Congregational Prayer Resources For Lent
St Columba’s, Pont Street
Introduction
“Lent is a sacred treasure hunt.” In this season we do not give up something up for the sake of giving something up – but to make room for something wonderful. This year we use a mixture of scripture & poetry to lead us into our silent prayer. The scriptures reflect those selected by the Revised Common Lectionary, which we use at Morning Service.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” This stillness is not just about silence, it is about waiting on God. Once the silence begins let yourself be drawn to a particular verse, or even just a single word. Try to savour that.
“Above all do not spend the whole time of prayer talking yourself. Bring the needs of the world, and the problems of your life, before God; then leave them with Him and wait for a while in silence not only from speech, but as far as possible from thought, just desiring with all your force that in these things God’s will may be done, and resting in the quiet assurance of His love and power. There is no limit to what God will do by means of us If we train ourselves to trust Him enough.” Archbishop William Temple (1881-1944)
Silence – a meeting place where I am looking for God’s love
and God is looking for mine.
Opening prayer
Gracious God, let the words of this week fall silent:
kind words – that have encouraged us;
cruel words – that have corroded us;
pointless words – that have emptied us;
powerful words – that have uplifted us.
Into speechless time and gentle silence,
let your unspoken words
of kindness and rest
enfold us in blessing,
and with us,
this word-weary world.
Word of Life,
we pray that in this stillness,
new strength may come
and sentences of love be formed
to fill the day that is to come. Amen.
Scripture Psalm 32: 6-11
Therefore, let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them. You are a hiding place for me; you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you. Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD. Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
Poem: The Place Where We Are Right, Yehuda Amichai
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place where we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard.
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plough.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
Prayer Points
- Pray: For time and space in Lent for Christians to remember the sacrifices Jesus makes on his journey towards the cross; and to contemplate how our own actions can better reflect his way.
- Pray: “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.”
- Pray: For peace in places of conflict and violence (those known via the news & those overlooked or forgotten.)
- Pray: For those continuing to face the demands of the COVID pandemic – medical staff, carers, researchers, mental health services; the sick, the isolated, the dying, the bereaved.
- Pray: A thanksgiving for all that has been good in the past week.
- Pray: For any particular concerns or hopes for the week ahead.
- Pray: For Mothering Sunday: Lord, on this day set aside to honour and remember mothers, we give you thanks for our mothers. We are grateful that you chose to give us life through them, and that they received the gift of life from you and gave it to us. Thank you for the sacrifices they made in carrying us and giving us birth. We thank you for the women who raised us, who were our mothers in childhood. Whether birth mum, adopted mum, older sister, aunt, grandmother, stepmother or someone else, we thank you for those women who held us and fed us, who cared for us and kissed away our pain. We pray that our lives may reflect the love they showed us, and that they would be pleased to be called our mums.
- Pray: The Lord’s Prayer
Closing prayer
God of all seasons,
in your pattern of things
there is a time for keeping and a time for losing,
a time for building up and a time for pulling down.
In this holy season of Lent,
as we journey with our Lord to the cross,
help us to discern in our lives
what we must lay down
and what we must take up;
what we must end
and what we must begin.
Give us grace to lead a disciplined life,
in glad obedience
and with the joy which comes
from a closer walk with Christ. Amen.
Blessing
Word of Life, heal, forgive, comfort, bless.
Be still, be glad, and be at peace. Amen.