Prayer for this month
From Prayers for an Inclusive Church (Canterbury, 2008)
Baptism of Christ (Luke 3.15-17, 21-22)
Lord of the desert river,
you search our depths
and call us by name:
may your flame-born Spirit
open the heavens
that we might recognise you
in the one born of earth,
Jesus Christ, the Gift of Peace.
Amen.
Epiphany 2 (John 2.1-11)
Lord of the wedding day,
passion of joining
and spirit of festival:
take our hearts of stone
and flood them with new wine
that we might savour ordinary miracles
given to sense and taste,
through Jesus Christ, the Winemaker.
Amen.
Epiphany 3 (Luke 4.14-21)
God of freedom,
you break the seals
and let the Spirit flow:
make us impatient us to greet
the time fulfilled,
the poor lifted up,
the oppressed set free
and your love made manifest
in Jesus Christ, the Anointed Servant.
Amen.
Epiphany 4 (RCL: Luke 4.21-30)
Provoking God,
calling us through the face of the Other:
free our fickle hearts
from our need to divide and exclude
the foreign and the misfit;
lead us through the storms of rage
to a clear and new beginning;
through Jesus Christ, whom hatred cannot touch.
Amen.
Epiphany 4 (Church of England: Luke 2.22-40)
God of promise,
you renew your gift
to those whose faces are lined
and hearts are filled
by the passage of years:
give us grace, with Simeon and Anna,
to see beyond the surface
to where the Spirit shows
the face and heart of God
in Jesus Christ, the given Child.
Amen.
The Presentation of Christ
God of Anna and Simeon,
whose law makes known the gift of life,
whose love exposes our hardness of heart:
by your Spirit,
may we receive your faithful word
to Gentile and to Jew
and know your reconciling presence
offered for all the world;
through Jesus Christ, the Light and the Glory of God.
Amen.
Epiphany 5 (Luke 5.1-11)
Lord of the deep waters,
you call us from the safety of the shore
to an adventure of the spirit:
open wide our arms
to embrace the world
you dare to serve;
through Jesus Christ, who gives life in abundance.
Epiphany 6 (Luke 6.17-26)
God of blessing and woe,
disturbing the deadly order of the world:
give us faith tested in poverty,
hunger for what really satisfies,
eyes softened by tears
and hearts ready to laugh
at all that is false and pompous
that we might be witnesses
to the dignity of life;
through Jesus Christ, who turns the world upside down.
Amen.
Epiphany 7 (Luke 6.27-38)
God of kindness,
interrupting our vicious cycles
of resentment and revenge:
teach us to walk the way of forgiveness
beyond all accounting
and to love the gift
that has no measure;
through Jesus Christ, who died for all.
Amen.
Prayers to to challenge, connect and transform
I’ve been writing prayers and liturgies informally and for publication for over two decades. As a priest in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, I believe the Church does theology through liturgy. In the space of our celebration, we are held in the presence of God and one another, and transformed by the movement of grace.
As a Christian committed to an inclusive church, I believe in prayers which challenge the boundaries we place around God’s grace and welcome.
Authorised forms of prayer will always be central to my own tradition, but there is also room for different unique voices and experiences to shape our praying. I hope my own small contributions can speak to a need to let God be heard in new ways.
Some of my collects are now approved for use in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Explore
-
Prayers for an Inclusive Church
-
The Earth Cries Glory
-
The Verdant Mysteries
A set of scriptural reflections focusing on Mary and the beauty and worth of creation. Designed to accompany the Rosary.
-
Marian Litany of Creation
A litany connecting Marian devotion with reverence for the earth., using titles for Mary drawn from the rich tradition of Christian typology.