Prayers of the People - Pentecost Sunday, May 23rd, 2010

Prayers provided by Marilyn Legge:

Loving God, open our hearts and minds
that we may feel the breath and play of your Spirit.
    
God our creator, our ground of being, our counsellor and companion,  
we thank you
for the blessings of life,
for those who are dear to us,
for those who have died,
and for all who have helped and influenced us.

Thank you for the gift of life which bursts forth in connections with the awesome diversity of creation and through those who enrich our experience.
Thank you for sustenance and wisdom as we reach out, touch and are healed.    (An adaption of Celebrate God’s Presence 17T001 Aotearoa, New Zealand)
    
The crucible of the cross and resurrection has become the flame of Pentecost, empowering followers of “the Way” of Jesus to share Good News of Easter in all directions. Pentecost is the fire of the Holy Spirit: the fire of justice, the fire of imagination, the fire of compassion.

And so we pray
for those who shape public and religious life, for artists, leaders and nuturers of all kinds; for all who seek to share and bring life to others.
for those who make decisions about the resources of the earth and its peoples, that these be used with all due care and responsibly;
for those who work on the land and sea, in cities and towns, in industry and service sectors, in homes and streets --  that all may enjoy the fruits of their labours, shape mutual relations, and live with respect in creation;
for all who who give us new ways to hear, to see, to touch, to know and to imagine a world where we each belong together as unique persons of inestimable worth.
    
God of courage and compassion, there is no pain that does not echo in your heart,
And so we pray
for all who through their own or others’ actions
are deprived of fullness of life:
for those who are shunted to the margins of significance, for those who are used for others’ gain, for those who are made poor and kept living in poverty, for those who are prisoners, refugees, and in war zones of global, national or domestic violence;
for all the grief, the tears shed,
the mourning without dancing,
the emptiness unfulfilled . . . ;
for all the bereavement, the death of hope,
the unrealized lives, the cries unheard . . . ;
for all the pain: silenced, suffered alone, suppressed . . . ;
for all the losses,the half good-byes, the relationships without resolve,
the truths left unsaid . . . .

We pray now for those particular places and people whose names are in our hearts, or known to you alone, that they may receive consolation, strength and courage. Trusting in God’s wisdom and compassion, let us offer our own petitions, in silence or aloud. . . .         

We remember those in our congregation… Marg Porteous, Jim Lemon, Georgia Helleiner, B.J. Klassen, Lyn Gaetz, Imogene Walker and family on the death of her brother Brian, John Donoghue, Richard Ayoub, and Bilal in his release from Guantanamo Bay.

We pray for the church and imagine communities of faith ...
where no one is shoehorned into stereotypes and fear
but each person and group are free to use all their gifts and talents
and to share in all the benefits of human life and work;
where violence is banished and all are able to love and be loved,
and the work and wealth of our world are justly and joyfully shared;
where each person, group, culture and nation will make a different  earth – one of justice and peace
where all will grow and know that life is good;

Now let us join in the Ecumenical Prayer,
as we pray with the church in Botswana and Zimbabwe:

Like little children, O God
we would be humble and compassionate,
able to love and embrace without prejudice,
take care and protect without expecting any reward or favour and forgive as you have taught us to do.
Let us live with the God of compassion,
Emmanuel, the God with us and the Comforter, the Spirit of power and fire.
Let us go forth to liberate creation from oppression and heal and comfort God’s people.

And now let all the people here say AMEN.