Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 26 May 2019

May 27, 2019 1 Comment

Heavenly Father,

We set our hearts and our minds on You. You are seated in Your throne room, yet your majesty and glory fills the whole earth. We come without pretensions for our own righteousness. Instead we come with gratitude for the righteousness of Jesus in whom our lives have been hidden.  You are our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption. Thank you for this grace!

We sit with you and are fed.
We walk with you and have company.
We stand with you and have victory.

Thank you for this grace. In our weakness you are strong. You have forgiven our sins and have fortified us through many temptations. You have been our help and truly it is by your help that we have come this far.

These weeks we are celebrating with graduates of UBC.  We celebrate what is completed, and we look forward to a future with you. As these dear ones take next steps please remind them to set their hearts on things above even while they navigate all of the practical pieces of finding work, of moving, and of navigating change.  Remind us of Your glory in the midst of change and uncertainty. You are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

We seek to live as Jesus did, so we are not unaffected or unmoved by the ways powers and principalities animate the institutions of our world. O how the nations rage! But your Kingdom will prevail even as North Korea tests their missiles, and as tensions rise in Europe’s elections, and as Iran stretches its arms, and India abounds with voices of hate and suspicion that find a place in online streams to turn people against their neighbours.

Compel us again through the tremendous and surprising grace of the Gospel to love our neighbours and our enemies and to plead with you for the salvation of all who would turn to Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is by His grace that turn our hearts and minds to you and that we pray —

(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.

Prayer, Society

, ,

Honk at me

May 25, 2019 0 Comments

What solace is required to fly north and remain?
These geese seem to know for their flights are never pained
with silence whether in groups of two
or of twelve.
What does such clumsy honking call forth
that silence
cannot?
Oh our fears of awkward
have cast many down on the
plains of Abraham
where you could have been a sister
and I could have been a brother
but
we wither
away.
So please
honk at me
and I’ll fly
with you.

Church, Creation, Poetry, Relationships

, , , ,

Prayer of the People, 19 May 2019

May 20, 2019 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We enter your communion, the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, through the body of Jesus and by His blood. Thank you for this grace in which stand. We live and and breathe and have our being in You!

We yearn for your voice, for your Word to call us forth from death and darkness into life and light. We yearn for your glory. We yearn for the Word that creates again a pure heart in us. Help us hear your voice and please give us a desire to know you and to do your will.

Have mercy on us Oh Lord. 

Fill us with your Spirit again.
Grant us your freedom that 
comes via the way of the Cross
and may we know Your joy.

May our praises for You come without calculations.
May our obedience for You emerge from love.
May our zeal for you You be full of knowledge.

For You are the One who has come to destroy the works of the evil one.
You are the One who seeks us through the night.
You are the One who calms the storm with a word.
You are the One who takes our offerings and feeds the nations.
You are the One who meets us in our griefs and takes in our tears.


You are the One who loves our brothers and sisters under deathly pressure in Nigeria and Burkina Faso. You are the One who has wisdom for scientists and social activists concerned for the state of our oceans. You are the One who brings down and binds up powers and principalities arrayed against the poor. You are the One who fortifies your people to love their enemies and their neighbours.

Where else could we go for the Words of life?

No one else could raise up children who share in your holiness from such a corrupt generation. No one else can love us the way you do. So, we pray this morning as Jesus teaches us to pray and — we ask that you would make it so —

(Please join me in the Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one;
for yours is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, 
forever. 
Amen.


Change

Prayer of the People, Easter, 21 April 2019

April 22, 2019 0 Comments

Lord,

We have gathered as have your people all over the world…

to celebrate your resurrection.
to marvel at Your power to return life where there is death.
to set our hearts and minds on Christ in the throne room of heaven.
to remind ourselves that we will appear with You in glory.


Too easily our Resurrection Sundays turn into another religious duty.

We long to be like the women who left from Jesus’ borrowed tomb —
their mission of duty and devotion defined by death was disrupted by the most astonishing news — Christ is Risen. Disrupt our dull missions and infuse us with Good News — God News; set us on missions of life.

Rescue us — we have been chained to our guilt.
Deliver us— we have been trapped by our shame.
Redeem us — we have been blinded by our fear.

Lord, we can get stuck at the Cross when we consider all that is not right in the world and in our own lives. The Cross is the epitome of violence, abuse of power, injustice, despair. We bring to You the pain… 

of the families who lost someone in the Sri Lankan bombings.
of the violence and of the family of the journalist who died in Northern Ireland.
of the families who have lost their homes in Mozambique.
of the ongoing violence in Afghanistan.
of families stuck at the US border.
of the civil war outside Libyan capital.
of our own hurting relationships, illness, unrealized goals and dreams.

We ask that you would take away every voice that says “You don’t care; You can’t do anything.”

On this Resurrection Day we look to You as the One who gives hope and as the One who has the power. Make us alive again to You, to Your ways, Your truth, Your hope. 

Help us to join in with others who walk with you in affirming—
Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Please join me as we pray the Lord’s Prayer 

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one;

for yours is the kingdom,

and the power, and the glory, 

forever. 

Amen.

–prepared by Craig & Ellen O’Brien

Prayer

, ,

It’s Yours

April 16, 2019 0 Comments

upon 

a ridge of land

assumed

they lay your cross 

and stretch 

your body

suspended 

creation surveys your majesty mocked and crowned

nails pinning peace in a longing embrace for

fleshy wrecks and a 

city of broken 

promises

your heart 

flows

while violence 

beats

wisdom’s rage

and power’s aspirations

two kingdoms 

crash at

your feet

and we long 

to speak

a better word

than

Abel

University of British Columbia, Point Grey Campus (Vancouver)
“We would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather
is the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) People.”

Poetry

, , , , , , , , , , ,