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prayers for Trinity Sunday

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Prayer of Invocation (Unison)

Sovereign God, we look at the things You have made, the works of Your hands, and we stop to consider them with awe. From the intricate immensity of the universe to the specific singularity of a flower, Your works astonish us. Who are we mortals that You pay attention to us? We wonder at your love for us and rejoice in your presence, praying in the name of the Creator, the Christ and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Call to Confession

The book of Proverbs tells us that from the beginning of time, since before the creation of the Earth, there has been wisdom. Wisdom cries out to all people. But we do not always listen. We do not always care to listen. We do not want to know wisdom’s way. Let us bring our confessions to God together.

Prayer of Confession (Unison)

Great Wisdom-Maker, You arranged the world in beauty and brought humankind to life upon it. You want what is best for us. You provide us with guides and examples. You even came to be among us in Jesus Christ. We confess that we do not always pay attention. We admit that we do not always listen. We own up to taking the shortcuts and the easy ways because sometimes we cannot handle the truth. Forgive us, we pray, for the things we can acknowledge and especially for the things we try to hide from ourselves and You.
Silent Prayers of Confession

Words of Assurance (Responsive)

Minister: Beloved Children of God, the Maker of all Beauty, Goodness and Wisdom offers forgiveness to each and every one of us.
ALL: Amazed and relieved, we breathe in the Spirit of Forgiveness.
Minister: God is ever and always healing us, renewing us and preparing us for deeper understanding through the Holy Spirit. This is the good news that brings new life.
ALL:  We thank God for it. 
Submitted by Rev. Martha K. Spong, Sabbatical Pastor, St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

litany: come, Holy Spirit

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The Spirit that rushes in like a violent wind
is also the Spirit of gentleness.

The Spirit that tears down walls between people
is also the Spirit that opens hearts and minds.

The Spirit that burnishes with fire
is also the Spirit that renews and creates.

The Spirit that brings us to our knees in fear of the Lord
is also the Spirit that lifts us up in the light of Christ.

The Spirit that brings a language of its own to our lips
is also the Spirit that carries the prayers of all to God.

We say “Come, Holy Spirit,” but we are afraid.
We are afraid, but we say, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

Include us in God’s work.
Come, Holy Spirit.

Increase our understanding.
Come, Holy Spirit.

Spur us into faithful action.
Come, Holy Spirit.

Burn away all that is dead within us.
Come, Holy Spirit.

Strengthen us to stand with our neighbors, to fight against oppression, to stand for peace, to trust in God’s faithfulness, and to live and die in Christ for the sake of the world.
Come, Holy Spirit! Amen.

The litany may be preceded by a reading of Acts 2:1-4.

Submitted by Rev. Julia Seymour, Lutheran Church of Hope, Anchorage AK.

confession: crimes of indifference

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Forgive us, Lord, when our pocketbooks get in the way of your justice. Let our hearts melt like the candles we light in your name. Absolve us from closing our eyes to the injustices around us, empower us to speak up breaking free from the chains that shackle us. Exonerate us from the crime of indifference towards the systematic dehumanizing of our neighbors. Strengthen us to stand with the oppressed even though we might already be free. Open our hearts and our minds to the truth that none are free until we all are free.

Submitted by Rev. Greg Bolt, First Presbyterian Church, Nebraska City, Nebraska

confession: when we don’t want to get up

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Loving and patient God,
forgive us when we don’t want to get up,
when we would rather hide under our covers of fear and security,
when we wait for others to help
and turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to your call,
when we refuse to respond because we are afraid that we might succeed.
Forgive us and make us new.
Give us the strength to take the gifts that we have been given and use them for your glory.
Lift us off our mats of brokenness, and help us walk in the light.

 

a prayer for Mother’s Day

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O God of Love, all other loves excelling,

We are privileged to be your eternal family, to be children of such a parent, loving us so perfectly. On this beautiful Mother’s Day morning we come to you celebrating the gift of family. We see your glory and your wisdom in the diversity of that gift—a diversity that has always existed. We pray for small families like Elizabeth and Zechariah and their precious only son, John, and for large families like Jacob’s, with his twelve sons. We ask your blessing on multigenerational families like Timothy’s, whose mother and grandmother raised him in the faith.  Bless single person families like Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. We pray especially for broken families like King David’s. And for those like Ruth and Naomi who came through the pain of loss to establish new family ties.

We see in your Holy word and in our unholy world all kinds of families with every sort of challenge, joy, failure, and pain. You haven’t given up on families, Lord, so help us to support them in all their shapes and situations. Families are not perfect places, Lord, no matter how hard we try, because we are imperfect people. We need your kind of love for each other. We need your kind of clean-slate forgiveness for each other and that’s hard. There are folks whose greatest hurts were family blows, who just can’t imagine forgiving or forgetting. We come together to ask You to be healing damaged relationships and painful memories. Show us how to deal with our grief and regrets and anger. Make us grateful when we have been parented wisely and well. Remind us all that we always have You and this covenant family, a home away from home. You are like a mother who will not abandon the child in her arms, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home.

For You are love, and when we love, we are like You. Lord, we would reflect the love to our earthly family and to your eternal family and to your whole precious creation which You loved enough to send your only Son to save. Greater love has no one. And it is to You and in His dear name we pray. Amen.

 

Written by Linda LeBron, retired Certified Director of Christian Education and 2009 APCE Educator of the Year.