Congregational Prayer Resources For Lent
St Columba’s, Pont Street
Introduction
Lent begins with a reminder of our mortality. In some traditions the Ash Wednesday custom is to mark the forehead with the sign of the Cross. As the ashes are daubed the priest says: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return.” It is an honest stripping away of illusions. It is the overture to a season of serious reflection on ourselves, our lives, our priorities. Lent’s purpose is not to plunge us all into gloom and depression, but rather to allow a new light into our self-reflection during its 40 days.
This week a mixture of scripture & poetry is a way into silent prayer. The psalm chosen, is selected from Revised Common Lectionary which we use at Morning Service. As you sit with scripture or poetry let yourself be drawn to a particular verse, or even just a single word. Try to savour that.
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 51
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit,
to sustain me.
Open my lips, Lord,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
You do not delight in sacrifice,
or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
My sacrifice, O God,
is a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
Poem: Lent, Jean M Watt
Lent is a tree without blossom, without leaf,
Barer than blackthorn in its winter sleep,
All unadorned. Unlike Christmas which decrees
The setting-up, the dressing-up of trees,
lent is a taking down, a stripping bare,
A starkness after all has been withdrawn
Of surplus and superfluous,
Leaving no hiding-place, only an emptiness
Between black branches, a most precious space
Before the leaf, before the time of flowers,
Lest we should see only the leaf, the flower,
lest we should miss the stars.
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: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 - 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: 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.