leadinginworship

Big Picture Congregational Prayer

Thank you God for everything under us;
for these chairs on which we sit,
for this church’s firm foundation,
for the soil with its burrowing animals and insects,
for the rock down under that, layered by the sea in ancient times,
for the water that flows in subterranean channels far beneath us,
and for the miles upon miles of bedrock,
(unknown and unexplored by all but you),
all the way down to the living heat of our planet,
the molten rock deep in the heart of the earth.

Thank you God for everything above us;
for this solid roof which shelters us,
for the wind swirling and birds soaring skyward,
for the airplanes and clouds high above,
for the upper atmosphere and the stratosphere,
for satellites orbiting, for meteors whizzing,
for the moon and the planets  of our solar system,
for asteroids and comets and supernovae and black holes,
for galaxy upon galaxy stretching away into the vastness of space.

The wide span of your work is a mystery we cannot fathom.
You are above us, you are beneath us, God of creation!
We pause now in silence as you hear our confessions and concerns:
           [silence]
Thank you that even though we are so small in the scheme of things,
you hear our prayers, you answer our prayers.
Bless our church, and help us to be people who point others to you,
help us to be a faithful part of your big picture.  Amen.

Open Us Congregational Prayer

God of great gifts,
for the world as we know it, we give you thanks!
The world in all its nearness,
our own special corners, our own dearest vistas,
the way it meets us each morning when we open our eyes.
For the food you provide, we give thanks,
the shape and feel of it in our hands,
the taste of it in our mouths,
a rich harvest produced by your rain, your sun, your soil.
We open ourselves to this bounty. 
We give thanks for the way you people the world,
the particularity of each special person we know and love,
the shape of their smiles, the way they tilt their heads,
the warmth of their embrace, the quality of their company.
We open ourselves to love. 
We give thanks for all this world in its immense beauty,
its staggering strength, its heights and depths,
the breadth of it, beyond our knowing.
And yet you know it, you know us,
you have made yourself known.
We thank you for the contours of your love
in the form of a son who is bread and wine and water and truth.
We are eager to be like him, to be born again in his likeness.
Open us to the Holy Spirit:
thank you for the possibilities that await us this week,
that love can win, that hope can blossom,
that faith can find a way in this world even in hard places.
We pray for all who need comfort and peace and help,
especially those near to us; fill them with your goodness.
We long for your healing power for those we know who are sick.
God of the great wide world and ourselves in this corner of it,
make us into a community that is open
cratered by the splendor of your creation
and filled to the brink with thankfulness.
Amen.

 

Prayer for the List of Coming Disasters

This is a prayer we are reluctant to pray
because it is so hard to name what we fear out loud.
We go through our days trying to pretend
that life as normal will continue forever,
but that is harder and harder to sustain.
And so we need this prayer where we lay out
the disaster of climate change to you, Lord, and to each other:
the loss of species never to be seen again,
the bleaching of the coral reefs,
the submersion of coastal regions,
the dislocation of populations,
the rains that don’t come and the inevitable famines,
and the disaster of hearts hardening against these losses,
and against those who are suffering.
God will you be with us in the day of trouble
if it turns out to be an era of trouble?
Are you with us in the great melting of the ice caps,
in the great migrations of peoples,
in the great dying of species,
in the great guilt as we face our part
in this list of coming disasters?
Alpha and Omega, you have walked with this world
through other cataclysmic changes;
continents drifting, meteors smashing,
volcanoes erupting and many mass extinctions.
We feel so small in the story of the world,
and yet our actions have such big consequences.
Spirit of God, continue to hover over the face of the deep.
You pronounced this earth good,
and we trust that you can bring salvation
to the created order, and to us,
in your mercy, which never ends
and which we cannot destroy.
Amen.

Praying at the New Year

Creator of this new year, and every year,
thank you for the changeable gift of time.
Some years slip through our fingers like too many beads to hold,
beautiful memories bouncing every which way.
Other years are like burrs in our hair, unwanted, uncomfortable,
and really hard to shake off.
We stand at this threshold of the old and the new,
hoping for a good year.
We all want health and peace in our time,
we want safety for loved ones,
food on the table every day and clean fresh water.
For gifts we have received this past year,
we give you thanks and praise.
Thank you in advance for the gifts you will give us
that we don’t really want.
For the ability to survive violence,
for the perseverance to endure sickness,
for the strength to not return evil when evil is done to us.
Thank you that you will bring beauty to us
even when we don’t look,
you will provide good paths to take
that we will likely disregard.
Thank you that in spite of our failings,
you never fail us.
We long to follow in the footsteps of Jesus this year,
and we trust that you will be our coach,
whispering encouragement, nudging us when we need nudging.
Help us to be the generous, gracious people you created us to be,
living in communities that are welcoming
and brimming with good news for all.
Finally, we pray for this good earth.
As it takes another trip around the sun,
in your mercy protect it from our excesses,
and teach us how to live gently, walk humbly
and love the earth deeply every day of the year ahead.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Thanksgiving Prayer in Times Likes These

Thank you, Lord, for your care for all creation.
You watch over the sun, whose rays warm us,
you order the moon, whose light silvers the night.
The seasons follow your guidance,
and we give thanks for farmers and their harvests;
for the last combines collecting the crops,
for golden stubble fields stretched out for a long rest.
Even as food is collected and stored,
we are mindful of places where food is hard to find;
the rains didn’t come, and the plants didn’t grow,
or hurricane winds blew the harvest away.
Open our hearts to share nature’s bounty
with all your children who are in need.
Thank you for your care for us,
for the way you bring people into our lives to love us.
Thank you for families, for friends, for our church community,
offering love and support.
You know that we care for each other,
yet we confess that we love imperfectly, sometimes grudgingly,
sometimes with only half a heart.
Give us the courage to apologize when apologies are necessary,
and to try to do our best, modeling ourselves on Jesus Christ,
who gave his whole life in service to others.
Knowing your care for us,
we are confident as we lift up those we love who are grieving,
or who face health challenges of various kinds.
We pray for newcomers to country, seeking a new home.
Where there is sorrow, bring your comfort,
and a renewed belief that the world is a safe place for them.
We all long for safety, especially in times like these.
Where there is violence, we need your peace,
where there is instability, your calming presence,
where there is hatred, your abundant love,
where there is suspicion and fear, your assurance.
God of great gifts, we long for a harvest of righteousness;
equip us as your church to be agents of your kingdom,
ambassadors of hope, even in such a time as this.
In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Prayer for the Future

All-seeing God,
hear my prayer for the future that I will not see.
For all the children of my children's grandchildren,
and all the others born when this century
is a long ago memory.
Let their feet touch this good earth,
let it still be good, growing green as it always grows.
Let their hands be reaching to connect,
not grasping, not fighting.
I want to pray that we would be beyond all that,
but I think that's asking for too much.
Instead, I pray for what we have survived.
The upheavals I cannot imagine or name,
the suffering that is beyond speaking.
I pray that we could still be good,
still loving in the face of hatred,
still hoping in the face of despair,
I pray that we would be skilled at beginning again
even when it seems like the end of everything.
For you are with us.
Time can't stop you from loving us.
Your everpresent ear takes this tiny message,
and transports it forward through the years.
My dear future friends:
Believe. Love. Cherish.
Look up at the distant stars 
and say prayers for the future.
We pray together, you and I,
that hope will arrive in time.

Breath of Spring Congregational Prayer

We listen this morning to the sound of our own breath,
and the breathing of those around us. [pause for 30 seconds]
Thank you God for breath,
for life flowing in and out of each of us.
It is wonderful to be alive—thank you for life!
Thank you for the sweet scent of the breath of spring;
for blossoms--apricot, cherry, peach,
for daffodils and sweet hyacinths,
for the good earth, turned over and ready for seed,
for the strong sun and its power.
Thank you that you are a God who hears our breath.
You hear our slow steady breaths as we’ve slept,
the panting of children as they run and play,
the deep breaths of hard work and manual labour,
our slow sighs when we are weary or filled with grief.
You hear our first little baby breath,
you are the one who hears and knows our final breath.
Your Spirit moves over the earth, enlivening us all.
Help us to exhale hatred, and inhale your love
Help us to exhale greed, and inhale your generosity.
Help us to exhale despair, and inhale your hope.
Breathe life into peacemakers,
in the conflicts in our own town and country,
where class and race and ideology divide us.
Breathe life into peacemakers in ___________
where war has ruled so long.
Breathe inspiration into our government leaders and diplomats,
helping them work for peaceful solutions.
Forgive us when we are not outraged by war and violence,
and instead are numb to every new story of destruction.
On this most beautiful of days,
with your Spirit blowing over this land,
thank you for giving us this chance
to be part of your breathtaking work,
humble servants in the service of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen

Prince of Pieces Congregational Prayer

The world is filled with your glory,
and you’ve given us eyes to see it,
ears to hear it, a nose to smell it,
hands and mouth to touch and taste.
Thank you for the taste of fresh strawberries,
for the way their sweetness symbolizes summer.
Thank you for the beauty of roses,
red and yellow and white and pink,
their fragrance, the delicateness of their petals.
Thank you for the sun and the wind after so much rain.
Your love surrounding us in so many sensory ways.
Bring life in our own hearts,
which are in places dead and cold.
We have relationships that we’ve given up on.
We think peace can never come between warring nations.
We can’t see a way to stop environmental destruction.
Right in the midst of the muck of our despairs,
you plant a seed of hope.
Help us nurture new life with small steps towards peace;
a kind word even when someone is mean to us,
faithful prayers for the people of warring countries,
and gifts to agencies that work for peace.
Or the small step of conservation,
the step of noticing the world, not walking by,
taking care and giving care to the lives of the creatures
with whom we share this world.
Peace comes to the world in pieces,
small pieces, which you piece together
in ways too mysterious for us to understand.
The tiniest seeds growing beyond our wildest hopes.
Prince of Peace, Prince of all pieces,
be our Saviour, now and forever.  Amen.

Winter Solstice Prayer for the Northern Hemisphere

God of Winter

even at mid-day today the winter solstice sun

crouched low over the southern horizon.

Low noon, and the day is short.

Darkness sits with us early and late,

lingering longer the further north we go.

Bundled against the cold,

the lack of light weighs on us,

and we are plagued with dark worries

in these troubled times.

And yet, you order this big old earth.

Sailing through space it tips only so far,

but no further from the sun.

Thank you for solar power and centripetal forces

which grip us, warm us, and give us life.

Thank you for reminders when we become too

self-absorbed with our own importance:

the world is spinning as it should

without any help from us.

God of the distant Spring,

be with us in this cold season.

Be our light when all other lights fail;

we live and move and have our being

in your love.

A Prayer for the Stream Behind My Apartment Building

Creator God:
I am sorry for this little stream,
its banks straightened and cemented.
Graffiti decorates the culverts,
and it’s dotted with plastic bags and bottles.
But trees still grow and shelter,
dappling with shadow,
ducks and dragonflies dally,
birds swoop and the wild creatures come to drink.
Now in fall, yellow leaves sail on its dark surface,
it’s still a place that delights.
This little stream retains its beauty
even after we’ve abused it.
We turn our backs on it, and yet it flows,
gurgling and burbling, bustling its way
beyond our banks, slipping through rivers
and lakes and rivers and down to the sea.
You know this stream from its beginnings,
carved by glaciers, fed by springs a mile deep.
You remember when human eyes first saw it,
when people drank from it, and hunted near it.
You imagine a beautiful future for your stream.
My prayer today is one of repentance for deeds done
and a deep desire for a lesson falling down on us like rain.
Living Water, teach us that water is life.

Psalm 98 Call to Worship

Our call to worship is from Psalm 98:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
   break forth into joyous song and sing praises. 
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
   with the lyre and the sound of melody. 
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
   make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord. 
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
   the world and those who live in it. 
Let the floods clap their hands;
   let the hills sing together for joy 
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
   to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with equity. [verses 4-9]

Here we are Lord!
We come into your house this morning
praising your faithfulness,
giving thanks for your mercy,
seeking your joy.
Thank you for creating us
and giving us life and breath today.
Thank you for your son Jesus Christ, our Saviour
and for the Holy Spirit
whose presence here
unites us as your people.
Fill us with your peace today. Amen.

Song of Peace Confessional Prayer

Lord, we come in prayer to you burdened with our unhappy business:
all the deeds done under the sun that we would rather not remember,
the sound of sin in our world.
The explosions caused by bombs made in our own factories.
The cries of the hungry that are not fed in our own communities.
Our own hurtful words hurled at those we love.
The echoing silence of creatures who we have driven to extinction.
Hearer of all, you know too clearly the sorrows of our world!
Forgive us our sins, and help us right the wrongs we’ve done.
Give us words of repentance to share with those we’ve wronged,
ringing courage to stand up for the voiceless creatures of the world
and a resounding love for the lowest and the least.
Most of all, tune our ears to the voice of Jesus,
so that always and everywhere we might hear
his song of peace for every creature under the sun.

Great Connector Congregational Prayer

Creator God,
thank you that we are a connected people.
We are connected in ways
other generations could never have imagined;
connected with wires and radio waves,
fibre optic cables and the internet,
connected with roads and train tracks
and airline flightplans.
We are more connected with each other
than at any other time in history and yet…
something isn’t right.
Sometimes we are overwhelmed,
there are too many people to connect with.
And we are so frantic in our drive to be connected,
that we neglect the elemental connection
with those right in front of us,
friend and stranger whose eyes try to meet us
while we stare at our screens.
Open our eyes and hearts to the connections
you would have us pursue.

Thank you for placing us on planet earth,
a world where we are inextricably connected.
We breathe the air with other creatures,
we walk the same earth, we return to dust like them.
Help us to revel in this global family life,
to nourish it, to protect it, to steward it.

God of grace, there are places in the world
where the disconnect between people
is so deep and so wide, we don’t know what to do with it.
Places with walls, like Palestine and Israel, Gaza.
Places with barbed wire and bomb craters like Afghanistan.
Places with factions that don’t want to talk--like Syria.
Places in our own homes and communities
where we feel like we’re speaking across a great divide.

There are people in our community
who are living in the land of sickness,
the land of great pain, the land of depression.
They feel separation and estrangement from life as they knew it.
Help us to reach out, to offer your love,
to be practical in our efforts to comfort.

You are the Great Connector,
you brought this great world into being.
Re-create us in your image.
Fill us with your uniting Spirit.
This is what we’re praying, in the name of Jesus,
who came to connect us with you forever. Amen.

Amazing Congregational Prayer

Thank you God for this amazing world,
that is both diverse and complex.
Thank you for a world that includes snowy tundra and desert,
that includes rocky mountains and tropical beaches,
that includes icy lakes and warm oceans,
that includes cold winds and warm breezes.
Thank you that the world is not all the same.
Thank you for its beauty and our place in it.

Thank you for our amazing families,
that are both diverse and complex
You know our relationships inside out,
you know that we have family we love,
family we tolerate, family we can hardly stand.
Give us patience with our families this week.
When we would count the ways we have been neglected,
teach us to remember that we too overlook others.
When we would keep track of hurtful words,
call to mind the thoughtless words we have spoken.
When we would itemize the imperfections of our family members,
reveal to us our own shortcomings.
We need Jesus to show us the way,
giving us a love for our families
as deep as the need for love within ourselves.

Thank you for our amazing congregation
that is both diverse and complex.
Thank you for all who work so hard to make this place tick.
Thank you for those who teach children and youth and adults,
serve meals, donate money, clean sidewalks, arrange flowers
Thank you for those who pray, who work on committees,
handle our finances, practice music and hospitality,
share stories, clean up, visit the sick, play instruments
and attend our services.
Thank you for all the gifts you`ve given
and the way they are used to build up this body of Christ.  

Thank you for the amazing way you work in our world,
in diverse and complex ways that we can hardly understand.
Thank you for the role you give our congregation and our families,
sowing seeds, being salt and light everywhere we go.
We pray especially today for those we know who are sick….
Our hearts are heavy with the story in the news this week [name story]…
you know how peace was broken and how it can be healed.
We call on your amazing power to renew, to restore, to rejuvenate.

Bless our congregational meeting this Sunday,
we want it to be a good time of community sharing and visioning.
May the words we hear(d) today from scripture
speak to us about who you want us to be this year,
in this time and this place.
We pray this in the name of Jesus our Saviour, Amen.

In your image offering prayer

Holy God;
you call us to be made holy,
to be made in your image.
We trust in your generosity,
and so are free to be generous ourselves,
opening our hearts and our wallets freely,
giving to the work of your church in our world.
Bless these gifts and us to your service,
Amen.

Creation Care

I’m another in the long line of admirers.
Eve and Adam admiring the garden,
Abram staring, open-mouthed, at the stars,
Elijah running through a beautiful rain,
and David singing, always singing on the hillsides.
God’s praises being sung through the ages,
praise to a Creator whose work stands the test of time. 

This time, it’s my turn.
I close the computer, open the back door
and step into the garden.
My heart is a sounding board
for the night sky, deep with stars.
The fragrance of today’s rain still lingers,
and the crickets are singing all night long.
It’s God’s earth and I care for it. 

So what do we do about the
parts per million invisible to the naked eye
that change our atmosphere, thinning the ice cap,
raising the oceans, transforming our weather?
What about the beached whales, the bewildered polar bears,
the news of one more species never to be seen again?
 
Creation has cared for me, nurtured me,
held me close and taught me to sing.
I don’t know what it will be today:
a song of lament, a song of justice,
a chant for peace, a chant for change,
a hymn for hope, a hymn for healing?
Open now my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will sing out your song.

Call to worship for a windy day

God in heaven,
you are the God of rushing winds
swirling over mountains and across the plains,
the God of mighty gusts
driving clouds and current around the earth.
The winds of time are yours,
a century is but a moment in your sight.
This morning we ask for the wind of your Spirit
to blow through your church,
stirring us with your courage,
moving us with your compassion,
filling us with your hope.
We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Thanksgiving prayer for farmers

Thank you, God, for farmers!
For those people who have touched the soil,
who have known it intimately,
the feel of it in their fingernails,
the taste of it, the way it smells after the rain.
For those who have cared for animals,
touched them, heard their cries,
nurtured them carefully.
Being a farmer can be a hard life,
the bills don’t match the income,
the weather doesn’t co-operate
or the markets are fickle.
Be with farmers, Lord,
and particularly the farming families in our church,
in hard times as well as good.
Help us to create a society where farmers are respected,
and compensated for their work fairly.
Help us to personally be thankful for their work,
that sustains us in the most basic way possible.

We pray for farmers and communities around the world
where the rain did not come,
or the rain came too hard, or too late,
for those whose soil is depleted,
or who cannot afford the cost of production.
So many in the world are hungry today
because of a poor or non-existent harvest,
 or because war interrupted the harvest.
Open the hearts of the world, open our hearts,
to be generous, to share the bounty that you give us.

All of our farming relies on the good earth,
and we pray for the earth today too.
Help us take care of it, help us cherish it,
help us pass it on, safely, to a new generation.
Guide our governments to make wise decisions regarding the earth.
Particularly we pray for our Canadian politicians,
that you would open their eyes to the long term health of our rich land,
giving them the courage to make decisions that will benefit
Canadians a hundred years from now.

We are so thankful for the beautiful home you provide for us,
for Niagara, rich in soil and generous in weather,
a garden of delights for us who live here.
It’s your gift, and we thank you for it.
Amen.

Life to Life Congregational Prayer

Lord you give life to life!
From day one, your Spirit brooding over the deep,
your wind rushing, your breath filling.
As creatures of the earth we rejoice in life
using our breath, our being,
to raise this hymn of praise:
Hallelujah to the sun’s hot passion
embracing the ground’s great shoulders.
Hallelujahs for the growth from seed to plant
greening the earth;  its fruit—beauty and food!
Hallelujahs for generations of life
tumbling one after another.
Life creeping, swimming, flying, running,
below, above, upon, within.
All the world sings, calls, signals, speaks
praise to God whose glory grows in all that breathes!

Knowing your power, knowing your love for us, we bring requests this morning;
we pray for those who are preparing for marriage, and who are newly married,
especially ______________;
give these people wisdom and steadfastness
and above all, love, as they join their lives together, and form new families.
We pray for all we know who are sick, in mind or body,
or who suffer from chronic conditions,
especially we name ________________ who are in need of your comfort.

We long for reconciliation with those we have harmed.
Forgive us for harsh words or harsh actions.
There is conflict in our world, we think of the war in __________;
raise up peacemakers who love negotiations more than they love weapons.

Fill us, enliven our church to be ambassadors of life abundant,
breathing out your song in harmony,
singing to you, our Creator,
whose glory shines through all the world. Amen.

Canada Day Prayer

Thank you, God, for this piece of the world called Canada, 
a slice of land broad and wide,
blessed with rivers and great lakes,
wide skies and great forests,
high mountains and gracious plains,
beautiful from sea to sea to sea.

Thank you for letting us live in this land,
even though we do not own it;
this land is your land,
which we use in trust for future generations.
Thank you for its rich history,
which includes the Inuit and Aboriginal and Metis peoples.
We pray for justice and wisdom as we work on difficult
and abusive relationships with First Peoples.

Thank you for our system of government,
for the right to speak freely, and to elect our leaders.
Thank you for the freedom of religion and conscience that we enjoy. 
Thank you for universal health care,
and a social safety net, even though not all are caught by it,
and not all dwell in safety.

We want a country that is the best it can be,
a home for all, welcoming refugees and newcomers,
sharing this wealthy country with the world.
Bless our leaders, our Prime Minister and all members of parliament;
guide their steps, and empower us to use our voice to help them
as they make difficult and far-reaching decisions.
We thank you today for our home and native land--
thank you for giving us a home here, where we live in peace and security.
God keep our land, Canada, keep it strong and free,
keep it safe and beautiful for future generations.
Amen.