God Of The Heart As Well As The Mind...
Intercession
Prayers usually include these concerns and may follow this sequence:
The Church of Christ
Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority
The local community
Those who suffer
The communion of saints
These responses may be used:
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
God of the heart as well as the mind, I'm sometimes confused by all the different Christian stances. Some people say one thing, some people say something entirely different, yet they're all Christians. How can I know the truth?
Help me to listen with my heart as well as my head. Help me to become so open to your presence, that I develop an instinctive awareness for the truth. Help me not to be so blinded by clever words that I stray from your track. And help me to remember that love underpinned all your interactions, so I should seek for the love behind any words.
God of the heart and mind, different churches tend to be suspicious of each other because of the different importance they attach to your word in the Bible and the different importance they attach to Church tradition. Help all branches of your Church to grow together in love and trust, remembering that you are alive and that you cannot be found amongst dead structures or within words which are simply left in a bygone era and not interpreted for our age.
With the world-wide Church we pray especially today for Church in New England and its President, Bishop Douglas Theuner.
God of the heart and mind, on this special day in which we remember those who gave their lives in two world wars, we pray for guidance for our world leaders, that they may never forget the evil and the suffering that war brings. Give them the will and the ability to strive always for diplomatic solutions to world problems. Open their eyes to consider all possible ways forward, and open their ears to hears the screams of suffering people. May they never declare war lightly, but only after every other possible avenue has been explored, and may they continue to explore all other avenues during the process of war.
We continue to pray for the suffering people of Afghanistan and for the frightened people of America, during this present conflict.
God of the heart and mind, guard our tongues so that we may never use words to deliberately harm or mislead another person. May those who have the gift of powerful speech or powerful writing realise the responsibility they carry, and use their gift to build up the community. Teach us the harm that thoughtless gossip can cause, and give us the strength to withstand the subtle pressure to indulge in gossip. And when intimate confidences are shared with us, remind us what a privilege it is to receive those confidences and enable us to keep complete confidentiality.
Within our own community we pray especially today for ....
God of the heart and mind, we hold within your presence all those who are sick, remembering especially those who no longer have the power of speech and who must live with the frustration of being unable to communicate very clearly. May they be very aware of your presence with them, supporting them and strengthening them in their struggle to be understood. Amongst our friends and relatives who are sick we pray especially today for ...
God of the heart and mind, some of our flock have died and so have moved on to a place where speech is unnecessary, but those they leave behind them perhaps have no words to express the depth of the agony of their loss. May those who have lost someone they love be aware of your love and strength supporting and upholding them, and may they know the comfort of your strong arms around them. We pray especially today for those who have recently been bereaved .... and those who were bereaved at around this time in previous years ...
We ask these prayers through your name, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Church of Christ
Creation, human society, the Sovereign and those in authority
The local community
Those who suffer
The communion of saints
These responses may be used:
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer
Lord, hear us.
Lord, graciously hear us.
God of the heart as well as the mind, I'm sometimes confused by all the different Christian stances. Some people say one thing, some people say something entirely different, yet they're all Christians. How can I know the truth?
Help me to listen with my heart as well as my head. Help me to become so open to your presence, that I develop an instinctive awareness for the truth. Help me not to be so blinded by clever words that I stray from your track. And help me to remember that love underpinned all your interactions, so I should seek for the love behind any words.
God of the heart and mind, different churches tend to be suspicious of each other because of the different importance they attach to your word in the Bible and the different importance they attach to Church tradition. Help all branches of your Church to grow together in love and trust, remembering that you are alive and that you cannot be found amongst dead structures or within words which are simply left in a bygone era and not interpreted for our age.
With the world-wide Church we pray especially today for Church in New England and its President, Bishop Douglas Theuner.
God of the heart and mind, on this special day in which we remember those who gave their lives in two world wars, we pray for guidance for our world leaders, that they may never forget the evil and the suffering that war brings. Give them the will and the ability to strive always for diplomatic solutions to world problems. Open their eyes to consider all possible ways forward, and open their ears to hears the screams of suffering people. May they never declare war lightly, but only after every other possible avenue has been explored, and may they continue to explore all other avenues during the process of war.
We continue to pray for the suffering people of Afghanistan and for the frightened people of America, during this present conflict.
God of the heart and mind, guard our tongues so that we may never use words to deliberately harm or mislead another person. May those who have the gift of powerful speech or powerful writing realise the responsibility they carry, and use their gift to build up the community. Teach us the harm that thoughtless gossip can cause, and give us the strength to withstand the subtle pressure to indulge in gossip. And when intimate confidences are shared with us, remind us what a privilege it is to receive those confidences and enable us to keep complete confidentiality.
Within our own community we pray especially today for ....
God of the heart and mind, we hold within your presence all those who are sick, remembering especially those who no longer have the power of speech and who must live with the frustration of being unable to communicate very clearly. May they be very aware of your presence with them, supporting them and strengthening them in their struggle to be understood. Amongst our friends and relatives who are sick we pray especially today for ...
God of the heart and mind, some of our flock have died and so have moved on to a place where speech is unnecessary, but those they leave behind them perhaps have no words to express the depth of the agony of their loss. May those who have lost someone they love be aware of your love and strength supporting and upholding them, and may they know the comfort of your strong arms around them. We pray especially today for those who have recently been bereaved .... and those who were bereaved at around this time in previous years ...
We ask these prayers through your name, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Merciful Father,
Accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
