Author Archive: Craig

Prayer of the People, 27 Feb 2022

February 28, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father, 

We are looking to you for wisdom and for power to love well. Your perfect love casts out fear. We praise you for the Mighty power displayed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ your Son! You have defeated all the powers of death. May your Holy Spirit enliven us for life in your communion— the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Give us grace to join in the pursuit of your will by aligning our affections with the character and name of Jesus. In baptism we have been united with Him in His death, burial and resurrection! Oh Lord speak to us by your Word and Spirit that we might truly live. We are yours, bought with a price!

We are opening our hearts to you. Forgive us for being hardhearted, shallow, and so easily distracted from the word you have planted in us. We acknowledge that there is a spiritual battle for our fully hearted surrender to you as Lord.

We lift up your servants serving under pressure in Ukraine, Russia, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, and Yemen . Empower your church to share their lives and the Gospel. We are asking you for peace.


In Canada and here at UBC we pray that you would raise up people who are ready and willing to share their lives in discipling relationships. Lord we ask you to bring this  generation of students your grace of salvation and life. We pray that your Kingdom would come here and so we pray as Jesus taught us…


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

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Prayer of the People, 13 Feb 2022

February 14, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We rejoice in you. May your Presence infiltrate our whole lives and our fellowship together. We have communion with you and each other through the blood of Jesus who has covered us and silenced the condemnations of the Accuser. By your Spirit we know we are your children and so we cry out, Abba Father.

Lord, In the course of the week our anxieties hinder our capacity to love. May your Word show us the inner workings of our souls that we might be free to love and to lead at home, at work, and in all our relationships. You have said that we will bear fruit that will last!  Make it so Lord!

We believe you Lord. Grant us a hunger for your Word and the desire to obey you. There is genuine happiness in following you. We repent of wilful sins, may that not rule over us.

Lord, we lift up those who were baptized this weekend. As your dear children, born by the Spirit of your will, enlarge their vision of life with you and in your Kingdom. May Jesus be the centre of their lives. Root them in the reality of your love and transform their lives.

Lord, you see the nations… Why do they rage? May your wisdom prevail in Russia and Ukraine, in India, in Syria, and in Venezuela. Your word pleads with us: Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. But your people and even those who do not acknowledge you as Lord, need your wisdom from heaven! Grant it generously Lord as you have promised to all who ask.

Lord we need you in all arenas of our lives and so we pray as Jesus teaches us: (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

Prayer of the People, 6 Feb 2022

February 7, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,  By your costly grace we have been drawn into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our faith has found a resting place. We rest in you. In you we are restored and refreshed. In you we have received a new vision for life and godliness. You have the Words of life. Where else would we go?

Yet, we must not close our eyes and run away like Jonah on the boat to Tarshish. You keep inviting us to see with you, and join you in the realities of life. Though we may run from You, You can locate us. Though we close our eyes you can wake us. Though we speak with guile in our hearts you can accomplish your Word.

Oh, gladly in Christ, we surrender ourselves to your sovereignty. Your Spirit keeps pouring His love and so in the fierceness of your love and justice we would move. We set our faces with Jesus towards the cities of your calling and our cross.

Fortify our hearts with your love. Establish the work of our hands. Instruct our tongues with a word to encourage the weak. Fill our hearts with you – the Wisdom from Heaven.

We lift up to you our friends at the Athens Ministry Centre in Greece. Encourage them and create lighthouses of love across the world along their networks of friendship and family.

We lift up to you our friends in the Association of Christian Clubs at UBC. Deepen the conviction of students for the brilliance of Jesus and grant them courage for trusting you in every good work. 

We lift up to you our friends in 24-7 Prayer in Vancouver and across Canada. Thank you for those who keep watch in the night and in places overlooked in order to minister in your name.  May our homes and places and residence become centres of prayer, your life & your love.

Oh Lord we love you and ask you to give us wisdom. The days are evil; we would understand your will. Even as our buildings and halls may be empty we plead that our fellowship would not be empty of your Spirit, truth and grace. Fill us with your Spirit. Fill us with your Word. Fill us with your songs!

We need you so we pray as Jesus taught us: (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

Prayer of the People, 30 Jan 2022

January 31, 2022 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We rejoice in you. Thank you for bringing us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We rest assured that You are a refuge in the greatest storms.

Our hope is in You. Our comfort is in You. Our peace is in You.
By Your Spirit the impulse of our lives is to love. 

Yet we need Your grace for we have many malformed affections.
We need Your power to uphold us through many griefs.
We need Your promise as the living hope to which we cling.

So Lord speak to us. 

We open our ears to your Word. 
We open our hearts to your Presence.
We open our ambitions and dreams to your holiness.

You are faithful even when the struggles of the day cloud our sight. 

So we lift up to you and ask that you would meet our friends and family who are grieving.  
  (Pause)
We lift up to you those who are suffering through the frailties of their bodies and pain.
  (Pause)
We lift up to you those who are pressed down by anxieties and even depression.
  (Pause)

Come Lord Jesus and shine the light of the Father’s glory and love among us. Bring healing, hope, and the joy of your salvation. We wait on you. And so we pray as you taught us. 

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

Social Capitals

January 18, 2022 0 Comments

Babylon will burn and the corporate lament
shall not drown the cries of those
below their lines.

To be fair we might all benefit from ugly truth
‘less we are so damn sure that
our greed is just.

There is no social capital in hell; yet beyond
that fiery lake is a beach to a city
with an open gate.

So I look up and behold the God who came down.
So I look down and behold the souls bought at a price.

Now mercy brings me to this promised land but
Jesus reserved stern words for the mercied
who would not mercy.

The world watches social capitals work and
billionaires go green to make a deal
while the devil lies.

The Uyghurs cry out with Able. With Lazarus they sit
at the end of the drive waiting for golden warriors but
we are playing

games in social capitals.

***I felt enormous dismay at the interview confession with Chamath Palihapitiya in which he says, “Nobody cares about the Uyghurs.” This is a response to our common and dangerous situation: not caring.***

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