Prayers

Opening Prayer

O God,
We gather together in Your presence with expectation,
hungry for an encounter with You,
eager to hear Your Word.

Open our eyes and ears to the presence of Your Holy Spirit.
May the seeds of Your Word scattered among us this morning
fall on fertile soil.
May they take root in our hearts and lives,
and produce an abundant harvest
of good words and deeds.

We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ,
our teacher and our Lord.

Amen.

~ Christine Longhurst

Prayer of Invocation

Christ Jesus:
As the earth welcomes seed,
we would like to welcome your word.
In long moments of silence…
By day and by night…
It begins to grow within us,
without our knowing how.
And so,
you make us
women and men
of communion.

Amen.

~ posted on the Sacred Pauses blog.
http://www.sacredpauses.com/

Lord, We Would Grow With You

Lord, we would grow with you
New shoots reaching out
Hands stretched upward
Like leaves newly formed
Soaking up your light and warmth
Lord, we would grow with you

Lord, we would grow with you
In sunshine and rain
In darkness and light
In cold days and summer days
From Springtime to Winter
Lord, we would grow with you

Lord, we would grow with you
And bring forth fruit
That is pleasing to you
Fed by your living water
Giving sustenance to others
Lord, we would grow with you

~ contemporary Welsh prayer posted on A Place for Prayer.
http://revgalprayerpals.blogspot.ca/

Prayer of Confession

Lord Jesus Christ,
we remember with gratitude those people
who generously sowed the seeds of faith in our lives.

Pause for a time of reflection

Above all. we recognize how you have blessed our lives
with the gift of the Holy Spirit
so that our faith has miraculously and mysteriously grown.

We confess the times we fail to involve ourselves
in planting any seeds of faith in the lives of others;
the times when our personal agendas become more important than yours;
the times when we have denied others the opportunity to expand their faith
through our lack of interest or involvement;
the times when our lives become so entangled with the values of the world
that we forget what you have said and done and promised.

Lord Jesus Christ, we know that when we become disconnected from you,
our lives becomes parched and unfruitful and our faith becomes stunted and dry.
Bless and renew our lives, we pray,
so that we remain connected to you at all times and in all places,
strengthening our faith to expand and, growing strongly and vigorously,
to bear the fruit of your mercy, your love, your undying life.

Amen.

~ written by Moira Laidlaw, and posted on Liturgies Online.
http://www.liturgiesonline.com.au/

The Seed Of Your Kingdom

The seed of Your kingdom is forever being sown
into our lives, our world, O God.
But it doesn’t always take root.
Sometimes it fails to find a place to grow.

And so we pray…

For ourselves and others when life makes us hard and resistant
like a well-trodden path
where old habits, old systems and old patterns of thinking
keep your message from growing;

For ourselves and others when we become so immersed
in the short-lived, shallow, rock-hiding soil of the moment
where Your life too easily gets blown away by the wind;

For ourselves and others when our fears, insecurities,
desires and self-absorption
tangle like thorns around Your grace
and choke it into silence….(prayer continues)

~ written by John van de Laar © 2008 Sacredise. Posted on Sacredise.com.
http://sacredise.com/