A Christmas Confession

Our Father in heaven,

We acknowledge that the only reason you would send a saviour is because we need saving…

You have been merciful to us.

You have performed mighty deeds so that we may know of your mercy.

You have redeemed your people.

You have saved and rescued us.

We confess to you our brokenness;

Our wilful rebellion;

Our toxic words;

Our self-centred actions;

Our desire to shake off the boundaries that you define;

Our attempt to live as if you are not there;

Our lack of compassion for those who need;

Our contempt for those different to ourselves;

Our indifference to the poor.

Forgive us and be merciful to us

Be merciful to our city.

Be merciful to our nation

Be merciful to our world

Remember your covenant to us.

Give us new hearts.

Give us your Spirit.

Forgive us

And make us like your Son Jesus.

We pray these things through our Immanuel, Jesus Christ, God with us

Amen

Christmas Blessing

May the joy of the angels be the song of your heart:

May the reality of Jesus birth, give you confidence in a world of despair:

May the favour of God provide you with security in this fragile life:

May the promises of God assure you of his love and unchanging commitment:

And may the sovereignty of God offer you peace in a world of conflict:

May the death of Jesus bring you forgiveness from your sin: release from your shame and confidence in your fear

May his resurrection give you the hope of life eternal:

And may his triumph over death remind you that there is coming a day when you will see him face to face…

Merry Christmas

Our God is for us

Our giving Father,

You are for us; who could possibly oppose us.

You have given us your son; there is nothing more precious that you could supply.

You have justified us; who shall convict us.

Christ intercedes for us; who shall condemn us.

We are downtrodden; but nothing will separate us from your love.

Attached to you we are hyper-conquerors.

Thank you.

Amen

Adopted

Father you have loved us;

Set your seal upon us;

Chosen to live in us;

Made us to belong to you;

Taken us as sons and daughter;

Redeemed our bodies;

Filled us with hope;

Inhabited our prayers;

Given us life;

And given us an inheritance.

We thank you that we are loved indeed.

Advent Confession

O promised Christ:

We are a sinful people;

Our pardon depends upon your grace.

We are a world in darkness;

Our light depends upon your word.

We are a world in death;

Our existence depends upon your life.

We are a world under wrath;

Our salvation depends upon your mercy.

We are a world at war;

Our peace depends upon your coming.

We are full of good intentions but unable to do them.

We make promises to ourselves in the moments of strength that we do not keep in the moments of weakness.

We are intentionally and wilfully rebellious.

We do not regard sin as serious or Christ as precious.

Forgive us we pray.

Forgive us most of all our self-sufficiency

That we do not long for relationship with you;

We do not long for a messiah or a father;

And we do not look for salvation.

Forgive us we pray.

You have come in humility, suffering and death.

And you are coming again in power and victory.

And so we live, waiting,

looking backwards towards the manger and the cross.

And looking forwards to the day when

Our hope will become sight

Our darkness, light

Our tears, joy

Our death, life

And our sin defeated by your grace.

Come, Lord Jesus come.

Amen.

Hope in Suffering

Father,

You are at work for our good.

You are transforming us to be like your son our brother.

You seek that we are done with rebellion and wickedness and sin;

But these hold tenaciously to our hearts;

And our souls are turned away from you.

Do the work of suffering in us.

May our love for you be our all consuming passion.

May your purpose be our desire.

May your calling be our hope.

May our predestination be our security.

May our justification be our awe;

And our glorification be our vision.

Do the work of suffering in us.

Amen

A Marriage Prayer

Heavenly Father,

You have designed us to be different,

You have engineered us to build each other,

You have knit us together with needles of brilliance,

And you have loved us!

But

Our hearts are turned inwards,

Our souls are restless,

Our tongues are dangerous,

And our lives are rebellious,

Yet you have loved us!

Your love is constant and sure,

Sacrificial and costly,

Cross shaped, life providing,

Resolute in the face of our provocation. 

Turn our hearts away from our selfishness Turn our souls towards you

Turn our love towards each other

And give us joy.

For your glory sake

Amen

How Long O Lord

Father in heaven

Your Son’s departure was not a token of separation but a pledge of his return.

We long for that day

Because his death has redeemed us,

Your Spirit has sealed us,

Your love transforms us,

Your promises assure us,

And we know that life awaits us.

On that day we will see you.

Our mortal flesh will be replaced with immortality;

Our weakness replaced with power;

Our natural bodies raised as spiritual bodies;

Our sinful hearts forever transformed into hearts that love you;

Our strivings replaced with rest;

Our fears replaced with sight;

And our tears replaced with joy.

Keep us looking forward to that day.

Keep us trusting you.

And may that day influence and change the few short hours that we have left.

We ask for your glory sake

Amen

A  prayer in gratitude for Christ

Father you have granted to us the greatest of privileges

We  are brothers and sisters of Jesus

Not because of our goodness but because of your mercy

Thank You

You know that we love you because of what you have done

But our love is shallow and often cold

Warm us

Change us

And grow us that we might be more like our brother and our saviour

Fill us with the fruit of goodness

Make us merciful amidst selfishness

Joyful in a world of misery

Grateful in a world of grumbling

Peaceful in a world of striving

Patient in a world of anger

May we be kind with the hurting

Gentle with the weeping

Faithful in commitment and friendship

And self controlled in the midst of licence

Forgive us for the times when we are more like Satan than Jesus

For the times when we secretly tolerate lust and idolatry.

Forgive us that we succumb to the lure of wealth and the comforts of ease

Forgive us a lack of courage to stand for good and speak prophetically to our friends.

Forgive us where we have tolerated racism and allowed ourselves to scorn the poor

Forgive us and have mercy on us

That we might be more like our brother the Lord Jesus Christ

In his name we pray

Amen

Faith and Service

Our faithful Father;

forgive our doubts;

forgive our fears;

grow our feeble trust;

and may we achieve great things by trusting you.

Help us to think properly about ourselves;

properly about our service;

properly about praise and reward;

and may we recognise that we are unworthy servants of a great God…

Amen

Based on Luke 17:5-10

A Prayer to be a Disciple Based on Luke 17:1-10

Father, I seek to be a disciple of your son.Serious about sin;Serious about forgiveness;Serious about trusting you;And serious about service.

None of them come naturally to meI love my sin;I hate forgiving;I trust so little;and I serve myself most of all.Forgive me and transform my heart that I might be your disciple.

Amen

Prayer – REACH SA - Synod 2016 

Our loving and heavenly Father

We come to you today and we confess our weakness.

We are often loaded with sorrow,

Perplexed and uncertain at what to do,

Wracked with doubt,

Consumed by fear,

Hard pressed and discouraged.

We pray for ourselves as we gather this synod.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We pray that Christ might be honoured.

We pray that your name might be proclaimed in every nook and cranny of our country.

We pray for the rural villages of our land, forgotten, scorned and often trapped in desperate poverty.

We pray for the urban centres fiercely pursuing the God’s of money, independence and pleasure.

We pray for our townships with their apartheid pain and their legacy of political neglect.

We pray for the aspirational suburbs, wealthy in money, poor in love.

We pray for the gospel to penetrate every corner of our nation.

We pray for churches to be planted and ways to be found to fund ministries amongst the poor and marginalised.

We pray for leaders to be raised up with servant hearts, sacrificial spirits and a missional mindset.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We pray for our witness as a denomination that wherever our communities gather we may be communities of love - deeply in love with you.

May our love gush out of us in expressions of compassion, grace, generosity and forgiveness to the people around us.

We pray for our churches to grow in maturity and in number…

We confess that we are timid in our prayers and doubting of your promises.

We pray for the energy and motivation to plant churches and ministries in difficult places.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We pray for your will to be done in our lives and in our churches

We pray for your Holy Spirit to give us such a deep sense of sin that we are revolted at our hearts and constantly seek your grace.

We pray that you would change us, grow us to maturity as you make us like your son.

May holiness not be the experience of the monastery but the desire of our hearts.

We pray for your Holy Spirit to radically transform us so that it might be gossiped of us that we are like Christ

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We pray for our Synod.

We pray that we might not be consumed with the business of keeping the institution running but rather consumed with the business of advancing and preaching the gospel.

We pray for courage to take risks for the kingdom.

Compassion to well up in us for the poor and marginalised.

Love to drive our actions, our words and our plans.

Benevolence to be our hearts desire as we consider the orphan and the abandoned. 

Unity of mind so that your glory might be seen in our diversity.

Unity of heart that the divisions of apartheid might not dog our comradeship.

A fear of hell to grip our hearts and to motivate our actions.

And the hope of heaven to embolden us for mission.

Lord in your mercy hear our prayer

We pray for ourselves today.

We do not crouch at your feet as slaves.

But exalt in our sonship, our forgiveness, our justification and our welcome.

We pray that those downhearted might be encouraged.

Those that are despondent be revived.

Those that have become lazy be challenged.

Those that have slipped into the mundane treadmill of maintenance ministry be re-enthused.

We pray for ideas to be shared and new ministries to take fruit as a result of our gathering.

But most of all we pray for your glory alone, for your fame to spread and for your church to show that she is the bride for whom you died.

In Jesus Christ name we pray

Amen

Prayer for an Eternal View of Money 

Our Father,

We are quick to hold

Slow to share

Intoxicated by wealth

Unable to give you our all.

We are in great danger and we ask you to rescue us.

We ask for your Holy Spirit to give us a glimpse of eternity, so that we might use our money in eternal ways.

Please keep us from stupidity with respect to our money…and may we buy treasure in heaven.

In the name of the one who gave all for us.

Amen   

Lost and Found

Luke 15:1-10, Luke 19:10

 Father,

You are a God who seeks the lost.

You take joy in those who return to you.

You delight in repentance.

Make our hearts repentant.

Make our hearts to welcome the repentant.

Make us to seek the lost.

May we take joy when they are found.

May we live transformed by your salvation heart.

May we never give up praying.

May we never doubt your goodness and mercy to our lost world.

Amen

True Friendship

Father you have loved us.

And so   

Your friendship defines us

Your grace pardons us

Your power protects us

Your wisdom leads us

Your goodness relieves us

Your mercy supplies for us

And your glory crowns us (Thomas Brooks)

May we be friends as you are

Steadfast in your love.
Obedient to your commands.
Filled with your joy.

Keep us from distrust, fear and depression 

from cool formality and half-hearted service

from divided loyalties,

from grumbling, discontent and resentment

And make us to love each other…being deep and true, long lasting, committed friends.

For your glory.

Amen

A Prayer for Truthfulness

Father of truth;

Your son is the way in a lost world;

the life in a world of death;

and the truth in a world of lies.

Darkness, deception and falsehood lurk in our hearts. 

Give us hearts of truthfulness.

Forgive our deception.

Forgive our hypocrisy.

Forgive our weakness that seeks peace rather than godliness.

May loving truth be spoken by us and affirmed in others.

May those around us come to know that our word can be trusted;

Until that day when all the world lives in truth.

Amen 

A Prayer of Submission

We have no master but you;

No law but your will;

No delight but you yourself;

No wealth except what you give;

No good but your blessing;

No peace except that which you offer.

We are nothing except what you make us to be;

We have nothing but what we receive from you;

We can be nothing except what your grace supplies.

A Preacher’s Prayer

Geoff Gertzen 2014

Father,

Give me depth of understanding and clarity of thought.

Give me faithfulness to your word and wisdom in its application.

Give me perseverance in my labour and eyes set only on you.

Give me repentance of my sinful heart and humility amidst my pride.

Give me an attitude of service and a willingness to suffer.

Give me joy amidst the pain of my people and perseverance in my labour.

Give me a desire for your glory and the honour of your name alone.

Amen

My Selfishness

Father,
    You are good,
    Your love endures forever,
    Your faithfulness continues from generation to generation.

But I am selfish, addicted to my own happiness, unable to see beyond my own desires.
Give me eyes that see and a heart that grieves what I do to others in my selfishness.
Give me your Spirit to transform my will. 
Keep me persevering towards Christlikeness in the face of my stubborn selfishness.
And give me a heart that is ever fixed on Christ - my Saviour and my God.
Amen

Single Minded Devotion

1 Corinthians 10:14-22 

Father, please help us to flee from our idols.

Remind us that we participate in the death and life of your son.

Remind us that we are one body.

Keep us from a participation with demons.

Give us an appreciation of the greatness of being Christian.

And make our hearts solely devoted to you.

Amen

1 Corinthians 9:1-14

Father, forgive us

    For the times that we have squandered your blessings on our own desires:

    For the times when we have supported causes through emotion and not careful             consideration:

    For the times when our motives in giving have been selfish rather than selfless:

    For the times when we have begrudged a living to those in ministry:

    Forgive us for muzzling the ox; and receiving your word without                                     generous compensation.

Grow our love, for your servants;

for Jesus sake.

Amen

1 Corinthians 8:4-13

Almighty God, 

you are the only true God, the maker of all things; the one for whom we live.

Help us to guard our freedom;

    to not cause others to stumble;

    to not destroy those you love;

    to not to sin against them;

    to not wound their consciences.

May we restrain our freedom and live for love.

Amen

Prayer for a Loving Heart

Father, cleanse our souls from the clutter that dampens our love for you.

We confess that our hearts are filled with false loves that have become a cheap and unsatisfying substitute for loving you.

Show us the loves of our hearts.

And then show us yourself so that we may

     adore you,

     worship you,

     And cherish you.

Father, we are prone to love ourselves.

But we are not made for that love.

We are not made to live inwards towards ourselves.

We are made to live outwards towards others and upwards towards you.

Create within us that love for you.

Cause us to remember that you have loved us and lead us to love you with our whole hearts.

And then create in us a love for others.

Amen.

Easter Blessing

May God the Father, who raised Christ from the dead, open to us the gates of everlasting life.

May God the Son, who in bursting from the grave won a glorious victory, give us joy as we share the Easter faith.

May God the Holy Spirit, who filled the disciples with the life of the risen Lord, empower us for witness and fill us with the peace of God.

May the rule of God the Trinity remind us not to be afraid but instead to go and live in peace rejoicing that Jesus Christ is risen.

Amen

James 5:1-6; 2 Corinthians 8:9

My Father,

I am blessed and rich.

Thank you.

Forgive me 

where I have stolen from the poor;

where I have lacked compassion and hoarded wealth;

where I have lived in self-indulgent pleasure;

where I have fattened my body;

where gold and silver have corroded my heart;

where riches have rotted my values.

Forgive me 

because of the mercy and grace of Jesus Christ, 

who though he was rich yet for my sake became poor 

that by his poverty I might become rich.

Amen