I'll pray for other people, but I'm happy enough taking what comes my way, so I'm not that keen on asking for help. He's given me the skills I've needed in life so far, and if there's anything else I need, well, he created Google.
One thing I need to get good at is prayers. Need to put that on the paperwork as a thing to improve on.
So in order to save God a bit of time, and to let him focus on the people who really need a hand, I'm putting this out in the blogsphere. I've been asked to do the prayer of approach at Hillside on Remembrance Sunday, and because it's the one thing I'm not very good at, I'm asking for help. Comments are welcome on the following, and if you think it's any good, you are welcome to use it in whole or part. While it's mostly original, I have taken a bit of guidance from Mrs G and others.
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Eternal Father,
Please open our eyes so we can see your coming kingdom
Open our ears so we may hear your message
Open our minds that we gain a new understanding of your word
Open our hearts that your life empowering Spirit may flow through our bodies
You are great beyond our understanding, creating the beauty of the heavens and the earth, long before we came into existence. You put fire into the stars, yet you gently breathed life into every one of us that we may glorify your name.
You gave us Jesus, your only son, and it is through him and his sacrifice on the cross that we are truly set free. Through him we shall escape our burden of sin and be born again into newness of life.
So as we gather here in your holy presence, remembering and commending to you those who have lived and died in times of conflict, lead our world to a time when Heaven and Earth shall meet and be as one. Where there shall be no conflict, only love, and we shall behold in person your majesty.
And let us pray together the words that Jesus himself taught us...
Our Father, Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
Hallowed be Thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Amen.
(The Lords Prayer will be the Hillside Kirk version. I'm sure they forgive sin rather than trespasses)
Some random thoughts:
ReplyDeleteRemembrance Sunday is a time when a church is often busy with 'irregulars' (those who come on such occasions only) and also may (or may not) have a lot of younger people (e.g. uniformed organisations). So, prayers (and the rest of the service) need to be kept more accessible than usual. Avoid jargon and Christian-ese, or if you do use such phrases, expand on them in non-jargony ways (but avoid preaching).
So, words like 'kingdom' might be worth using then rephrasing. For example, take your first line:
Please open our eyes so we can see your coming kingdom;
enable us to see where you are at work bringing mercy, peace, justice and compassion.
It's also a theological reflection on the kingdom not just being something for the future - a sense of hope for the 'now' as well (something perhaps very important for a Remembrance service).
Another example:
You gave us Jesus, your only son, and it is through him and his sacrifice on the cross that we are truly set free. Through him we shall escape our burden of sin and be born again into newness of life.
Probably just my theological biases but maybe too narrow a focus on just the cross and the idea of sacrifice. Although definitely not inappropriate for Remembrance Sunday I'd suggest it's also important to look beyond death and dying and so we are 'set free... into newness of life' through the resurrection. It is that 'beyond death' element that brings a Christian perspective to such times.
And again, in your final paragraph, I think you place too much of a 'gap' between the world now and the New Creation. A sense of hope for today as well as tomorrow would be appropriate.
That said, there is a risk of tipping the prayer too far into being intercessory rather than one of approach.
I also had one supervisor who was keen on the opening prayer being very Trinitarian, with explicit mentions of Father, Son and Spirit. I don't disagree and often allow that formulation to shape a prayer of approach, highlighting the glory of God in each of these.
I hope this is helpful and I hope all goes well on the day. Remembrance Sunday is one of those services which feel vary daunting but can also be very satisfying.
Well I reckon you've made a pretty good stab at it mate! :D
ReplyDeleteGenerally liked the tone of it overall. And now going into analytical mode, cos you kinda asked ;p
Something to think about - how might this tie in with the theme of the rest of the service? Might you use words and themes suggested by the readings further on the the service... useful connectors?
Not that you always have to do that... but worth thinking about.
Be careful not to move to a more 'intercessional' mode in your prayer of approach - leave the world and wars and stuff until later in the service. Nor is it the 'confessional' mode... just yet.
This prayer is more about how cool God is, attributes of God, etc, at this point.
The call to worship is the why you're all there bit, in a sense.
The prayer of approach is you pointing the congregation in the direction of who they are worshipping, and asking for help in this time and this place to be open, to worship wholeheartedly etc.
Not that it's poetry, but given it's a spoken thang, read it out loud, listen to the internal rhythms and flow; sometimes a judicious use of repetition adds power/ makes a thing stand out better.
As you read out what you've written, do bits jar?
Do other bits get slightly lost in verbiage and lose impact?
On that note.. if I were to make a style suggestion, it would be to use more 'direct' language... here are some suggestions, but really, it's more whatever works, is authentic to you, the congregation, the context.
1/ Opening 'stanza' [if you like!]
like it lots - just dump the 'please' - it breaks the rhythm and power of the rest of the set:
'Open our ears
Open our minds
Open our hearts'
It's a nice flowing thing, it is :)
2/ perhaps:
Greater than our understanding,
creating the heavens and the earth,
putting fire in the stars,
breathing us into life
that we might glorify and praise your name.
3/ Giving us Jesus
who by his life
through his death
and in his resurrection
liberated us
into the promise of life in all its fullness.
[your mileage may vary, it's just a kind of style suggestion really]
4/ [I'd lose the commending people stuff - keep it for part of your intercessions later]
Gathered here in your holy presence
help us to be your holy people...
...
and as your gathered people, we pray together the prayer that Jesus taught us, praying... [etc.
ahhh, and in my enthusiasm, totally missed the 'remembrance sunday' part of the equation.
ReplyDeletewot john said :D
Thanks John and Nik. Your advice is very much appreciated. Second draft is in progress, and you've given me a load to work with.
ReplyDelete