Prayer

Prayer of the People, 17 November 2019

November 20, 2019 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

We gather with other people to tune our hearts and minds to Your presence, Your will, Your ways.  We ask that Your Spirit help us put aside all that vies for our attention and our loyalties. Help us fix our hearts and minds on You and the joy of your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Lord, we bring You our 

  • pain
  • anger
  • fears
  • disappointments
  • worries.

You see the cracks in our hope, the lagging of our spirits, and the many ways we try to entertain ourselves out of despair.

Lord, we must rely on You; Your lovingkindness shows us a better way.  May the Spirit of Jesus make us gentle, humble, patient. Help us to encourage one another as we seek to 

  • serve one another in love 
  • pursue justice in your name.
  • walk with You and declare your goodness.


We lift up the students in Hong Kong and ask you for peace. Give them a vision of You, and an invitation into your hope and your life. Make your name and your Kingdom known among them.

Fill us all with the full measure of Your presence, love, goodness.  We want to live in Your presence when we study, when we eat and drink, when we work, when we are in conflict.   Show us how to engage in the life fully in Your ways.

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.

Prayer

Prayer of the People, 3 November 2019

November 6, 2019 0 Comments

Heavenly Father,

Like the deer in a dry land, panting for streams of living water, we are thirsting for you. You have invited us to come and drink. And so, we have come to meet with you — in your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Forgive us Lord, for we have confused our thirst for you with a thirst for power, for recognition, for ease, and for entertainment. Even now Lord, reset our souls to you. Awaken us to the majesty of your sovereign love and wisdom.

We have feared the mocker’s question — Where is your God? And so we kept silent; we retreated into our own doubt, and we made skepticism our fortress. We imagined a justice that did not include you. Oh Lord, break these walls down with the glorious image of Jesus pouring Himself out as a servant, taking up the towel and serving, taking up the cross and suffering that we might know You in your fullness.

Oh Spirit of God, blow through these walls that the fragrance of your life would be a delight to many. Cause hope to arise in us and praise to flow from our hearts in the day and the night. You are our comforter and healer. You restore us to the image of Christ Jesus our Lord. Stir us out of our passivity and activate attention to your love for us and attentive love for our neighbours at home, across the campus, and in the classroom.

Oh Lord, those living in the shadow of domination and desolation are crying out — Hear their cry Lord. Their cries are coming to you from Chile, from Venezuela, from Haiti, from Hong Kong, and from Iraq and even from here in Canada. Oh Lord direct your love to them, may your song be within them even in the night — a prayer to the God of their lives. Establish people of Jesus as vibrant communities whose praises arise as a beacon of hope in every dark corner or our globe.

Oh Lord in the name of Jesus we are pleading — may your Kingdom come!

(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.

Prayer

,

Prayer of the People, 27 October 2019

October 30, 2019 0 Comments

The Gates Are Open

Heavenly Father,

We rejoice in you and your tender mercy towards us. You have called us out from darkness into the joyful and vibrant glory of your communion — the communion of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We lack any good reasons in ourselves to merit the grace we live in today. So our genuine response is to say Thank you. Thank you Jesus!

Thank you for inhabiting flesh in the womb of Mary.
Thank you for inhabiting flesh in the form of a servant.
Thank you for inhabiting flesh on the Cross and in the Tomb.
Thank you for inhabiting flesh on the Resurrection morning.
Thank you for ascending with flesh to the right hand of the Father to intercede for us!
Thank you! There is hope for us Lord! And it’s You!

Now we are inhabited by You! 
Now we inhabit your Kingdom!

You have called us to be with you even at the gates of Hell — they will not prevail against us. So we plead with you to do it again Lord. Draw out dear children for yourself from the darkness and bring them into the Kingdom of the Son you love.

May your Spirit fortify us with grace and truth.

May the wind of your Spirit blow through our lives so that you may be known. We thank you for our brothers and sisters gathering today across the world. Specifically we pray for the Point at SFU and for uVillage in Burquitlam. May their roots grow deep in you and their fellowship with each other be filled with sincere love.

We pray for our friends in Athens, Greece and ask you to protect them from the evil one. Grant the new believers more joy and more healing as they live into the affection you are showing them in Christ. Oh, Lord bring love and justice to the streets as they walk together there.

We seek your Kingdom with them, so we pray today 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.

Prayer

,

Prayer of the People, 13 October 2019

October 15, 2019 0 Comments

Based on Psalm 100.

O Lord, We come today to make a joyful noise to you, to enjoy your presence with singing, thanksgiving, and praise. We celebrate the mighty works of your communion — the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. By your grace we see Your creation, Your faithfulness, Your very present help in our lives, Your guidance, Your reign, Your approachability, Your comfort. Thank You!

This Thanksgiving weekend, we pause and consider all of the ways Your beauty, goodness, truth, and love are made real in our lives; considering all of the ways You provide and nurture us, thank you does not seem sufficient. May your Holy Spirit enlighten our minds and embolden us to sing your praises.

We also know the tension of being a people who live into the hope of Your kingdom come even while we see and experience pain, loneliness, disappointment, and fear.

Help us Lord. Injustice streams across our news feed rather than Your justice rolling down across the people like a mighty stream. We cry out for Your help for the Kurds, for refugees needing a place to live, for peace in the turmoil of Haiti. Please bring help to those impacted by the Japanese typhoon, fires in the Amazon, Ecuador’s unrest, Tunisian elections, Canadian elections, and the attack on a mosque in Burkina Faso.

Heavenly Father, we acknowledge our own anxious tension – in relationships, over our studies, our futures, our aspirations, our finances. We want to serve You with gladness, and we want many other things. Help us in our Thanksgiving to be renewed by seeking first Your kingdom because Your are good, Your loving devotion and faithfulness endures forever.   

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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.

Prepared by Ellen and Craig O’Brien.

Prayer

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Thanksgiving 2019

October 14, 2019 0 Comments

O God,

before I gave voice 

to my gratitude for you,

I sensed the joy 

of your friendship 

with us.


–Immanuel, God with us; Friend of sinners.

Prayer

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