Prayers - Pentecost Sunday (May, 19, 2013)

Prayers for Pentecost Sunday on May 19, 2103

Responsive Litany of Call to Worship

(This prayer is written for our church, much inspired by the Katherine Willis Pershey's reflection, Breath of Life, in Christian Century.)

God of Tender Breath,

God of Gushing Winds.

Hear our prayer that you send your Spirit to dwell among us.

Give us, the church,

the body of Christ, life and purpose.  

You exhaled your breath into the muddy lungs of Adam and Eve

when you created your world of wonders, the whole cosmos.

Now, breathe that same breath of life into us,

so that it permeates every cell of our being,

Nose to toes.

Nose to head.

Free us to life!

Invigorate our bodies, minds and souls with your breath,

until it is ready to be released, silently, from the same nostrils,  

through which it came.

As ordinary as oxygen and carbon dioxide,

it is extraordinary as spirit and miracle.

Breathe in, O God, your Holy Spirit!

Let our hearts and our chests

be rising and falling with Pentecost Hope!

Call to Prayer of Confession

(Again, this prayer  is also much inspired by the Katherine Willis Pershey's reflection, Breath of Life, in Christian Century.)

As a new mother tiptoes into the nursery to peer over the edge of the crib,

and waits until her eyes adjusts to the darkness

to see the telltale signs of life:

                     her daughter’s tiny chest, rising and falling,…

God too checks in on us, God’s beloveds,  

like a nervous mother.

             

Are we still praying?

Are we faithfully sharing the good news with our actions and our words with our neighbours?

Are we infilling us with the breath of life, the Spirit of God,

the tender breath, the gushing wind? 

Pentecost is not an event to be wished for lightly.

It lands on us, sometimes gently and sometimes overwhelmingly,  

when we seek it as we pray together. Let us pray.

Prayer of Confession

O God, our Caring Mother and Protective Father,

We search for a sign of vitality in our life,  

with the desire to speak the name of Jesus Christ,

witnessed in our words and actions.   

Let tongues of flames dance over our heads and hearts.

Let us be filled by Pentecost Hope

to enliven our body and soul  

and enrich the lives of our family and neighbours.

We give thanks and praise for this involuntary 
                   and essential process:

                                        this breathing and loving,

this, a little excessiveness in Pentecost. Amen.

Offering Prayer

May Christ be made known in the act of giving,

in compassionate sharing

when the Gospel of love becomes alive to us.  

Let us live our thanksgiving.

Let us join together in our morning offering. Amen.

                

Benediction

T.S. Eliot said, “Pentecostal fire is in the dark time of the year.” It is the pillar of fire at spiritual night. The Spirit comes when the need is greatest. May the Pentecostal hope and fire, the breath and wind guide you through the path of your life pilgrimage, and keep you through your life’s challenges and blessings. 

Go with the light and the gushing wind. Amen.   

Prayers of the People

Loving and Empowering God, 

We are moving forward. 

It is May. 

It is Pentecost. 

We are facing forward

to see what you have in store for us, 

to imagine how we can continue your mission, God's mission, 

in our midst and beyond,

as the body of Christ.

Thank you for claiming and reclaiming us as 

a living body, 

a breathing body, 

a living entity, called your Holy church. 

Remember us, Chemainus United Church, 

and empower us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may actively and vigorously continue to exercise the 'ordinary and extraordinary' miracle - breathing - which is doing your work, for your people.   

Now, we bring up those names in our hearts and prayers;

Especially we thank you for what you have done for us in the past week. 

Loving God, thank you for ....