Prayer
Invitation to Prayer
Come, power of love and ocean of mercy, touch us, forgive us and release your transforming fragrance in our lives, in our communities and in our world.
Come, Jesus son of Mary, cleanse us - body, mind and soul - and lead us from the unreal to the real; from shadows to light; from the temporary to the eternal.
Come, Spirit of love help us to perceive so that we may understand. Help us to believe so that we may perceive; help us to attend to your way so that we may believe; help us to breathe together so that the world may believe. Amen
(United Reformed Church Prayer Handbook, 2009)
Opening Prayer
Holy and Gracious God, as we accept the invitation to come before you, we do so asking ourselves – who can come into the presence of God? And in this moment, we answer: the one who has clean hands and whose heart is pure. Purify us now by your holy presence. We too answer your holy call as we seek to break the silence of the violence that has been visited upon your people because of their race, class, age, gender, disability or sexuality. We are here, in your presence, to once again hear your voice calling out to us and we answer with a firm yes, ready to serve. Amen
Song: The right hand of God
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIb7KjsSwyE
Scripture Reading: Luke 10: 25 – 30a, 36 – 37
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” 30 Jesus replied….36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Prayers of Intercession
Abba everywhere
in our distress, we cry out and you answer.
Your name offers balm
even in our anger, despair and pain
Your economy of flourishing life come
turning our mourning into a rising dance of life
On earth as in heaven
as we desperately need to taste/share some fullness here
Give us today enough bread
only what we need, so that none may go hungry
Forgive us our debts
our bodies and souls are tired of the weight we carry
As we forgive our debtors
even as the little we eke out is taken away
Lead us not into temptation
of bowing-down to a system that benefits a few
Deliver us from evil
from the penury of poverty, idols of wealth and much more
For yours is the economy of rising life for all
where to gain is to lose and first will be last
The power and the glory that lasts
through your healing and reconciling love
For now, and for always
we give you thanks and sing praises to your name
Amen
by your favour, O Lord, may it be so as we say it.
(Council for World Mission 2019)
Blessing
May the blessings of God:
the Creator, the Christ, the Comforter;
sustain us in our work to combat racism. Amen