As I sat down to write a prayer for Sunday Morning worship the psalm in my devotions was Psalm 74. Written in the shadow of the destruction of Jerusalem, written in the very real dread that God had abandoned his people. Not the easiest Psalm to write a prayer for public worship from... But you know there are times and situations when it feels just like that. Maybe its like the storm weather has caught us unawares like the Shag in the image with this post was by a wintery wave as it sat resting on the rocks. Maybe it is just the ongoing drain of facing life's challenges and ups and downs, but in such times we are called to have faith in God to trust in who God is and what Christ has done for us...
I do try and write my prayers in a sort of poetic way, at least its cut up into stropes or verses that have the same number of lines... It's a liturgical prayer for a public worship so it does have fixed elements like confession and asking for God to fill us afresh with his Holy Spirit and I'd love to do that more creatively but in reality I don't want to play round with those elements I want people to know those realities. i'm not a poet by nature or skill, however as always I hope this prayer is helpful to you. feel free to use any or all of it if you find it useful... or none of it if you don't.
Lord God
Sometimes it feels like you’ve given up on us,
That you’ve consigned us to the too hard basket
Walked away and left us in our difficulties
We feel alone and rejected, that you are angry with us
Vulnerable to those who would stomp all over our faith
And leave our hope vandalised and shattered
Righteous God
There are times when we don’t find you anywhere
In quite contemplation you are strangely absent
Creation is silent and fails to speak of your grandeur
We go to your house to worship and you are not even there
We don’t feel your loving touch in the care of others
Your warmth in the help of sisters and brothers
Holy God
It can seem that you have deserted us and walked away
Your presence like a long missed precious memory
We feel it, we feel it like a deep sharp pain
but deep within we know it is far from the truth
Our faith is not in the ebb and flow of experience and feeling
It is based in trusting in what you’ve shown us of yourself
All Powerful God
While situations seem so much out of our control
And we feel adrift in the churn and blur of history
You have shown that you are sovereign, you reign from go to whoa
Beyond our ability to fathom it, you created all that there is
By your hand the earth is our life sustaining home
We say you are our king and you are our saviour
Saving God
You have shown us that you are there and that you care
You see what afflicts us, you hear our cry
You are not unconcerned but bend down and draw near
You sent your son, Jesus into this world
In Jesus life death and resurrection you have reconciled us to you
And you abide with us, always by your holy spirit
Loving God
We may not feel it but we know it
Situations may seem dire and grim but they are not the end
We cry out to you in the hope you will lift us out
But in fact you come and walk with us and work alongside
We are constrained by time and place and here and now
But from the view point of eternity we will see your answer
Faithful God
In faith and trust we reach out again to you
We confess our sins, that we have done wrong
We acknowledge our guilt, that we have left good undone
We reach out because you are faithful and just
As we confess our sins you forgive us and make us clean again
We reach out knowing we are reconciled with you in Christ
Good God
We know you keep your promise
So we ask you to fill us with your spirit again
We know it is your desire that all may come to know you
So we pray you would aid us to witness to our hope in Christ
To proclaim in word and deed your great love and saving grace
Through us, bring glory to your name, Father Son and Holy Spirit
Amen
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