Tag: thanks giving

Prayers for the outpouring of God’s Spirit

18th January 2025

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Genesis 17:17 

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Deuteronomy 8:6-9

Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.

As at the beginning, Lord God, 

you made us in your image 

and wrought with us a special bond, 

an everlasting covenant of faith and love.

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may truly return that love.

As at the beginning, Lord God, 

you have provided us good rich land, 

overflowing with the good things of creation – 

plants for food, water to drink.

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may be truly grateful. 

As at the beginning, Lord God, 

you created all manner of creatures

 – our kith and kin – 

for companionship and teamwork.

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may be faithful friends.

As from the beginning, Lord God, 

you have filled the world with signs 

and words of wisdom 

so that we may learn and live well. 

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may be attentive to your instruction.

As from the beginning, Lord God, 

you have created a world of harmony 

and flourishing 

that all may live lives of fulfilment. 

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may be at one with all creation.

As from the beginning, Lord God, 

you have a created your world 

as a place for joy and love to thrive 

and where happiness will abound.

Continue to breathe your Spirit 

into our hearts 

that we may ever rejoice and praise your glory. 

Amen. 

The Glory of Creation and our Failings

15th September 2024

The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein. Psalm 24:1

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A Reading Ephesians 2:8-10 (The Living Bible)

Because of God’s  kindness, you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it. It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago God prepared that we should spend these lives in helping others.

Glory to God,

Creator of rivers and streams, lakes and mountains. 

We praise you for the majesty of the Alps, their glittering snowy peaks 

and the frozen waters stored in their glaciers. 

Glory to God, 

Creator of forests and plains:

We thank you for the vast lands where we can grow crops, for hillsides where we grow vines, and for meadows where sheep and cattle may graze.

Glory to God

Creator of rocks and minerals:

We thank you for the wealth of raw materials with which we can make so much; 

we thank you for fast flowing waters that provide us with energy.

Glory to God, 

Creator of  curiosity and ingenuity:

We thank you for the wisdom we have learnt from the study of your world; 

thank you for the skills we have learnt in harnessing the resources you have given us.

Forgive us when we have misused that wisdom; 

forgive us when we have used those skills for ill. 

Merciful God,

Creator of human kind, 

Forgive our greed that has mined land and sea for fossil fuels, jeopardising our future.

Forgive our greed that industrialises farming, destroying soils and draining lakes. 

Forgive our greed that turns animals into commodities and disregards their sentient nature. 

Forgive our greed for consumer goods that strips the earth’s reserves.

Merciful God,

Creator of our brothers and sisters:

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich grow richer 

and the poor poorer.

Forgive the casualness with which we let the rich break the laws 

and yet still penalise the poor.

Forgive the carelessness with which we discard what we buy 

ignoring the meagre pay of those who labour. 

Guiding God,

Source  of all wisdom, 

Transform our hearts and minds, turn the direction of our hands and feet 

so that with alacrity and commitment we will reform our lives 

and live only in harmony with your creation. 

Amen.

The Grace