Our Shared Prayer May
May 28
Creator God,
It is spring, a time when we watch for new growth.
Calves, lambs, foals, sprouting wheat and early spring flowers.
All these things bring delight and remind us that you love new beginnings, so bright with hope.
At times our hope dies, when things don't come how or when we expect and we get impatient.
Give us wisdom to remember to hope in you, almighty and loving God, not in events and not in your creation, but in You.
Remind us that we are safe in your hands when hope is dim, when events are hard.
You are our hope, our spring.
Alleluia. Amen.
Written and shared by the Worship Committee, Bergthal Mennonite Church
May 21
Creator God, Teaching Savior, Breath of Life:
We come now into Your presence. We stop. We wait.
You are Holy. You are Love. You are Wisdom. You are Power.
You are both Large and Small. You are both Quick and Patient. You are both Beautiful and Difficult.
You are Then, and Still and What-Will-Be.
We come now into Your presence. We stop. We wait. We listen.
As we meet You, we begin to truly see You, we desire You and Your ways.
We cry in brokenness and despair, stumbling in a world that is not in alignment with You.
Although it is Your world, and Your fingerprints are everywhere, we so often choose blindness or greed.
We want it to be different. We re-imagine our world and our homes and our deepest selves to be complete in the way You designed it.
We pray that we can share that vision, and live it: the Shalom You created, You revealed and You gifted to us.
Bring alive Your Kingdom now.
We stop. We wait. We prepare to be changed.
As we learn Your ways, we pray to trust You more.
We long to give control to You, to be more like You, to rely on the Spirit you’ve given us.
We pray for what we need, for Your provision, and for discerning hearts to know what it is we actually need.
Help us to live in this moment, aware of Your presence, awake to Your movement, alert to the needs around us, available to Your nudges.
Help us to be content, to be thankful, to be gracious.
We stop. We see. We trust. We go.
Forgive us Lord. We are so imperfect. We need your redirection. We walk toward completion.
In this attitude of humility, we sense our connection to all of humankind.
This is the shared human experience: joy, sorrow, peace, regret.
May we extend grace, just as You have always been faithful to.
May we continue to strive to be more like You: creating instead of destroying, including instead of excluding, bringing life instead of death.
We come. We receive. We share.
Guide our feet Lord. Be our North Star. Minimize the distractions that would pull us away from You that we might face each day renewed and ready.
Help us release the things we were never meant to hold.
We dwell in You. We hear Your voice.
Having known these Holy Encounters, we can receive each day as a sacred opportunity to partner together in Your plan.
May our troubles be transformed into opportunities; successes attributed to You; Your blessing sought: Your comfort extended.
Daily, may we see your image in all people; and may your justice reign.
Shine Your Holy Light to lead the way.
We trust. We are empowered. We are ambassadors of the Most High.
We live in hope.
This we pray, may it be so.
Written and shared by Laura Wiebe, Trinity Mennonite
May 14
A Spring Prayer
God of all creation, of cleansing rain and eye-catching green; God of fuzzy crocuses, bouncing calves and waddling goslings, our senses are filled with signs of spring!
Spring shakes us from winter’s fast. It reminds us that your strength has carried us through winter’s cold days and long nights. Spring awakens our resilience, healing our tired lives and leaving uncertainty behind us.
Spring prepares us for summer, when, like a summer shower, we absorb your gentleness and love, and like roots and branches, we reach out to engage all that surrounds us.
Spring anticipates autumn; in spring we see the first signs of your abundance that we will reap and share generously. In fall we rejoice in crisp air and pastel sunsets, reminded of the cornucopia of your goodness.
God of seasons and senses, we celebrate spring and all that is refreshed in it. May the cycles of our lives reflect the ways that Christ, who lives again, is present in this world. Amen.
Written and shared by Brenda Tiessen-Wiens, Foothills Mennonite
May 7
Thank you to Pastor Aiden, Foothills, for sharing his Easter morning prayer, exactly as prayed. A prayer we can pray at other times, in other spaces.
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"Our Prayer of the People this morning may feel a little different than normal. It is a practice of embodiment, a prayer of shared breath. Prayer, though we might often limit it in our imagination to just talking and maybe some listening. Prayer is more all-encompassing of our whole beings, our whole body, more than just our voice and mind. In this prayer I will offer some refrains ending with the words “Oh God who brings life,” and we are going to respond to them in breathing deeply. Just as Christ now breathes deeply of the air once more, it is an embrace of the new life of God. I will invite you, even implore you, to breathe loudly, and as you do listen and hear the breaths of those seated around you. Let us practice this once; [breath in]… [breath out]..."
Won’t you pray with me.
Creator of breath, we offer up prayers for our world. Where all feels to big, and our imaginations too small to see how your love might redeem and restore even the most broken parts.
Oh God who brings life; [Big Breath]
Creator of breath, we lift up the land which we call home. We draw the lines and call it by names and nation, and though nations come and go, we pray your spirit to be present in this land which we call Canada.
Oh God who brings life; [Big Breath]
Creator of breath, we offer up our local neighbours and the neighborhoods where we dwell. The people we pass every day, the streets we walk and travel on. The trees that tell the time. May we be faithful witnesses to our neighbours.
Oh God who brings life; [Big Breath]
Creator of breath, we lift up our community, the people that make this local church more than a building. The many complex webs of connections and histories, may they serve to enrich our togetherness more and more.
Oh God who brings life; [Big Breath]
Creator of breath, we offer up ourselves, and the needs of our fragile and beautiful bodies. Those matters of life that are big, and even those that are so small that only your eyes see. We need you to be present in our own lives just as much as we need you present in the life of this earth.
Oh God who brings life; [Big Breath]
Let it be so, Amen.