Tag Archive: Origin Church

This prayer was shared in our Origin Online worship service on 15 March 2020. As we respond to the Covid-19 situation on our campuses and in our city all Origin Worship Gatherings will be online until further notice. You can watch the service here.

Drawn from Psalm 91.

Heavenly Father,

You are the Almighty, Most High God, and we have chosen to dwell in Your shelter and to rest in Your shadow.  You are our refuge and our fortress, our God, in whom we trust.” By the blood and body of Jesus you have brought us into your Communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank you.

And yet this week has given us repeated opportunity to pause, face our mortality, and make choices about our own convenience in relation to others’ wellbeing. The world feels deeply unstable and shaken by a deadly virus. 

So we enter Your presence setting our hope on you. We look to you to save us, knowing others around the world are deeply grieving, more vulnerable, and more anxious. Come Holy Spirit and cover us with Your feathers.

Let us find refuge under Your wings.  We want Your faithfulness to be our shield and rampart.  Lord, help us turn to You in trust when fears in the night, attacks by day, and illness stalks people all around the world. Lord, we trust You, and yet we also need You to help our unbelief, for some of us — worry troubles our thoughts.  Many of us need You to grow our compassion and patience. Work among us Oh Lord.

We receive the ministry of Your messenger to guard us in all our ways;  give wisdom, strength, and encouragement to government officials and medical health officers all around the world as policies of protection are implemented.  Give us wisdom to know how to adjust our lives while choosing to reach out and remain deeply connected.

Lord we love You and we acknowledge Your power.  Please protect and rescue us all; You are our Deliverer. We are calling to You and looking to You for answers.  You are with us in trouble. We recognise in a new way how vulnerable we all are. As we rely on You, make us kind, remind us of people we can call or message, let Your Spirit strengthen us, embolden us, and make us humble to serve.

Please join me in praying 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 Ellen and Craig O’Brien

Heavenly Father,

You have loved us first! Thank you for bringing us into your communion: the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We come before you busy – a lot to do, many concerns, pressured, and we want to pause to gaze upon You.  (Pause)

You have chosen to abide with us, to give us Your Spirit.  You love us well. Make us sponges that are able to receive the depth and truth of Your love, and when life squeezes us, we pray that as we allow You to fill us up, Your love is what comes out under pressure.

Lord, the world is anxious about the coronavirus.  People are grieving. In addition to washing our hands, we want our demeanours to be washed in Your love.  Perfect love, which only You have, casts out fear. So we receive Your deep, abiding love, and we ask for courage to show Your love to others.

Lord, we pray for health officials in China, Iran, Italy, here, and everywhere because there’s a pressure to manage and fix some things that no human can.  We ask that you prepare Your people to serve, support, encourage, and be present to the sick and dying.

Lord, we celebrate today as International Women’s Day, and thank you for women who gave birth to us, who instruct us and model a sincere faith, and who lead us.  We pray that all women will live into the potential You have created us with and that we would be women after Your own heart. For women who carry a heavy load, we ask that burdens will be lifted.  For those whose bodies are exploited, we cry out for justice. For those ignored and unseen, we pray that they will receive the respect, consideration, and opportunities needed to help them flourish. 

Lord, we cast down all of our anxieties on You because You care for us and because You are capable of dealing with them.  

We receive the Spirit of Jesus and choose to trust You and to walk in love.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Please join me in praying 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 Ellen and Craig O’Brien

Heavenly Father,

You have always been at home with yourself in the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank you for the miraculous grace that has made us at home with you too.

For most of us Lord— home, feeling comfortable in our skin— has been an illusive experience. We need the radical experience of being loved by you and being accepted by others.

For some of us Lord even the memory of home is filled with conflict and with damaging messages perverting the truth and deforming us with the enemy’s lies. We need your truth and grace to reform us.

Ultimately we are longing to be at home with you —  
For you to wipe away every tear  — 
For you to set all things right — 
For you to free us and the world from the infection of sin.

We have tasted the reality of goodness even now through Jesus Christ our Lord and through the gift of your Spirit. Even in our fellowship with the Church we get glimpses of your shallom and your power.  Thank you!

Forgive us Lord for acting as independent agents — we want to be our own gods.  Protect us from willful rebellion — may these sins not rule over us. By your grace our spirit is willing. Oh how we still need your grace — our bodies are weak. Our souls are drawn to the deceit of this world. 

We need a spiritual makeover every week — well we need one every day!

We lift up our friends at uVillage Church and the Point gathering today around Simon Fraser University. Fill them with your Holy Spirit. May your Word build them up and cause them to persevere. May you cause them to faithfully shine as a beacon of Jesus’ love.

We lift up the country of Lebanon. The country is host to many people seeking refuge from violence and oppression. Bless them Lord. They feel the strain of their hospitality and they feel the weight of their dreams. Cause the people to truly prosper — may the gospel of Jesus cause them to flourish like a tree planted beside the waters.

Oh how we long for your Kingdom to come — 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.