Gathering Prayers and Blessing for Remembrance Sunday
Gathering Prayers and Blessing for Remembrance Sunday
by Christine Dutton
These prayers are written following the experience of sharing with army chaplains and personnel on a ministerial placement. I thank them for their honesty and frankness and for what they shared. I thank God for their challenges to my thinking and their openness to answer my quest…
Poem: The trap
Poem: The trap
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: The trap With wily words they bait their trap and wait for verbal jaws to snap on answers fated to condemn the enemy who utters them. The Sadducees feel smug and sure their clever question holds allure. Can he resist the challenge given and will he dare to speak of heaven? …
Prayers for After the Storm
Prayers for After the Storm
by Christine Dutton
Prayers of Intercession and petition for after storms. Prayers for After the Storm Loving God, God of the wind and the waves, God of the stillness and calm, be with us and guide our prayers. Lord, we come to you in the aftermath of the storm. The storm which has uprooted trees, w…
Reflection/meditation: Agreement
Reflection/meditation: Agreement
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/meditation: Agreement It’s all about personal responsibility, isn’t it? It’s all about not being able to pass the blame back to a past generation, or excuse personal behaviour by claiming that it’s all in the genetic structure. At one time everyone relied totally on Go…
Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm
Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm
by Marjorie Dobson
Reflection/poem: Questioning the Psalm If God’s law is so loveable, why do so many people find it impossible to live by it? If God’s law gives the power to defeat the enemy, why do so many people suffer for their beliefs? If God’s law grants superior knowledge, why do so many peo…
The Power of the Parable - Example Parables
The Power of the Parable - Example Parables
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 2 Example Parables Go and Do – or Don’t Do- Likewise Once upon a time, long, long ago, theologians used to debate whether God was all- present, all- knowing, and all- powerful. That, of course, is not God, but Google. If you look up “parable” in that ethereal omniscience,…
The Power of the Parable - Riddle Parables
The Power of the Parable - Riddle Parables
by SPCK - John Dominic Crossan
chapter 1 Riddle Parables So That They May Not Understand Nessun dorma— “Nobody sleeps tonight”— proclaims the Princess Turandot in Giacomo Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, unfinished at his death in 1924. Nobody can sleep because a riddle must be solved before the dawn. Here is …
Imagining the Lectionary:A seasonal sign of fruitful giving
Imagining the Lectionary:A seasonal sign of fruitful giving
by David Perry
A seasonal sign of fruitful giving (Proper 22/Ordinary 27) Year C Reflection accompanying image “A seasonal sign of fruitful giving” Walking our dog in the early morning sunshine I noticed the numerous empty horse chestnut fruits littering the path, lying open and highlighted so …
Poem:Quarrelling about words
Poem:Quarrelling about words
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem/meditation/reflection: Quarrelling about words If we believe in God and in what Jesus did and said and how he lived and died and how that same Spirit that was in Jesus is still with us in our world today, then we have the essence of our faith and all the truth that we need t…
Poem: Only one…
Poem: Only one…
by Marjorie Dobson
Poem: Only one … Where are the nine? We are here, but not within thanking distance. At least, not for you. Of course, we are glad that we are no longer untouchable, cast out by society. Of course, we are grateful that we no longer bear the scars of our ills. Of course, we realize…
Prayer: God, you set us on a journey
Prayer: God, you set us on a journey
by Marjorie Dobson
Prayer: God, you set us on a journey God, you set us on a journey through life, sometimes the challenges you give us test us to the limits and we feel that they will never end. We can experience hardship, difficulty and even danger. Sometimes we find ourselves fighting to retain …
Three Prayers for Harvest #4
Three Prayers for Harvest #4
by John Birch
Prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and confession suitable for Harvest celebrations Three Harvest Prayers #4 The heavens proclaim your glory through creation's glorious song, and all that live upon the earth are moved to sing along, praising your gracious provision and glorious k…
Three Harvest Prayers #2
Three Harvest Prayers #2
by John Birch
Prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and confession suitable for Harvest celebrations Three Harvest Prayers #2 God of Summer sun, fruitful fields, food to eat, you are worthy of our praise! God of mountain stream, rolling hills, pleasant views, you are worthy of our praise! Continu…
Three Harvest Prayers #1
Three Harvest Prayers #1
by John Birch
Prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and confession suitable for Harvest celebrations Three Harvest Prayers #1 The God who breathed this world alive and sustains it day by day, whose hands threw stars out into space and controls our destiny says, "Do not be afraid, for I am with yo…
Three Harvest Prayers #3
Three Harvest Prayers #3
by John Birch
Prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and confession suitable for Harvest celebrations Three Harvest Prayers #3 Thank you for the gift of sunshine and rain in due season, of seed, soil and harvest, provision for our needs and others, if in love we share. Thank you for the gift of li…
Paper chain people prayers of intercession
Paper chain people prayers of intercession
by Katherine Fox
These prayers of intercession invite the congregation to use each figure in a string of paper chain people to guide their prayers. They pray by writing or drawing on the paper figure for those close to them, those they may not think to pray for, those whose situations they don't…
Too easy to say sorry
Too easy to say sorry
by Katherine Fox
A prayer of confession that doesn't use 'sorry', 'apologise' or 'regret' but asks God to provoke us to understand the consequences of our actions. Too easy to say sorry – prayers of confession It's easy to say sorry if we didn’t really think it was our fault but recognise that th…
The Open Gate - The Eucharistic Prayer