Prayers to Share

prayer 4

PRAYERS  TO   SHARE

Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers
but for powers equal to your tasks”.
– Rev John Flynn, Presbyterian Minister who established
the Australian Inland Mission and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The Suitcase Prayer
We pray for those in Ukraine, fleeing to places of safety with suitcases packed with the ordinary things of life so they may simply live.  Their lives suddenly coming down to one small suitcase, dragged through the snow and rain and bitter cold.
We are reminded of people who have had to flee violence and war in many places – Syria, Afghanistan, Iran, who left with their suitcase of dreams for freedom and for a better life.
We pray especially today for those in immigration detention here in Australia, for those still in PNG and Nauru.
We pray for those whose travel plans have been disrupted these last two years and whose suitcases have gathered dust.  We are mindful of those who were not able to travel to be with loved ones in their final days and weeks, those who were separated from family members, those whose lives have been traumatized by loss and grief.
We pray for those with courage to leave domestic violence situations, who silently and carefully pack their bags to leave, seeking safety and peace of mind.
We pray for those displaced by natural disasters of flood, fire, famine, and those who have no time to pack their bags.   We pray for those affected by the devastating floods in Queensland and New South Wales, where suitcases were sodden or washed away, along with everything else in family homes and businesses.  We pray for those affected by the climate emergency who have already been displaced from their homes in low lying areas in the Pacific.
We pray for those whose suitcase of dreams has been battered, and for those discarded along the way.
We pray for own baggage that weighs us down.
May we know once again that we are not isolated beings but connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe, to the divine, to community, to each other.
Ever present God, you are with us in the hour of need. Bring hope, bring healing.
Stir our compassion and imagination, as we in turn seek our best loving response. Amen.
Rev Sandy Boyce

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God of time and space, God beyond all that is, as we stand on the threshold between the end of one year and the beginning of a new year, grant us the gift of self-reflection that we might review our year with honesty.
Help us confess those things that took us away from the things of your kingdom that did not reflect your great love for us and all creation, or denied the image of God in the other.
Help us give thanks for the times we have followed the way of Christ, for the acts of kindness, mercy and compassion we experienced and offered, our participation in acts of justice and repair of creation.
God of time and space, God beyond all that is, travel with us into the New Year as you have been with us in the old one, that You might grant us courage to live freely, following the way of Jesus, generosity to love more abundantly, and hope to sustain our living for justice and peace.
We pray in the name of Christ, our wisdom and hope.   Amen
Rev Sharon Hollis
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Our land is alive with the glory of God;
desert sands hum and gum trees dance.
Brown grasses sing
and mountains breathe their stillness.
All created things add their rhythms of delight
and even stones rap out their praise.
Let our voices mingle with those of the earth;
may our hearts join the beat of her joy,
for our triune God is with us:
the source of all being surrounds and upholds us.
Christ Jesus walks beside and before us.
The Spirit moves within and between us.
Blessed be God, our wonder and delight.
     By Rev Dr Jenny Tymms

May the spirit of love and grace
flow forth from all that we do.
May the God of all time
and all situations
be among us,
around us,
and within us.

May the Father’s hand keep you from stumbling,
the footprints of Jesus give you confidence to follow,
and the fire of the Spirit keep you warm and safe
in your walk with God this day.

May God’s presence and guidance continue to give us
vision to inspire us,
wisdom to direct us,
courage to strengthen us,
trust to console us,
love to mission us,
and grace to root our lives in all that is life-giving.

Teach us to be still
To be present to what is around us
And in that stillness
Know that God’s presence envelops us.

Go into the world in peace and harmony.
Take with you the love and grace that you experience
as you meet with others and the Lord Jesus.
And He will go with you and lead you on
in the pathways of service.

May God, the heart of life, be deep within us.
May the compassion of Christ envelope us.
May we be open to the needs of others.
May the Spirit of truth guide us in our journey each day.

May God be in our knowing,
.    Christ be in our wondering,
.        and the Holy Spirit be in our discerning.
May the peace of Christ
.    be our wisdom, strength and courage
.    for our journey, each day.

2020
To you our friends in Faith and Service  –
Take care of your well-being
Sustain your habits of faith and goodwill
Our love and blessings are with you –
“The Peace of our Lord be with you!”
 Sylvia and Clem
We remember with love and prayers
all who are lonely, have worries, sadness or health issues.
Let us continue our care and encouragement for each other.

God of life, you have promised to be with us every day, also in difficult days, like in times like these. Give us clarity in our minds, strength in our work and discernment, rest as we sleep, peace in our minds. Be with those who need help more than we do ourselves help us to see what we can offer from your love.
World Council of Churches

In Spirit and in Truth
Spirit of life, your touch is pure grace, more gentle than fingers of light, more sure than arms of granite.
You caress our being and awaken in us a passion for more light, more truth, greater love.
You are kneading our spirit with fingers of love until faith is no mere doctrine but our autobiography.
Bruce Prewer

Prayer for These Times
Caring God,

We pray for all who are required to live for some time in isolation, those whose livelihood is at risk because of the impact on our economy, and those who are feeling uncertain and fearful.
Help us to maintain our sense of community, so that those who feel isolated or alone will know that they have supportive friends who bring your presence near.
We are reminded once again that it is through the expression of compassion and the love of every one of our neighbours that you are known, and so prompt us to seek out those for whom the voice of a friend is the voice of God.  Amen
Geoffrey Grinton

In these most challenging times, we give thanks for the people
who are working for the benefit of our community:
  Medical personnel and Emergency workers
  Ministers and Counsellors
  Teachers and Carers
  Shop staff and truck drivers
  Public transport staff
  Utilities maintenance workers
  Cleaners and garbage collectors
  Scientists and Journalists
  Farmers and Delivery persons
  Artists and Entertainers
May they know how much they are appreciated.

God of hope, we pray for all people including – 
– those who have lost loved ones to the Covid 19 Pandemic;
– for the sick and those caring for them;
– the frontline services who bravely risk their own health and well-being;
– people who find it even more lonely during this isolation time;
– the ones in overcrowded homes and accommodation;
– any who are at risk of violence and increased tensions because they are not used to b          being confined together;
– those in positions of responsibility with difficult decisions to make.
Breathe your Spirit again within each of us so that we may individually and together live out the goodness that is common to all.           Amen.
Rev Sylvia

Prayer for a Pandemic
   May we who are merely inconvenienced

Remember those whose lives are at stake.
May we who have no risk factors
Remember those who are most vulnerable.
   May we who have the flexibility
To care for our own children when their schools close,
Remember those who have no options.
   May we who have to cancel our trips,
Remember those who have no safe place to go.
   May we who are losing our margin money
In the tumult of the economic market,
Remember those who hae no margin at all.
   May we who settle in for a quarantine at home,
Remember those who have no home.
   As fear grips our country,
Let us choose love.
   During this time when we cannot physically
Wrap our arms around each other,
Let us yet find ways to be the loving embrace of God
To our neighbours.

A Prayer for Lent
To you, loving God, we speak from the heart.
In you, loving God, we trust; because of your love we shall not be put to shame, nor shall temptations get the better of us.
Lead us in your truth, teach us what is right, for you are the God of our healing and rescue, and our deeper joys.
We want to praise and serve with all the capacity of heart and mind and soul and strength. Let us worship you well, without qualification, this hour and all hours, today and tomorrow and as long as we draw breath.
Through Christ Jesus, your True Child and our hope.
Bruce Prewer

O Lord, Open my eyes to see where you would lead me.
Awaken my ears that I would hear your voice guiding me.
Inspire my mind that I may comprehend your love for me.
Soften my heart that I would offer grace to those I meet.
Watch my feet that I would tread upon your kingdom paths.
Guard my heart from selfishness that I would give freely.
Inspire my words that I may speak of hope and healing.
O Lord, I follow you.
Amen

From “Connect Us- 25 Prayers for Faith and Guidance”.

Lord, in a world of change   We thank you for your changelessness.
In a world of doubt   We thank you for your hope.
In a world of darkness   We thank you for your light.
In a world of compromise   We thank you for your Word.
In a world of haste   We thank you for your calm.
In a world of noise   We thank you for your peace.
Grant us your peace.
From The Times Book of Prayers, edited by Ruth Gledhill (London: Cassell), 1997.

We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you.
Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity.
Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace.
Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children — Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow — will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray.
Amen.
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Thoughts for praying
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centred.

   Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
   Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.         
  Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.

   Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
   Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
   Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
   Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
   Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
   It was never between you and them anyway.
        Mother Teresa

Covenant Prayer
I am no longer my own, but thine.

Put me to what thou wilt, Rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, Let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
     John Wesley

The “Five Finger Prayer”
The “Five Finger Prayer” is attributed to Pope Francis when he was Archbishop of Argentina. It. is a lovely tool for teaching prayer to younger disciples and a reminder of the different focuses of prayer for older disciples.
1.    The thumb is the closest finger to you. So start praying for those who are closest to you. They are the persons easiest to remember. To pray for our dear ones is a “sweet obligation.”
2.    The next finger is the index finger. Pray for those who “point the way” – who teach you, instruct you and heal you. They need the support and wisdom to show direction to others. Always keep them in your prayers.
3.    The following finger is the tallest. It reminds us of our leaders, the governors and those who have authority. They need God’s guidance.
4.    The fourth finger is the ring finger. Even though it may surprise you, it is our weakest finger. It should remind us to pray for the weakest, the sick or those plagued by problems. They need your prayers.
5.    And finally, we have our smallest finger, the smallest of all. Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. When you are done praying for the other four groups, you will be able to see your own needs but in the proper perspective, and also you will be able to pray for your own needs in a better way.
     Rev Lindsay Cullen – Assembly National Consultant

Lord
We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you.
Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity.
Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace.
Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children — Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow — will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray.  Amen.
     The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

A Prayer of Thanks
God, I thank You for this day of life
for eyes to see the sky
for ears to hear the birds
for feet to walk amidst the trees
for hands to pick the flowers from the earth
for a sense of smell to breathe in the sweet perfumes of nature
for a mind to think about and appreciate the magic of everyday miracles
for a spirit to swell in joy at Your mighty presence everywhere.
     Marian Wright Edelman (American lawyer and advocate for the disadvantaged)

A Prayer to Share
We thank you, gracious God,
that though in this world
we are forced to compete
with each other
for many things,
it is never so
for your love
     Rev. Bruce D. Prewer (1931-2018)
     Brief Prayer for Australians, 1992

A Special Prayer
Thanks be to you our Lord Jesus Christ

for all the benefits which you have given us,
for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,
may we know you more clearly,
love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly
day by day.
       Attributed to Saint Richard

A Prayer for Winter
I choose to trust that there will be a spring for every winter,
a hope for every despair.
Give me grace to see every winter through the eyes of hope.
Give me a heart that rejoices in the delights and sorrows of each passing year,
a heart that grows warmer with each winter it endures
Teach me to believe in spring.
          Gregory Coles

A Prayer of Thanksgiving
Lord, thank you for walking with us through the seasons of our lives.
For the Winter, when we are held safe in your arms through the darkness.
For the hope of Spring, as we are filled with new promise and life.
For Summer time, full of warmth and colour.
And for Autumn days as leaves fall to seed new growth.
You are always with us. Amen.
           (http://www.lords-prayer-words.com/prayers)

A Thanksgiving Prayer 
O Heavenly Father:
We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank Thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service, that Thy gifts to us may be used for others. Amen.

I asked and God gave:
I asked for strength that I might achieve,

I was made weak that I might learn humbly to obey.
     I asked for health that I might do greater things;
     I was given infirmity that I might do better things.
I asked for riches that I might be happy;

I was given poverty that I might be wise.
     I asked for power that I might have the praise of people;
     I was given weakness that I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life;

I was given life that I might enjoy all things.
     I got nothing that I had asked for;
     but everything that I had hoped for.
Almost despite myself,

my unspoken prayers were answered.
I am truly blessed.

The Lord’s Prayer – New Zealand
Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and testing, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and for ever. Amen.

A Prayer for Tolerance
Teach us, God, to treasure the differences that distinguish one person from another.

Fill us with the strength to overcome senseless fear and hatred.
Open our hearts to the radiance that shines forth from every human soul.
Inspire us to shed our apathy; remind us that it is our obligation to be responsible for one another.
Open our ears to the cries of all who are in need of our assistance.
Give us the courage to combat prejudice and intolerance wherever they exist.
Teach us to see each other through your eyes, God. In your eyes all people are equally loved, equally precious.
Bless us all, God, with compassion, with kindness, and with peace.
Amen
          Rabbi Naomi Levy

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,

Where there is injury, pardon

Where there is doubt, faith, Where there is despair, hope,

Where there is darkness, light,

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, not so much to be understood as to understand, not so much to be loved, as to love;

for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.
                 St Francis of Assisi

 

A prayer by Lynn Robinson, from her book “Real Prosperity”
Dear God,

I surrender my financial affairs and concerns about money to your Divine care and love. I ask that you remove my worries, anxieties, and fears about money, and replace them with faith.
I know and trust that my debts will be paid and money will flow into my life. I have only to look to nature to see proof of the abundance you provide.
I release all negative thoughts about money, and know that prosperity is my true state. I commit to being grateful for all that I now have in my life. I learn to manage my finances wisely, seeking help where needed.
And finally, I ask you to help me understand my purpose in life and to act on that purpose with courage and strength. I know that prosperity will come, in part, by doing work I love. Please help me use my skills and knowledge to be of service in the world.
Thank you, God.  Amen.

PRAYERS FOR EVERY DAY

PRAYERS FOR SEASONS AND EVENTS

PRAYERS FOR THE CHRISTIAN YEAR