leadinginworship

Advent Peace Prayer for Marriages

Mary and Joseph were making an uneasy journey in advent.
Hugely pregnant, and with bills to pay,
they were barely through a conflict that nearly divided them.
God of grace, hear our advent prayer
for people whose marriages are in trouble.
Thank you for romantic love, and the rush of desire:
help couples who feel empty when that fades or disappears,
show them that love is deeper than romance.
Thank you for harmony and partnership:
help couples that have lost their way,
who wallow in conflict rather than pulling through to the other side.
Thank you for lovers who honour and delight:
help couples whose lovemaking has become selfish
and totally devoid of tenderness.
Thank you for unity of purpose and shared pursuits:
help couples who have grown apart
and want different things from life.
Thank you for partners who cherish each other as companions:
help couples who live with walls between them
and have forgotten how to enjoy each other’s company.
Thank you for the sacred gift of intimacy:
help us when we idolize marriage and forget
that friendship in community is the core of Christian life.
Jesus, be with all who are re-learning how to be together
as they walk the long marriage road.
Holy Spirit, you know when there is hope for a marriage
and when partners cannot rally.
Give insight, especially when safety has been shattered by violence.
Help us as a community to support married people,
and to offer unconditional love to everyone,
even when we are broken.

Praying Through A Divorce

What God has joined together now lies in pieces.
What began with delight and tenderness,
reeks now with bitterness and festering pain.
What began with soft words of love,
grates now with harsh words of blaming.
Jesus, we look for you in this relationship’s slow crucifixion
as each to each say, “Why have you forsaken me?”
As we stand on this barren Golgotha
we are desperate to repair this relationship,
which is not in our power to fix.
We urgently want to end this bleeding,
for which there is no quick remedy.
In the face of suffering we cannot fathom,
and stories which haven’t yet found a voice,
as a community we surround this family.
Holy Spirit, as we watch and wait,
empower us not to turn away.
As people of peace,
the deaths in this small war leave us
pleading for resurrection.
With humble hearts and empty hands we pray,
“Father, into your hands we give this family.”

When Family Violence Devastates a Community...

God of hope, hear our lament.
Since we heard the news of ____________________
our minds are reeling.
This is violence happening in our own neighbourhood.
Some of us knew the victims,
some know people who knew them.
Our community is grieving.
We pray for family and friends of the victims.
We pray for police officers who responded.
We pray for counsellors called in,
and everyone touched by this crime.
We need your help because this crime is not singular.
Every year women are murdered by their partners,
in their homes, in their own bedrooms,
or even when they try to flee the violence.
Help us do better. Help us believe victims of abuse,
help us protect them when they try to leave.
Help us work on changing a culture that teaches men
that women are property, that women must obey,
and that women who don’t, deserve death.
We pray for our local women’s shelter,
that right now is sheltering women who have stories
just like the story of the woman who was murdered.
Give those sheltering women 
strength and courage to do their work,
and show us how we can best support them.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus, Amen

Leaving Marriage: A Survivor's Prayer

For richer, for poorer, for better, for worse.
I made these vows, God, before you and witnesses.
You know I meant them.
But how worse is worse?
What does faithfulness mean when he hurls his dinner at the wall?
What does honour mean when he throws me to the ground by my hair?
What does love mean when sex is always about what he wants?
You know I’m not perfect.
My words, my thoughts, my actions have been far from loving.
But this situation is impossible.
I lie down in fear, and I wake in fear.
What will I do wrong today that will set him off?
After the explosions, he apologizes; he is sorry and charming.
I’ve forgiven more than seventy times seven,
and still there are these bruises.
I vowed to be a part of this marriage,
but his violence has broken this partnership,
and I cannot put it back together alone,
no matter how hard I try.
Our union now is more about anger and terror,
than love and tenderness.
In the despair, in the hopelessness,
in the futility and self-blame,
can I meet you even here?
You are the God who loves me, who cherishes me,
who thinks I’m worth something, who wants the best for me,
who would see good done for me, and not my destruction.
After so many years of praying for my marriage,
and praying for him to change,
today I pray something different.
Help me leave. Help me make it out of here alive.
Give me courage to think of life after marriage.
Help me trust that even if I leave him,
you will never leave him.
Even though he has destroyed the love we had,
your love for him is never ending.
Take care of him,
because I cannot do it anymore.

Psalm for a Women's Shelter

Lord, you are my rock and my redeemer,
you are my shelter, an ever present help in times of trouble.
You know that violence has been my diet, day and night.
I called to you from the depths, “Lord, save my life.”
It is not my enemy that attacks me, but it is my partner,
the one I love who assails me.
My body is black and blue,
my mind is reeling from insults thrown at me.
The love that I gave is thrown back in my teeth.
In this storm of trouble, I looked for help;
you led me to this women’s shelter.
When I needed a safe place to protect my children,
they found a space for me.
When my abuser pursued me, they locked the door against him;
they protected my identity.
They saw my wounds and got me medical care.
They heard my torment, and provided counsellors.
Even when I walked in the valley of the shadow of suicide,
they were with me, they held my hand.
They believed that goodness and mercy could come to me,
even when I was sure it wouldn’t.
For leading me to this place, where my soul can be restored,
I will be thankful all the days of my life,
till I dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
 
 

 

Prayer for a Battered Woman

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
When I think I can change another person,
remind me that I can change only myself.
When I think that being hurt is your will,
remind me of your exodus call to flee from oppression.
When I think I should sacrifice myself unto death,
remind me that you died for our sins, so I don’t have to.
 
O Lord grant that I may not so much seek to endure abuse,
as to escape it entirely;
that I may not so much seek to model victimization,
as to model being a faithful survivor.
For it is in new beginnings that we find your grace,
it is in standing on our own two feet that we find your strength,
it is in leading our family to safety, that we find peace.

Golden

The gold band stays the same,
a bit warped maybe,
the edges worn down,
some scratches.
Still hugging my ring finger
since the day
you put it there
round about an age ago.
Like your love,
still surrounding me
these many years,
still holding me
still cherishing me
still honouring me.
Thank you for being
a man of your word,
steady through all these seasons.
A partner is hard to describe,
our roots entwined so tight;
so many comings and goings
but always there’s a home
when you walk in the room.
Your voice, your laugh,
your walk are still a magnet
drawing my eyes in any crowd.
You are a good companion;
thoughtful, intelligent, funny
(you laugh at almost all my jokes).
You’ve worked hard to support us.
We’ve held our babies, raised them,
and reveled together
as we’ve watched them launch.
Sick or healthy,
through every up and down,
from east to west,
you’ve been my faithful friend.
So much behind us,
(we are rich in the Memory Bank)
who knows what’s before us.
I hope that God will gift us
with many more anniversaries
which we will ring in
with deep smiles and thankfulness
for a family, our family,
a happy golden life together.

Spring of Life Congregational Prayer

Great God,
this week we have been witnesses
to the power of resurrection;
slow motion explosions of green
soundlessly changing our landscape,
blossoms blossoming pink,
tulips tuliping their brilliant colours,
opening their mouths to the warmth of the sun.
We find ourselves opening up too in these May days,
opening our windows,
turning our faces upward,
breathing deeply.
The fragrance of spring permeates our world,
and we give you thanks for the blessing of life renewed.

We pray for our government;
for our mayor ___________and our local leaders,
as they debate issues, and make decisions
about new initiatives and new program.
Help them to make decisions that benefit all citizens,
particularly those who are marginalized and voiceless.
We pray for our Prime Minister _______________
and our MP [MLA]_____________,
especially as they make decisions
about foreign aid and foreign policy;
that they could sow seeds of peace.

We are mindful this week that even as spring comes to Canada,
in ___________ they are facing a natural disaster
which has brought heartbreak and destruction.
Comfort the bereaved, give strength to the rebuilders.
Open the hearts of the world as we contribute to relief.
Sustain the [international relief organizations you support] as they deal with this crisis,
so that they could continue to provide help in your name.

We lift up those we know with health issues, especially ___________.
We need your healing power for these dear ones.
We also pray this morning for those in the spring of life,
who are expecting new babies,
that you would give them patience and health, and safe deliveries.

Forgive us for the times this week we have been too overwhelmed to act,
too selfish to look beyond ourselves,
locked in a winter of self-preoccupation with our own business.
Bring new life to our primary relationships.
For those who are married, renew our vows of constancy,
rekindle love so that we can truly cherish one another.
Give us new strength and new patience as we
go about our work of caregiving for children.

Help our congregation to be an incubator of hope,
a blessing in our community, and in our city [region].
We want to join with you in your kingdom work,
as your hope grows,
pregnant with possibility,
ripe with promise.
In the name of the resurrected Jesus we pray,
Amen

Crossroads Congregational Prayer

We come to prayer this morning
at the crossroads of summer and winter.
Summer still shines,
asters blooming with yellow and orange vividness,
warm days calling us to walk outside and enjoy the sun,
fresh fruit and vegetables still fill our tables
and delight our tastebuds.
And yet, the nights grow cold,
we see our breath in the morning,
yellow and red creep into the leaves of the trees,
the days get shorter,
the earth tilts
and there’s no stopping the coming of winter.
Thank you for the blessings and beauty of our world! 

We come together as your people,
we gather here in one place, with one heart for worship,
and yet in each of our lives we stand at different crossroads.
The _________ family has stood at the brink between life and death,
as they mourn the loss of ___________.
We pray for them and all who grieve today,
we need your comfort and your peace.
Other people stand at the crossroads of big decisions,
“Should we go this way or that way?” we wonder.
Guide us as we make important decisions about how we spend our money,
which job to take, where to live.
We pray for __________  and __________
who stood at a crossroads in life at their wedding ceremony.
Bless their marriage, and all those who are newly married,
help them forge bonds of love that last a lifetime.
Other older people are at crossroads in relationships;
should we stay together, or separate,
should we seek reconciliation, or walk away;
God of grace, be the one who guides us in all our decision-making.
You know the decisions that our congregation is making,
show us the way, when we are faced with many ways to go. 

As we read the news, we are constantly reminded
that the world stands at a crossroads
with so many refugees from so many war-torn countries.
Lives are in the balance:
open the heart of the world community, open our hearts,
to be generous for these people, to meet their needs.
We pray all this in the name of Jesus,
who walks with us down every road we take, Amen.

Words Before Vows

Dearly beloved:
A vow is a prayer spoken before God.
A vow is a promise made before witnesses.
A vow is a commitment of life and breath and strength.
A vow is a true joy as it proclaims the heart’s passion.
A vow is a new beginning with old ways discarded.
A vow is a standard by which to measure each year.
A vow is a light that illuminates the path.
A vow is a map that shows the way.
A vow is a steady point in a whirling time of trial.
A vow is a familiar voice always calling you home.
A vow is forever, a hope for eternity.

From the Brokenhearted

Such a good idea, the family.

Generations supporting each other,

the network of love binding us together,

stronger than any genetic tie.

How can such a good idea fall so flat?

Here’s the damage:

broken trust

broken vows

broken feelings

broken futures.

We are all broken up about it.

We know, God, that you can break into our lives

--we’ve let everything else break in.

And so this is a prayer

from the broken hearted:

take all the little bits and bind them together

find every chip, fill every fracture

--we long for the mended family.

Anniversary Prayer

God of love, thank you for marriage

and the way love’s face

changes with time.

 

Thank you for love’s beginning;

the tidal pull that draws together

as sure as sea and shore,

the beauty of that meeting,

its strength and intense fragility,

sweet as an apple blossom

pale in the moonlight.

 

Thank you for love’s deepening;

the confidence that grows

with a thousand leavings and greetings,

the hardiness of belonging,

its ability to survive storm and drought,

resilient as supple branches

swaying in the wind.

 

Thank you for love’s maturing;

the companionship that develops slowly,

forged in the hot and cold of everyday life,

the power of lives intertwining,

its quality of sturdy faithfulness,

delicious as a ripe red apple

after a day’s long hunger.

Wedding Blessing

So much in love

this happy couple can’t stop smiling,

their eyes drawn into each other’s joy.

The pictures will capture this moment

but only you can capture this spirit

embedding it in the long-term memory

hardwiring it as the default setting

making it a part of their life’s blood.

Grant them love that is long in forgiveness

and wide in laughter.

Grace them with tenderness for each other.

Surround them with friends who encourage

and family that supports.

Give them strength for the hard work

of day to day companionship.

Make their love a bridge

that spans their lives.