Prayers: A Ripple Effect/Into the Lives of Others (Prayer of Confession/Into the Wholeness), Aug 11, 2013

Call to Prayer

Imagine a pond, a pebble, and a child.  The child picks the pebble up with one small hand, plays with it, loves its colour, its shape, and throws it into the pond.

It may not reach the centre. It may fall not very far from shore. But it can still make ripples…

Imagine that you are the child and the small rock you hold in your palm is a rocky letter of love to God, full of the remembrance of the people you hold in your heart and prayers.

(Can we hold one another’s hands for the opening prayer?)

Opening Prayer: A Ripple Effect

Loving God,

As we worship together, holding one another’s hands,

May this circle of love make an impact, a ripple effect on each other’s hearts.

Make the ripples spread and reach wider, higher, deeper, and lower.

Lower,

Lower,

Lower,

Until we see one another with lucidity and trueness. Amen.

Prayer of Confession: Into the lives of others (Gretta Vosper)

Leader:

We shelter ourselves with images of who we think we are –

Intelligent and well-informed;

Compassionate and well-intentioned –

Until those wrenching, wild, chaotic moments

When we learn otherwise,

When life exposes us to glimpses of our otherselves –

Intelligent but ill-informed;

Compassionate but causing harm –

And we wish we could flee from the complicities of our lives.

People:

Into the lives of others, we are bound to be woven.

Into the eyes of others, we are compelled to look.

So it is we pray we may be

In the realities of others,

A gentle presence

That when we stand before them,

In utter, full disclosure of who we truly are,

We will not shy from the reflection in their eyes –

Not the eyes of our children,

Not the eyes of our partners,

Not the eyes of our companions on the journey,

Not the eyes of those we may never know.

All:

As travellers who would see with a clear and honest vision,

We pray.

Amen.

Into the Wholeness

(This prayer is written in the weak version of the post-theistic approach, inspired by Gretta Vosper's Amen: What Prayer Can Mean In a World Beyond Belief. It replaces the traditional Absolution of Sin)

(I will stand with one arm outstretched before me, while my finger points to the distant horizon. Then I will turn slowly until I have drawn a circle entirely around me, and say,)

We are created in the image of God. God encompasses us entirely.

That sphere of God’s love, God’s influence is ‘whole-i-ness.’ It’s the wholeness into which we are created, what we are to become.

Into the lives of others,

Into the eyes of others,

In the realities of others and ourselves… all of us,

We will stand and be a gentle presence.

May the peace of Christ be with you all.

Prayers of the People

Loving God,

We look up to the sky and see the works of your creation:

The endless blue sky -

The  bright sphere of the Sun –

And, on occasion, the summer rain showering upon the earth –

We see your passionate presence and grace embrace all of your creation,

Like the warm summer air.

You are with us in times of celebration and of grief.

We give you thanks for your blessing upon Jesse and Sonia Bowness in their covenant in marriage, yesterday. May they walk confidently in their journey of loving, dreaming, hoping and rejoicing, and be a blessing to the world.  

We give you thanks for your healing and comforting presence with those who need it most. We remember and pray for Doug Ormond, Gordon Humphries, …

We continue to pray for all the church members and those known and unknown to us whose lives have been touched with cancer or other chronic illnesses. Give them your blessing of health and strength to move forward.

We pray for those who suffer with mental illness and their families.

We pray for those who live with physical challenges and share with us their great spirit and concerns.

We pray for the youth in our Chemainus community and beyond, and hope that we may be supportive to the ministry of the Neighbourhood House.

We pray for the Harvest House, those who serve at food banks, those who give and those who give thanks back.

We remember and pray for all the families who have lost their children and family members. Be present with them, comfort them, help them to heal.  

We search desperately for answers,

Help us to learn that doubting, questioning, wrestling, asking and knocking hold as much grace as an answer.

Give us the strength and the feet of pilgrims. Our journey is unfinished, the road before us still unfolding towards new freedom and new anticipation, towards wholeness, to being liberated in spirit and serving with true humbleness.