Author: Robin.Kyd

God of righteousness, we adore you for the depth of your wisdom.
You see the light in us and in others that we fail to recognise,
for you are the source of that light, and you seek to nurture it, no matter what we have done.
God of love and light, we adore you.
Amen

Ever present God, you called us to be in relationship with one another
and promised to dwell wherever two or three are gathered.
In our community, we are many different people;
we come from many different places, have many different cultures.
Open our hearts that we may be bold in finding
the riches of inclusion and the treasures of diversity among us.
We pray in faith.
Amen

As we draw near to you, God, today, we praise your holy name
for allowing your Kingdom to break through into our lives.
We thank you for the things that are ordinary to you, God, but extraordinary to us
and we thank you for calling us to be part of your story–
ordinary people, caught in the extraordinary story of your wonderful plan for our salvation.
We give praise in Jesus’ name.
Amen

Lord God and Father,
we remember before you all those who bear the inner and outer scars of the Holocaust and of subsequent acts of genocide.
Let them not be overwhelmed by the horrors that engulfed them.
Be close to them.
Help them to see that you suffer with those who suffer,
and that no wickedness can ever extinguish your infinite love.
Restrain those who are filled with hatred and use violence to pursue their ends.
Change their hearts.
May remembrance make us alert to the reality of evil and its deceptive allure.
Help us to recognise our own capacity for evil, and allow your Spirit to purge it from our beings.
Help us to stand up against evil and oppression, even if that means we have to suffer ourselves.
Enable us to defend those who are not strong enough to defend themselves,
and to be ready to bring the light of your truth into the dark areas of human experience.
Deepen our respect for everything you have made,
and help us to share in securing the maximum good of every person who is alive in your world.
We ask this in the Name of your Son Jesus Christ,
who died for our sins, carries our sorrows,
heals our wounds, and is risen for our freedom.
Amen

Living God, who called us to serve your Son in the least of our brothers and sisters,
grant, we pray, that by the example and intercession of the saints gone by,
we may burn with love for you and for those who suffer.
Pour out your Spirit upon us, so that our hearts may possess the strong love by which you created us.
You govern all things, both in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the pleading of your people
and bestow your peace on our times as we ask in Jesus’ name.
Amen

Generous God,
whose Son revealed in signs and miracles the wonder of your saving presence:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness sustain us by your mighty power.
You turned the ordinary into the extraordinary at a wedding in Cana
and so we come to you this morning,
ready for you to transform our ordinariness into something extraordinary.
Amen