Christmas Prayer 2023

 God of Light and Darkness,
you are present in both the shadows and the brightness.
On this Christmas night may we hear your voice both
in the laughter and singing and
in the still silence.

Source of Hope,
in a world where many live with despair,
a world where so many struggle to get by,
remind us of the Hope for a world renewed and reborn.
As we hear again the story of a baby in a manger,
strengthen our souls with hope for what the future will bring
May all those who have lost hope hear your voice bringing Good News.

Builder of Peace,
sometimes it seems that peace and justice are just words,
not a reality.
Tonight, as we celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace,
reawaken in us a commitment to be people of peace,
to join you in the creation of a new world.
Share with us a vision of a time when all live together peacefully,
and all have what they need for abundant life.

Wellspring of Joy,
grant us the joy that goes deep into our souls,
joy that is more than happiness,
joy that comes from the knowledge that You are with us
whatever life might bring us.
In the dips and low times of our lives,
when laughter and song are distant memories,
may we feel your presence to comfort and support us,
leading us back to the singing.
This Christmas season we pray with all those who find joy difficult.
May they all feel your comfort and support.

Giver of Love,
tonight love shines from a feed trough,
tonight love takes flesh as a new-born baby.
We need love to live, to thrive, to be who you created us to be.
Sadly, some of us forget that we are loved,
some of us try to meet other people’s standards so that they will love us,
God who is Love, remind us that we are all a part of the world that you love.
In Jesus you call us to love each other as you love us.
As we sing with angels and wonder with shepherds,
move us to act with love for all we meet – all year long,
may those who feel alone and unloved tonight
feel themselves wrapped in a love that will never let them go.

Proclaimer of Good News,
the angel’s words echo through the centuries.
In this world where bad news gets the front page,
where we hear about all that goes wrong,
help us to not be disheartened.
Give us ears to hear and eyes to see
the places where you are at work in the world.
Help us to hear the great Good News of a Saviour.
Fill us with Hope, Peace Joy and Love
and move us to share the Good News with the world around us.
We pray in the name of the baby who comes to change the world,
Jesus, the one we call Christ the Lord.
Glory in the highest.
Hallelujah! Amen.

Opening Prayer for Christmas Eve 2023

God we hear a rumour of good news for all of us.
We come to see if it is true.
As we sing the old songs and listen to the old story,
awaken in our hearts the joy of Christmas
give us hope for the year that lies ahead
move us to share the promise of peace with all we meet
fill our souls with love that overflows, spilling out into the world.
God who meets us in the places where we are, God who shares our lives, on this Christmas night,
remind us of the Good News of great joy. Help us wonder with shepherds, sing with angels, and bask in the glory of the new-born baby. Amen

Commissioning for Advent 2023

Our service draws to a close.
We go out with hope rising in our souls.
In this season of shorter days and longer nights.
may you see sparks of hope in the lights of the season,
may you find hope simmering in the quietness of the night.
we celebrate the gifts that both light and darkness have to offer.
Go out secure that God who is made known in light and dark; who is revealed in Jesus, whose birth we await; and who works in us through the Holy Spirit is with you every step of the journey to the manger.
Thanks be to God who brings us hope! Amen.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING For November 5, 2023

God of our ancestors, ourselves, and our children,
as we live out our faith, surrounded and supported by our cloud of witnesses,
we give thanks for all those who have gone before us:
for their faithfulness to a new vision of what the world could be,
for the ways they passed on the story and the hope,
for the foundation they left for us to build on.
And we give thanks for those people in our cloud who are still living:
the ones who taught and teach us the stories of faith,
the ones who show us daily what it means to live as people of love,
the ones who give us hope for the future.
God of our children, ourselves, and our ancestors, we sing songs of thankfulness and praise
for the witnesses who have told, tell now, and will tell, the stories that reveal Your activity in the world.
for the clouds of people that have done, are now doing, and will do, things to increase the amount of faith, hope and love in the world;
We offer these words in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

For October 22, 2023 -- Proper 24A, 21st After Pentecost

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TREATY
As people of faith we affirm that all this land is owned not by people but by God. Over the centuries many different children of God have lived and loved on this land. Before Europeans arrived along the banks of Bear Creek this was the home of the Cree and the Beaver. Then the Metis, people who share ancestry with those who were here before and those who came later, arrived.
As time went on a treaty was signed, an agreement about how the land would be shared. Here in Grande Prairie and area we live on land shared under Treaty #8 and in Metis Region #6.
As beloved children of God, gathered from many different parts of God’s creation, may we share God’s land together as Treaty people.

CALL TO WORSHIP
May the Peace of Christ be with you
And also with you.
God has invited us to gather together,
for a time of singing, praying, and listening; a time of being in community.
We come to be reminded what gives us life in abundance.
We come to celebrate the presence of God, who holds all creation in their hands.

OPENING PRAYER
God of life, the ancient Psalmist writes:
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it
As your beloved children, living in the world that you love,
we open our hearts and souls to your presence.
In this time of worship, move within and around us.
Remind us of the gifts we have received. Move us to share those gifts with you by sharing them with the world around us.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who reminds us of your love, calls us to live in your Way, and encourages us to pray saying...

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Gift Giver, God of Grace, who offers us life in abundance,
All that we have, all that we are, all that surrounds us, belongs to you.
Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we claim to own things that are not ours.
And when we forget, when we lose sight of how many gifts we have received, we start to forget that your gifts are given to be shared.
God of Grace, God who offers us life in abundance,
help us to share freely and cheerfully out of our abundance,
help us give back to you by giving to the world around us,
help us remember that all the world is yours, shared with your world as an act of love.
God of Grace, Gift Giver, we live through your grace. And for that we are truly thankful.
Amen

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE for Worldwide Comunion Sunday

God you invite us to the table,
where we can eat and drink and experience a fellowship of hope and love.
At this table you give us a foretaste of the Kingdom:
where all will eat and drink together,
where all will be fed as they need,
where all are loved and accepted.
You call us to make the table of Life and Love an open, welcoming place, and we try.
But sometimes we fence some people out,
some eat their fill and others go away hungry,
sometimes we act in ways that are unworthy of your table of hope.
God of Grace, who meets us at the table,
we rejoice in the invitation, we lament those times we have not lived up to the vision.
Help us keep the table open, help us ensure that all are fed there.
The God who invites us to the table does so with arms that are open wide. God keeps the table set so we can come back again and again to be fed and refreshed. We are always welcomed at the table as forgiven, loved, hungry children of God. Let us continue to eat and drink and be refreshed.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

For September 3, 2023 --Proper 17A

OPENING PRAYER
Source of life, you catch our attention, you pique our curiosity.
And we turn from our regular day, we step off the well-worn path, we investigate what is happening.
Only to find ourselves on holy ground, standing in your presence.
Creator God, who invites us to stand on holy ground, in this time together,
Renew us, we pray, in body and soul.
Open our ears and hearts and souls to hear your voice.
Feed and strengthen us so that we can go from here refreshed and energized.
Then lead us back out to live and serve.
We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God of bushes that burn and not get consumed, God of our ancestors,
we stand in your presence with questions and uncertainties.
You invite us, challenge us, call us to bring Good News of liberation to our neighbours.
And our uncertainties surge forward:
Who are we to take on this task? Who exactly are you to ask it of us?
Our uncertainties, our doubts, our questions
may be ways we try to avoid the invitation, the challenge, the call.
So help us, we pray, to work past them
through your grace may we be empowered to share that Good News, even if we still have doubts, and questions, and uncertainties.
The God who spoke to Moses out of a burning bush, who met Jonah in the belly of the big fish, and who called Peter and Andrew from their fishing nets, calls to us. God meets our questions and doubts and encourages us to continue to live and serve. We are able to play our part in the drama of faith and life because God is with us.
Thanks be to God. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
We were called to take a break from the everyday and sit in God’s presence.
We have listened for God’s voice. We have eaten at God’s table.
Now our worship ends, and our service continues
We respond to God’s invitation to share Good News of love and liberation with the world around us.
Go now to live and love and serve.
Go knowing that God who was once revealed in a burning bush, who was made flesh in Jesus of Nazareth, who has blown through Creation since the beginning is with you.
Always and everywhere. Hallelujah!

Prayers for our Affirming Celebration (afternoon of June 11)

INVOCATION & LIGHTING OF CANDLES
Source of Life and Love, you call us together to support each other.
You bring light into our world, light that darkness can not defeat (Christ Candle is lit)
The world you created, the world you love, has such diversity
A variety of ages, birthplaces, genders, sexual expressions, racial origins, a multi-hued picture
All beloved parts of your beloved family, all part of the rainbow that makes up the light (Rainbow Candle is lit)
As we gather here this afternoon, fill our hearts with love for all our neighbours,
remind us that all are welcome, that all belong in the world you love.
And help us ensure that this love, this welcome, this belonging, is part of how we all live together.
Amen
 

PRAYER OF CELEBRATION AND COMMITMENT
God who has created and is creating,
Source of life and love in abundance,
Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love.
Over and over in our faith story you remind us
to draw the circle wider,
you urge us to welcome the outcast and the stranger.
Over and over again in history you have shown us that
the arc of the moral universe may be long
but it bends inexorably toward justice.
And you invite us along for the journey
toward overwhelming acceptance,
full inclusion, justice for all.

Today we gather here in this place to celebrate.
Today we recognize that this community of faith has jumped aboard the town car of justice
and made a public commitment to make;
your abundant love,
your promise of abundant life,
your hope for a world where all are fully included and allowed to be
exactly who you created them to be,
explicit in our life together.
We make a public pledge to be intentional about sharing that vision of the world not only within these walls,
but also in the world outside them –
in Grande Prairie and in the wider world
in the best ways we can.

Today we celebrate the wondrous diversity that makes up your world,
the amazing rainbow of identities that makes up the spectrum of our community.
May all of your beloved children:
whenever they were born,
wherever they were born, wherever they live now,
whatever the colour of their skin,
whatever their gender identity or sexuality,
however they express their identity,
may they all know your abundant life and love. 

God who has called us to this place and time,
Love Incarnate who has moved us to make this commitment today,
help us live out the pledge we make public this day.
Help each of us, as individuals and as communities,
be open to have old assumptions and understandings challenged.
Give each of us the courage to stand alongside our neighbours,
to speak out against voices that would demean or condemn them
simply for being who you created them to be.
In a world so often filled with hatred and fear and division,
may our voices be ones of inclusion and love and faith.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who commands us to love each other as we love ourselves,
to love each other as you first loved us.
For in doing this, sharing this wonderfully abundant inclusive love,
folk will know that we are indeed your people
and following your Way.
Amen.

For June 11, 2023 -- Affirming Celebration

CALL TO WORSHIP
All who are thirsty, all who are tired, all who wish to be refreshed,
All of us, whoever we are, where ever we find ourselves in life,
Old and young; cis-gendered, trans and non-binary; dark and pale skinned; neuro-typical and neuro-divergent,
Long time members of the community and first-timers,
All are welcome to come here to pray, to sing, to be in God’s presence
We have come to worship the God who created and loves us all.
Let us worship together...

OPENING PRAYER
Welcoming and inviting God, you have called us together this morning.
We have come to listen for your wisdom, to be refreshed by your presence.
In this time of prayer and song and listening,
move in our hearts, awaken in us a commitment to welcome your diverse family in our community.
Then when our time of worship is over,
lead us back out to proclaim the wideness and inclusiveness of your love and hope.
We pray in Jesus’ name as we share a prayer like he taught his friends long ago...

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Holy Mystery who is Wholly love, you call us to build a new community,
one where all are welcome, one where all are included.
Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we get it wrong.
There are days when we only see the differences between us and forget that others are part of your beloved family.
There are times when the community of Christ has openly attacked others because of their skin colour, or age, or sexuality, or gender
Where we get community and inclusion right, celebrate with us
Where we miss the chance to include all our neighbours, to welcome the diversity of your family, through grace, help us get back on track.
...time of silent prayer...
There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea. God has a vision for what kind of a community we could be and God helps us take small steps or large leaps to live out that vision. When we miss the mark we are offered grace, forgiveness, and renewal. We are encouraged to learn and try again.
Thanks be to God! Amen.

COMMISSIONING
Go now into the world committed to live out these words:
Through Faith, we walk on the path Jesus set for us.
The people of St. Paul’s Belong… Believe… Love... Listen… Lead. (St. Paul’s Mission Statement)
As you go, carry with you the wide, boundless love of God that breaks down boundaries
We pledge to love the world God loves, to see and welcome our neighbours as beloved siblings
And trust that God: who has created and is creating; who is made known in Jesus, the Word-made-Flesh; and who works in all of us through the Holy Spirit is with you whoever you are and where ever you go.
Hallelujah!

 

For June 4, 2023 -- 1st Sunday after Pentecost

CALL TO WORSHIP (uses lines from A New Creed)
We gather as those who have been called
called to be the church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in creation,
to love and serve others
to seek justice and resist evil.
God has called us together as followers of Christ
called us to share the Good News of Jesus, crucified and risen.
We gather as those who have been called,
opening our hearts and souls to God’s presence,
may we be refreshed and energized by this time together

OPENING PRAYER
Source of Life, in the beginning you spoke into the chaos,
causing light and life to erupt and fill the earth.
God who feeds our bodies and our souls, as we join our hearts in worship,
as we share prayers and songs and loaf and cup,
move within around and among us,
empower us to live out the tasks you place in our keeping.
God who calls us to be the church,
may we leave this place today ready to share your hope, to proclaim your love, to be the church in the world.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who invites us to and serves us at the table of faith. Amen

 

PRAYER FOR & ASSURANCE OF GRACE (uses language drawn from A Song of Faith)
God who is Holy Mystery and Wholly Love,
made in your image, we yearn for fulfillment that is life in you.
And yet we live in a broken world.
We are touched, shaped by that brokenness
and we lament that it leads us from your hope for who we could be.
God who invites us to join in the song of the church,
a community of broken but hopeful believers,
we know that the church has not always lived up to what it could be.
So we join our voices with many other voices,
asking for grace and forgiveness,
asking that the Holy Spirit would reorient us, as individuals and as a community,
to live into who we could be, to be a blessing to your creation.
God of Grace, we open ourselves to your grace.
That we would be renewed and refreshed as we follow The Way of Jesus. Amen.

COMMISSIONING
We are called to be the church
We sing the song of a renewed church, a renewed world, a healed creation.
We have been fed, we have been loved, we have been called.
We go into the world God loves to be the church, to share the Good News, to bring hope and love to all we meet
As you go may the Holy Mystery who is Wholly Love, made known as:
the One who has created and is creating, as Jesus the Word made flesh and as the Spirit who works and through us always;
walk and sing and dance with you.
Today, tomorrow and forevermore.

 

For March 19, 2023 -- Lent 4A

OPENING PRAYER
Creator, Giver of Life, God who calls us together.
What do you see as you look at this group gathered for worship today?
Do you see our whole beings, our flaws and our features, our triumphs and our disasters?
Do you see us as we are, as we would like to be seen, or something different altogether?
God who names and claims as as your own, God who meets us in our baptism,
Help us see ourselves as you see us, beloved and full of promise.
God who challenges us to love our neighbours, families, friends, and enemies,
Help us to see the world as you see it, beloved and full of promise.
As we worship today, open our eyes to see clearly, we pray in the name of Jesus; our teacher, guide, and role model, who encourages us to pray saying...

COMMISSIONING:
Go as those chosen by God, who sees great things in you.
Go to serve the world in which we live and love
We go to try and see the world as God sees it
We go to look beyond the surface
We go to see our neighbours as God’s chosen and beloved servants
May you see the face of Christ in everyone you meet
And may everyone we meet see the face of God in us
Go with God: who calls us, claims us, challenges us, and walks with us always.
Amen

Call to Worship for Lent 2023

The Lenten road stretches out before us, the path is clearly marked.
Walking with Jesus we step out on the path that leads to Jerusalem.
As we travel toward parade, trial, cross, and tomb,
we stop along the way to sing, to pray, to listen for God’s voice.
The road may grow dark, but we do not walk alone.
Let us worship together.

For February 5, 2023 --- Epiphany 5A

 PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God who is revealed in many ways, during this season of Epiphany,
we open our eyes and hearts to see where and how you are active in our world.
God of wisdom, a hidden mystery,
we try to understand your wisdom, to be led by the Holy Spirit.
However, all too often,
we fail to find your hidden wisdom, we ignore the leading of the Spirit
we follow the way of common sense, or the way of our own best interests,
we preference human wisdom, the way of the world,
and so we stray from the path, sometimes damaging our neighbours, ourselves, and the world along the way.
Gracious God, who continues to offer us the way of wisdom,
through your grace and mercy, forgive our stubbornness and wayward wandering,
lead us back to the path that leads to life and love. In Jesus’ name we pray.
...time of silent prayer...
Paul writes: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love [them]”. In God’s wisdom grace, mercy and forgiveness have a place and power far beyond human wisdom or conception. Through the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ we are forgiven, renewed, and moved back toward the way of true, hidden, Godly, wisdom.
Thanks be to God! May the Spirit lead us on wisdom’s path. Amen.

FOr JAnuary 22, 2023 -- Week of Prayer For Christian Unity

 

PRAYER FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God, you have called us to be the church,
part of a single body with many parts, working together to advance the Kingdom.
You have called us to be united in our diversity,
not all the same, not always agreeing, but still working for a common goal.
But if we are totally honest...
we sometimes do diversity better than unity, sometimes we divide ourselves into camps.
We proclaim, “I follow Luther” or Calvin or the Pope or Wesley,
or I am United, or Lutheran, or Presbyterian, Evangelical or Progressive
Each thinking that our way is the right way, or the best way, or even the only way.
And too often quick to point out the flaws of other ways.
For those times we divide the Body of Christ, when we break the unity we are called to build up,
forgive us, lead us to repair and rebuild the broken body.
...time of silent prayer...
Here is Good News: Though we are good at building walls God is good at tearing them down.
The church may seem divided but Christ is not divided.
God calls us to share our gifts as part of a larger whole, God is at work building a unified Kingdom and God keeps inviting us along for the ride.
In grace our divisions are overcome and we are called to be the church.
Thanks be to God. Amen.