Prayers of the People
October 25, 1997

God of All
We know lots of words about you. We use lots of words about you.
But, these all become vain and trivial unless we hear a word from you.

Your word is loving and active - that's the word we need.

We've been told often enough that nothing can separate us from the love of God. But God, we find that any number of things manage to separate us from you, whether trivial or overwhelming.
Each of us here, whatever we're going through or whatever we face, needs to hear you say "Nothing can separate you from the love of God."

Gracious God, Lord of life and death, you tell us that neither death nor life nor anything else in all creations can separate us from your love.

God in Your Mercy ...Hear our Prayer

Gracious God, you have given us to each other in this congregation, along with these come differences of opinion, frustrations, disappointment and a sizeable amount of trivial business. These tend to sour the spirit.

Renew a right spirit among us. Open our hearts to each other so that as we fear burdens, we rediscover what a blessing we are to each other .

God In Your Mercy...Hear our Prayer

Lord of All
As soon as all this praying for ourselves starts to reach you, your loss of the world starts to reach us.

God, we're tired of the life destroying burdens and dreads that we seem determined to cling to. Empower us to gladly give this up in exchange for your light yoke and easy burdens. Find us, O God under the uplifting burdens of your love of the world.

Hear our prayers for the nations and peoples of the world.

Drive out the vicious cycle of terror and strife.
Drive out the spirit of revenge with the spirit of reconciliation.
Drive out the spirit of greed with the spirit of sharing.
Hear the crys of the homeless, the hungry and the tyrannized.
Dear God, hear especially the crys of the children.

God In Your Mercy...Hear our Prayer

Lord of the Universe
So infinite is the size of the expanses and wonders in its order yet containing our tiny planet with its thin atmosphere sustaining manifold form of life and beauty.

How readily we forget the miracle of creation.
How much of the time we live as though we weren't the receivers of the miraculous gift of life.

Dear God

Our lives are unequivocally different
When our hearts are grateful.

Help us to keep them that way.

God In Your Mercy...Hear our Prayer

And now as our Saviour has taught us...