament the
fact that we cannot yet gather
at
the supper
of our salvation as one holy people under Christ.
Lord,
you
send your Spirit to create one body of Christ
with
each of
us as members thereof.
We
pray today,
then, for a new spirit of love amongst the Christian people of our city.
Help
us,
Lord, to overcome the sad divisions that keep us apart.
In
your
mercy, give us the courage to begin a journey of healing
in
the
amazing power of your forgiveness.
Gift
us with
a renewed humility, that we may listen to each other without prejudice,
believing
that by entertaining the stranger, we entertain angels.
Come,
Holy
Spirit; kindle a fire of love . . .
· Sung Response: Come Holy Spirit, gracious heavenly dove, come fire of love.*
Creator
God,
you
send out
your Spirit to renew the face of the earth.
And
so we
pray for our world, shattered in so many places
by
ethnic and
religious violence.
Lord
of
peace, wherever the forces of prejudice and greed reign
we
pray that
your Spirit would light there a flame of love,
even
in the
hearts of those most committed to violence and oppression.
And
strengthen your broken and crucified people,
that
when the
day of evil comes they may not lose their resurrection hope.
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Fiji, and in the Solomon Islands . . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Indonesia, and particularly in the Malaku Islands . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Ethiopia and Eritrea . . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Sierra Leone . . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in the Balkans . . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Northern Ireland . . .
Lord,
kindle
a flame of love in Australia . . .
Come,
Holy
Spirit; kindle a fire of love . . .
· Sung Response: Come Holy Spirit, gracious heavenly dove, come fire of love.
Spirit
of the prophets, and midwife of peace,
We
come today
with a painful awareness that it is not only the Church
which
is
divided against itself. So, too, our nation.
As
our
spiritual leaders have gathered in the nation's heart, in Uluru,
so
we would
join with them in an earnest prayer for reconciliation.
Lord
of
justice, Lord of peace,
by
the power
of your love, reconcile your divided people!
Give
us the courage
to create in our midst a sacred space where the healing may begin,
a
space of
the Spirit where we may find the courage to lament . . .
and
repent
our wrongdoing . . .
and
say sorry
. . .
and
forgive.
Come,
Holy
Spirit; kindle a fire of love . . .
· Sung Response: Come Holy Spirit, gracious heavenly dove, come fire of love.
And
so we come to pray for each other, our God.
For
reconciliation begins with us . . .
(Invite
people to turn to another person, introduce themselves,
and
then say a prayer for each other. Stress that this prayer need not be
said out
loud).
Come Holy Spirit; kindle a fire of love . . .
· Sung Response: Come Holy Spirit, gracious heavenly dove, come fire of love.
Wisdom
of God and primal fire,
we
praise you
because you take our many stories and make of them one story,
that
you take
our many ministries and make of them one ministry in Christ,
that
you take
our many churches and make of them one Church of God.
Lord
of
Pentecost,
come
amongst
your worshipping people today
and
breathe
new life into our feeble ecumenism.
Remind
us
today that we worship the one Lord Christ, crucified and risen.
Remind
us
today that we share a common heritage of faith.
Remind
us
today of our common baptism in water and the Spirit.
And
make of
these mysteries a crucible of love
by
which we
might dare to change our world.
For
ask these
things in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
* responsorial chant is from the Iona Community in Scotland.
Prayers for the Creation and those who tend it
God of life
You
gather us
into the circle dance of your life;
You
spin your
web of love in the fabric which is our bodies,
the
bodies we
share with brother sun and sister moon.
Now
we gather
in the communion
which
is the
body of Jesus our Lord.
We
bring our
concerns and our hopes,
our
despair
and our dreaming,
asking
that,
in Christ, all this wonder about us,
this
fragile
earth
may
be
renewed in love.
(CHANT begins) :
Men: Da
pac-em cord-i-um
Da
pac-em cord-i-um
Da
pac-em cord-i-um
Da
pac-em cord-i-um
Women
1: Pa-cem,
pa-cem, pa-cem
Women
2: Pa-cem
in te-rra.*
(Translation: Give peace to every heart. Give peace in all the earth)
God of the
first day,
Spirit
who
brooded over the watery chaos and brought forth life in all
its
fullness:
we
pray this
day for the complex ecosystems of our world,
threatened
as
they are by the arrogance of our desire
and
the
ignorance of our consumerism.
Protect
and
keep them, God,
hold
them
to your breast and cherish them.
CHANT: Da pac-em cord-i-um . . .
God of the
village well,
river
of life
and mother to all who are poor:
we
pray this
day for the Indigenous peoples of the world
whose
fragile
kinship with the lands of their dreaming
are
threatened today by the greed of big government and big business.
We
remember
in particular the custodians of this place,
the
Djadjawurong people.
Protect
and
keep them, God,
hold
them to your breast and cherish them.
CHANT: Da pac-em cord-i-um . . .
God of the
desert,
wild
willy-wind of prophets and mystics:
we
pray this
day for all who seek to live their lives in solidarity
with
the
threatened species of our world,
for
all who
fight the good fight in season and out of season,
when
it is
popular to do so, and when it is not.
Protect
and
keep them, God,
hold
them to your breast and cherish them.
CHANT: Da pac-em cord-i-um . . .
God of the
Rabbi from Galilee,
friend
of the
godless and bringer of hope:
we
pray this
day for ourselves,
and
for all
who despair at the fact of our own apathy.
In
your
mercy, visit us with new stories of hope,
with
mustard-seeds of possibility that might,
with
prayer
and careful nurture,
grow
to
provide shade for all the fragile species of this beautiful world.
Protect
and
keep us, God,
hold
us
to your breast and cherish us.
CHANT: Da pac-em cord-i-um . . .
After the petitions, people are invited to wander into the centre and place a leaf in the watery womb of creation (a glass bowl) asking that God may bless these prayers with fruitful action. At the end of the prayer time, this collect is said:
Great Potter
who
moistens
the dust of the earth
and
creates,
out of barrenness,
all
that is
alive and beautiful.
Take
these prayers
of ours,
these
groans
of fragile humanity
and
make with
them,
—against
all we dare hope or expect—
make
with
them a peace which overcomes.
For
we pray
in the name of him who lives and reigns
with
you and
the Holy Spirit,
one
God
for ever and ever. Amen.
*Adapted
from a chant by Jacques Berthier
©
Ateliers et Presses de Taizé
At a
time of pain
Living
God
When
we are
hurt or in pain, save us from the cold
which
paralyses our breathing, our moving, our feeling.
And
save us from
the impenetrable mist of our loneliness.
When
we want
to curl into a coma,
when
we want
to enter that numb forgetfulness,
open
our
hearts wide.
Warm
us with
neighbours, comfort us with strangers.
That
our
wounds may be healed,
help
us to
breathe in the presence of hope once more.
Amen.
Thanksgiving
Lord of
Life,
we
come this
morning to acknowledge your goodness
in
providing
everything we need for discipleship.
You
have
given us the word of life
and
the
waters of baptism
and
the
communion in your body and blood.
And
you have
placed us within that great
company
of
strangers which is the church.
We
praise
you, this morning, for the many mentors
in
faith you
send to us as we hunger
for
a deeper
relationship with you.
Confirm
in
us, this very morning,
our
desire to
take up their mantle
for
the sake
of Christ and his gospel of peace.
In a time of war
Maker
of
the earth
let
not
the breaking of the atom undo us
Maker
of
the wind
let
not
the smoke of bombs choke us
Maker
of
reason
let
not
the computers of war murder us
Maker
of
the heart
help
us to
stop killing each other.
Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
God our
Mother and Father,
whose
dwelling is sea and sky,
may
your name
be always honoured
by
those who
wander the earth.
We
long for
your compassion and justice
to
grow to
full stature in the world.
We
long for
the great transfiguration
when
all
things will pulse with your presence.
Feed
us today
with bread and water;
in
these we
receive of your life.
Encourage
us
in passing these gifts on to others,
for
your life
is poured out for the whole creation.
And
in our
trials,
when
we
encounter your dark and terrible fire,
consume
our
demons but spare our souls.
For
all
authority, power and honour are yours,
now
and evermore.
Amen.
For salvation from despair
O
lover of
the poor in spirit:
in
Jesus you
showed us that even the least of persons,
even
a
wandering peasant from an unimportant town,
can
become
the vehicle of divine love.
O
God, we are
poor and needy:
come
quickly to save us.
In
Jesus'
execution you revealed that even
the
most
hideous of all tragedies
may
conceal a
secret hope.
O
God, we are
poor and needy:
come
quickly to save us.
In
Jesus'
resurrection we glimpsed,
if
only for a
fleeting moment,
a
flame with
strength enough to endure the dark.
O
God, we are
poor and needy
come
quickly to renew our hope.
Amen.
For women in ministry
Jesus, who
met the woman at the well:
Grant
freedom
to those sisters
who
are
prisoners of prejudice,
who
remain
the oppressed citizens of this company
which
is your
holy church.
We
give
thanks for the courage of many patient years,
and
ask that
your Spirit would continue to strive
within
women
everywhere,
speaking
forth the word of liberation.
We
pray, O
God, that you would visit your church
with
metamorphosis, with revolution,
that
women
may be free to minister
as
you have
appointed.
Amen.
For
Reconciliation between Indigenous & Non-indigenous people
God
of
love, creator of this ancient land,
We
are a
nation divided in many ways:
city
against
country
rich
against
poor
man
against
woman
industry
against environment.
Today
we
gather to name, with heavy hearts, the longstanding hurts
which
divide
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
We
acknowledge the grief and heartache caused by
the
invasion
of this continent by Europeans
the
taking of
Aboriginal land without permission
the
rape and
torture of Aboriginal women, men and children
the
policy of
assimilation and the dislocation of Aboriginal families.
Lord,
encourage all Australians to dream and live for a new vision:
help
us to
imagine a land in which all may share in the gospel
values
of
justice, peace and harmony with our environment.
Mysterious
God, creator of life and bearer of pain,
we
pray
earnestly this day for reconciliation between
Indigenous
and non-indigenous Australians.
Change
our
hearts of stone into hearts that feel;
transform
our
hollow words into works of peace and compassion.
Give
us a
deep respect and care for one another,
that
we may
listen to each other's stories without fear or prejudice.
Help
us to
walk and talk a renewed vision for Australia;
and
give us
the courage to see it through.
Ancient
Spirit of Australia,
come
upon your
people gathered here.
Bless
and
keep us in changes we make this day.
Amen.
For the loosing of chains
Saving God:
We
pray today
for a new awareness
of
the chains
which bind us.
Grace
us with
courage to remove
our
bonds and
cast them away,
even
the ones
we have grown to love,
the
ones
which are our favourite
excuses
for
stagnation.
Be
fore us
the never-wavering encouragement
to
flee from
death and choose life.
Amen.
At time of farewell
God,
bless
our parting.
Make
it like
the departure of Christ at the end of his life:
a
leaving
to
arrive in
familiar country
a
weaning
to
suckle
anew
a
letting go
to
take
rightful possession
a
dying
to
renew life
a
dividing
to
gain
wholeness
God,
bless
our parting
Make
it
sorrowful
Surprise
us
with joy.
Amen.
On Sorry Day (May 26th)
God of
Earth and Sea and Sky,
God
of our
Ancestors,
We
cry out
today in grief for what happened in this nation.
Our
hearts
churn with the pain of generations:
generations
stolen from the love of father and mother,
generations
stolen from kin and culture,
generations
stolen from the land of their dreaming.
Forgive our
complicity in the actions of
church and state.
Help
us to
change our hearts.
Infuse
our hearts
with courage to join with the journey of healing.
For
we long
for the day when the children can return home,
when
their
broken hearts may find healing
in
the land
of their dreaming and the people of their birth.
God, you
are our sister and our mother,
the
earth at
our feet and the breath in our nostrils.
We
turn to
you today,
not
knowing
how the healing will come,
but
trusting
that you will be
our
strength
and our courage for the journey.
Amen.
At the beginning of the day
Warm-winged
Spirit,
Be
beside us
and between us today:
as
we go
about our work
as
we seek to
celebrate the gift of life
as
we explore
the universe
as
we wrestle
with intimacy
as
we take
new steps in the way of Jesus
Amen.
At Pentecost or at Springtime
Merciful
God,
your
welcoming presence fills the whole creation.
The
smile of
your evergiving love visits us daily -
in
spring
rain and the teeming life of rainforests
in
works of
beauty and acts of compassion,
in
human
tenderness and the cry of newborn babies.
Loving God,
in
Jesus, you
are ever before us,
luring
and
seducing,
inviting
us
to join your divine dance, your celebration of life.
We behold
your depths of your love, O God,
in
the Spirit
poured out upon Cornelius and his household.
With
your servant
Peter, may we learn today
that
Christ
is raised for all people,
regardless
of
race, creed or gender.
Renew our
resolve to care for all people in
your name,
after
the
example of Christ our Lord;
who
lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
one
God for
ever and ever. Amen.
At
a conversation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians
Blessed
God, Ancient Spirit of this land,
you
are the
one in whom we live and move and have our being,
you
are the
one who nurtures and feeds us
with
the pure
nectar of our ancient faiths.
Come
now,
Blessed One, gather us together in a spirit of hospitality,
that
we may
welcome your own wisdom in each other's wisdom,
and
hear your
own voice in each other's voices.
Help
us to
patiently wait for the word of liberation,
that
our
hurts may be indeed be healed
and
our work
for others hallowed.
Glory
be
to you O God - Earthmaker, Painbearer, Lifegiver -
as
in the
beginning, so now and forever. Amen.
These prayers are ©
Garry Deverell
of