Document
Call to prayer (didgeridoo)
Invitation
We have gathered as God’s people
We gather in the name of Triune God.
We have gathered as followers of Jesus – the Life, the Truth, the Way.
We joyfully answer the invitation of our Lord – come follow me.
We have gathered as Holy Spirit-led people.
Come now, O Spirit Divine, lead us and fill us today.
Prayer
Gracious God, we offer to you on this day our praise and thanksgiving.
We give thanks for the beauty of creation,
for all that lives and breathe – on the earth, under the sea or in the air.
We gaze at the mountains which in their awesome grandeur display your might and majesty.
We look out to the sea at the vast horizons, observing the waves breaking along the coast,
and therein we witness again the beauty of your creation.
All of creation displays your greatness.
And yet we humbly confess that we have often marred and misused your creation.
We have defaced nature’s beauty for our own selfish purposes.
We have trampled upon those who are weak while seeking to enlarge our coffers.
Each day we witness acts of injustice to the cosmos
and to each other as humankind created in your image and likeness.
Our hope in humanity wanes and as we destroy each other out of pride and greed.
We confess too that we are struggling to keep our hope in you.
Our prayers seem to go unanswered as we plead – how long O Lord.
So, we come now asking for the rays of hope in you and in humanity to be rekindled
So that they may shine brightly for the world to see.
Quicken our faith, we pray.
Stir us to act faithfully as your disciples.
Make of us again your people –
a community that has been called out and that lives in faith, hope, and love.
God, we believe. We pray you, help our unbelief and keep us hopeful to the very end;
We pray in the name of Jesus, who gives us the hope of the resurrection. Amen.
The First Ray
Living Hope
Reflection
Prayer of Intercession
Merciful God,
we remember before you today those for whom their hope in Christ and their faith has been challenged because of the current conditions they face.
We pray especially for those who have suffered
and continue to face injustice because of their faith in the risen Lord.
Grant them the assurance of your abiding presence
and may their hope in Christ be affirmed through the work of the Holy Spirit.
We pray for believers everywhere that we may continue to bear witness to the Gospel,
always being ready to give an account of the hope that lies within us. Amen
The Second Ray
Hope in Despair
Reflection
Prayer of Intercession
Life-giving Spirit,
today we invite you to visit us in those dry and deserted places.
Our lives have been consumed by despair caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
We feel enveloped by disease, sickness, death, disruption of our normal lives.
Our despair has immobilized us, causing us to feel hopeless and helpless.
But we confess and affirm even now that you can make all things new.
Breathe new life among all people everywhere,
so that we may once again be enabled to rise above our despair.
Put us back together, so that as individuals and as communities we will affirm –
that all hope is not lost and that the Spirit is still at work in the earth. Amen
The Third Ray
Hope for Creation
Reflection
Prayer of Intercession
Creator God,
you have created the earth and all that there is – all life comes from you.
We give thanks that you continue to take delight in your creation,
having declared it all to be good.
Forgive us for not always delighting in your creation.
Forgive us for abusing and squandering nature’s resources
that you have provided for our well-being.
Help us to be good stewards of all that you have created,
and may each rainbow revive our hope for the restoration of the earth
and all that you have created. Amen.
The Fourth Ray
Gospel of Hope
Reflection
Prayer of Intercession
Christ, our Saviour,
may our ears be opened to hear again with clarity the truth of your message of hope.
may our tongues be loosened to proclaim your message of hope.
Endue us with your grace as we share this Gospel of Hope specially to those who feel that
they have been pushed to the margins by the world’s systems.
Holy Saviour,
may we possess your Christ-like compassion that stirs others to live hopeful lives.
We pray that the hope of the Gospel may build us up as believers,
causing us to live as a community of the faithful.
May we welcome all people among us so that they may know you as the Christ,
the Living Hope. Amen
Prayers of Hope for Individuals and Communities
L: We bring to you the wastelands of the earth, O God:
- the no-hope places, where oppression and injustice rule,
- the deserts, where people die of hunger and thirst,
- the battlefields, where lives are invaluable and cruelly cut short,
- the earth, depleted and devastated by human greed,
- the soil, that will not yield.
C: (Name those places loudly or silently.)
L: We bring to you the wastelands of our life in community:
- the parishes where hope has died,
- the missions that have lost their vigour,
- the councils that fear and suspect change,
- the communities of faith that are in conflict,
- the young people who are undermined,
- the immigrants who are not accepted,
- the strangers who are suspected,
- the marginalized because they are different from us.
C: (Name briefly your concerns aloud or silently)
L: We bring to you the wastelands of our lives:
- when faith and hope are in dust and ashes,
- when the fruit of the Spirit is not in evidence,
- when love does not find expression in our lives,
- when searching for meanings seems failed,
- when loneliness is so distressing,
- when being bullied becomes a daily routine,
- when demands and expectations from others betray our true selves.
C: (Name briefly your concerns aloud or silently)
Our hope is affirmed as we pray together, each in our own language:
Our Father…
Benediction
