Saturday, 21 May 2016

Trinity Dance

http://www.bobhandelman.com/#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=4&p=4&a=0&at=0


Trinity Dance Prayer

Creator God, whose gaze hovers over the vast universe
Father God who knows how many hairs are on each of our heads
You were here at the beginning
And you will be here at the end
The mystery of you is too great for us

Jesus, who was with the Father when the spirit hovered over the water
And who is the King of Kings
You made yourself small
And lived and walked and cried and bled and died as one of us
The mystery of you is too great for us

Holy Spirit, ever present yet hard to see
Ancient yet always at work all over the world breathing new life
Creative spirit that works deep in our hearts
Forging new pathways, transforming us from within
The mystery of you is too great for us.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit – the same and yet different
You weave your way in and out
Holding our lives together
Connecting us with each other

Open our eyes to your presence amongst us
Open our ears - tune us in to the music that you hear
Loosen our hands and feet
Lift our hearts and minds above our cares and fears and 
Sweep us up in your dance, O God, three in one.

Amen





   

Saturday, 9 April 2016

Ways of abundance



 

Jesus, All those years ago
On the lake when the disciples saw you again after Easter
What a reunion it must have been.

Jesus, Lord of creation,
You knew where all the good fish were to be found  
you told the discouraged fishermen to throw their nets on the other side and the nets nearly broke under the weight of fish
We praise you.
When we just want to do our own thing our own way
And fumble around in the darkness
Help us to listen out for your voice to find out what to do next.
Because your ways are ways of life in abundance.

Jesus, friend and companion
you knew your disciples by name
Stood waiting for them on the beach
Sought them out,
Prepared a fire and cooked fish and broke bread for them and served them
We praise you
When we want to keep ourselves and our things and our time to ourselves too much
Help us to be like you, welcoming, serving, sharing, blessing.
Because your ways are ways of life in abundance.

Jesus, forgiver and teacher
Your knew the frailty of Simon Peter
And the way he denied you three times
He was so pleased to see you again he leapt out of the boat when he saw you
And then you offered him three chances to tell you how much he loved you
And you gave him important work to do
We praise you.
When we feel weighed down by our failures
Help us to remember that you forgive us and forgive us and forgive us
And you have all kinds of plans for us, more than we can understand or imagine.
Because your ways are ways of abundance.

Jesus, Lord of creation,
friend and companion
forgiver and teacher
We praise you
Like Simon Peter did
We long to see your face
Help us to walk in your ways
May your face can be known in our faces
And may we see your face in all those we meet.
Amen


Saturday, 27 February 2016

Effortlessly, overwhelmingly, abundantly good



Prayer of praise and thanksgiving

Our hearts cry out to you O God
For you are truly good
And only you are the source of all that we need

On our best days
we have our excellent moments
But it’s so hard for us  
To do even the best things
In the best way
or for the right reasons

And then there are our less than best days.

But you are different
You are good
Every moment
Of every day
Effortlessly
Overwhelmingly
Abundantly
Through and through
Good.

How beautiful it is
To find ourselves in the presence
Of One who
Welcomes us
Holds us
Blesses us
Loves us
Knows us
Calls to us
Whoever we are
Whatever we have done or not done

A lighthouse guiding the way in stormy seas
The rock that does not move when the ground we stand on feels shaky
The sun that is always still burning even when our part of the world seems dark
As close to us as the air that we breathe
Always there whenever we turn our hearts to you

Blessed be You our God
Who formed the universe
And wants to transform each of us
So that we may freely, fruitfully and joyfully walk in your ways

Amen

Saturday, 5 December 2015

The Lord our peace



Yahweh Shalom – The Lord our peace
We praise you.

We don’t need to tell you that our world is troubled
Bushfires and loss
Wars and rumours of wars
Sickness, violence

El Roi – God of seeing
You already know.

We don’t need to tell you that we long for peace, peace for our community, peace for our world
But even in our own homes, even in our own minds, peace isn’t always to be found.

El Roi – God of seeing
You already know.

Peace is not easy,
Peace can be costly
even for you.

In these weeks of Advent we await again with joy the birth of the prince of peace
Knowing that in only a few months we will be experiencing the grief of Good Friday,

But you are Yahweh Shalom
The Lord our Peace
Your thoughts are not our thoughts,
    nor are your ways our ways
Yahweh Shalom
The author, architect and perfecter of peace
With you there is often a way through
A secret tunnel to forgiveness
A hidden doorway to reconciliation
An overgrown and unexpected path to a new and better way through

Help us to keep our eyes peeled for them

Peace is who you are
Peace is what you want for us
Peace is what you bring
Our hopes for peace are in the best possible hands.
For this we praise and thank you.

Amen

Saturday, 7 November 2015

Thank you God that you are so very good



Prayer of praise

Thank you God that you are so very good.
Full of love and always wanting the best for your people and your creation
Thank you that you know us and notice  us.
We praise you for giving us life itself
and all that we need to live and to grow
We thank you for giving us the gift of each other
- a place to belong

Thank you for giving us the gift of freedom
Thank you that shared your life with us
You showed us how to live the very best life that could be lived
And then you gave life up
Until bursting forth again
Full of life
You beat death forever
So that we could live lives that are truly alive.

Christ is risen, he’s risen indeed
May our lives, on the good days and the bad days
The struggling days and the joyful days
The broken days and the beautiful days
Tell of your life in us
And our life in you
May our lives tell of your goodness to us
In Jesus’ name,
Amen