Prayer

Prayer of the People, 15 May 2020

May 18, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father there is no substitute for you. All the works of our hands have proven insufficient. We have even bankrupted ourselves on the misuse of your Creation; it was never meant to bear the weight of our souls!

So it is with delight that we enter by the way of Jesus’ life, death, burial and resurrection into your Communion — the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In you we are loved. In you we are satisfied.

We have tried to quench the thirst of our souls — but truthfully we have trouble locating our thirst. We confuse our thirst for you with the development of our selves. Improvement of our identities is killing us. Chasing the next adventure has become severely limited. And meeting people online sometimes tires us out. Oh Lord we need you — we need you. We cry out with the Psalmist:

1As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? 3My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 4These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

O Lord, We miss gathering in person but we join you in loving the world anyway! We lift up to you our neighbours anxious under the weight of illness, loss, or financial worries (PAUSE) .  We lift up to you people and countries fighting the Covid 19 Pandemic: Zimbabwe, the Royhinga in Bangladesh, the refugees in Lesbos Greece and the people of NewYork and Montreal.

Oh Lord Jesus rise up in us a Spring of Living water. We seek you so pray as you taught us (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, 8 May 2020

May 11, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

Your communion is filled with joy — there’s joy produced in relationship between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for sharing your life with us and delivering us into your Kingdom. Even now we know we have had a taste of your joy.

We open our hearts to you. Fill us with your Spirit. May joy in our fellowship be a sign of your abundant love and the sure promise of our faith secured by Jesus Christ. Oh that your joy would spring up in every obedient and faithful act of worship provoked by faith in your name.

May your joy in us create a rebellion against hopelessness, despair, and apathy. These weigh us down Lord, creating spiritual inertia that resists love. Forgive us Lord. We don’t know how to appreciate your presence in creation, in each other, in the poor, in the merciful, and in the meek. Renew our spirits and create in us a clean heart.

Father, you have provided us with food and shelter. You have lifted our heads with words of  encouragement and compassion. You have helped us persevere through our struggles. 

Thank you for this grace.

We lift up to you those in our congregation who
long for friendship
cry for comfort
pray for purpose and 
ask for provision.

Meet them Lord. Fulfill your Word in their lives for the glory of your name.

We lift up to you those in our city who
need a safe space,
are pressed down by anxiety, or
are trapped by addiction.

Oh Lord, deliver them by the power of your Spirit and bring them into the joy of your fellowship.

Lord we lift up to you these cities and the people who reside in them. Grant them the joy of your salvation and please raise up men and women overflowing with stories of your redemption in Oman, Alexandria, Oslo, Bangkok, Tehran, Brasilia, and Ottawa. Establish your church and the good work of their hands.

Jesus you are above all. In joyful adoration we bend the knee and call you Lord. We pray today 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

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Prayer of the People, 1 May 2020

May 5, 2020 0 Comments

Here’s the Prayer of the People from the Origin Weekend Broadcast for 1 May 2020.

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for bringing us into your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This costly grace formed in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus has granted us the faith in which we stand and has changed our lives forever. Thank you!

In Christ Jesus you have radically altered our past, present, and future.
You have forgiven us of our sins.
You have wiped the slate clean.
You have loved us.
You have brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of Your Son.
You have given us a new heart.
You have filled us with your Spirit.

You are making us new.
You are renewing our minds.
You are transforming our attitudes and actions.
You are giving us new desires.
You are fulfilling your word.
You are pouring your love into our lives.

You will cause every promise in Christ to be a Yes.
You will return to set all things right.
You will redeem our lives.
You will be praised forever!

Oh Spirit, Come— Gather the Church of Jesus into praise and into intercession with you.

We long for every tear to be tenderly wiped from our faces.
We long for our faith to be sight. But even now Lord fortify us with the disciplines and rhythms that tap deeply into your life and your Word.

Oh Lord, we set before you peoples who feel forgotten and crushed in this coronavirus pandemic. We plead with you for healing across the whole planet. We seek You for peace in homes and the transformation of relationships fractured by neglect or even violence. We pray that the love of Jesus would abound so that our neighbours experience love and not accusation and hate because of race.

We seek You & your Kingdom 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

Church, Prayer

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Prayer of the People — 24 April 2020

April 27, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

Thank you for giving us the grace of faith. We know we do not live by sight but by faith. Yet, you have given us the eyes of faith to recognize you in the Gospel and in the world around us. Thank you for the delight of residing in your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

In seeing Jesus in the Gospel we are getting to look into what angles had longed to see. Oh Lord grant us the grace of living full into this mystery revealed! Christ in us — the hope of glory.

Too often Lord our days do not seem all that glorious. Help us love you with all our minds, all our hearts, and all our strength in the course of our daily rhythms: making meals, washing dishes, cleaning spaces, folding laundry, taking up our work, setting our work down, and loving the people closest to us.

Grant us the courage and wisdom required to be curious about people and inquisitive without judgment. May kindness flow from our faces, our speech, and our actions because you are close.

Oh Lord we grieve with the people of Nova Scotia who are reeling from the violence and hate that has visited them. Protect them Lord from the evil one. In the name of Jesus bind up their wounded hearts and cast out the seeds of suspicion and bitterness that have been sown. 

Lord we ask for grace to help those who are suffering through the coronavirus pandemic. Every loss requires its own grace. But Lord, so many around the world are in danger of disease and famine. We retreat from the castles of our greed and ask that you would show us how to love our neighbours well and to support those serving the least of these. But even here in our city and around our campuses people are being oppressed by loneliness and depression. Instruct us in the word that will lift them up.

We are among those who cry out — we would see Jesus.
Oh Lord, we would see Jesus lifted up in His church.

So we pray as He 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.

The Prayer of the People for 24 April 2020 was used the in the Origin Church Weekend Broadcast. If you would like information or encouragement for hosting a House Church during the Coronavirus Pandemic please reach out to me.

You Must Be Born Again ~ Life Journey With Jesus – Origin Online – 24 April 2020

Prayer

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Prayer of the People, 17 April 2020

April 23, 2020 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We glorify and honour you. We praise you! This week in the midst of our lives and concerns we have been reminded of the glorious thought that you get the last word. Jesus is raised from the dead and Jesus shall return to set all things right.

You have invited us into the communion of eternal life even now so we get to enjoy your communion daily — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Lord you bridged the greatest divide of all — the deathly divide created by sin; it kept us from seeing you and from fulfilling the purposes for which you created us in all our relationships. But now in Christ Jesus the Resurrected Lord we have tasted our salvation and our hope.

Lord, Strengthen our faith in these days and fortify us for loving people in Your Name.

Lord we are struggling to bridge the digital divide and the divides of hostility and fear created by racism, greed, and the desire to dominate. The Coronavirus pandemic is highlighting the painful realities we have been tempted to treat as normal. Grant us wisdom and Holy Spirit gumption to do something and support your servants and any who seek your righteousness in this season.

We lift up to you cities and regions especially grieved by loss in these days: Wuhan, Italy, Spain, New York City, Ecuador, and Montreal. We lift up to you government officials and the medical teams seeking wisdom and solutions in care and prevention throughout the world.

Oh Lord, may we look not only to our own interests but also to the interests of others as people  who have been encouraged and comforted by Jesus Christ. He is our Risen Lord so we pray as He 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