Before beginning, take a moment to find a comfortable position, and allow your body and mind to become quiet. Take a few deep slow breathes and let any tensions or worries ease away. Just breathe for a moment or two. Then begin with Psalm 139.
Psalm 139
Lord, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
You trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways.
Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
Where can I go then from your Spirit? where can I flee from your presence?
If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there your hand will lead me and your right hand hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night.”
Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.
For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I will thank you because I am marvellously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
My body was not hidden from you, while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them.
How deep I find your thoughts, O God! how great is the sum of them!
If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
Search me out, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my restless thoughts.
Psalm Prayer:
O God, You know us. Around the world today there are so many who are suffering and in need of compassion. Help us to understand how deeply you love each of us. There is not a thought in our minds, or worry, fear, or even detail of each moment that You do not know. Every single breath taken in each moment by the billions of souls in this world, You breathe with us. Grant us a sense of your closeness as we walk through this day. Amen.
O God, the source of all life, you have filled the earth with beauty. Open our eyes to see your gracious hand in all your works, that rejoicing in your whole creation we may learn to serve you and one another with gladness, for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Scripture Reading: (Galatians 5.22, 23a, 25)
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self- control. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reading Prayer: O God, create in us these qualities of spirit. We wish no suffering and only compassion for all. Grant us the ability to show love, joy, kindness, goodness, and gentleness in how we reach out, connect and protect one another such that patience, faithfulness, and strength for self control may be nurtured and affirmed as we engage this day in our always changing world. Amen
Scripture Reading:
(2 Corinthians 5.17–18)
“For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation.”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Reading Prayer: O God our Maker, as the world changes around us, may we stand unfailingly in solidarity with one another, as we create with You a new and better world, based on living together in justice, fairness, equality among all people, care for creation and harmony with all living beings.
Prayers of Intercession:
Leader: As God’s children and as manifestations of God’s life and light in this world, let us draw on the spirit of joyful service that unites us, and let us give voice to our concerns for all creation by responding to the proclamation, “Jesus Light of the Word” with the prayer, “Open our eyes to see love’s face”
All: Jesus, Light of the world; Open our eyes to see love’s face.
Leader: For the church wherever and however it manifests itself in the world, that it would be open to a resurgence of God’s renewing and life bringing Spirit. May we let it open us to a world of new realities so that we can claim our birthright as children of Life and Light in the 21st Century.
All: Jesus, Light of the world; Open our eyes to see love’s face.
Leader: For all who desire to live the new life as found in Jesus, where life-giving attitudes translate into virtue, peace and caring action. May our Lenten journey wake from darkness – the darkness of our hearts, the darkness that blinds our eyes, and the darkness we invite into ourselves – and fill us with light.
All: Jesus, light of the world; Open our eyes to see love’s face.
Leader: For all who govern and for all who serve in the parliaments and councils of this country, for all who exercise authority and power in the nations, states, clans and tribes of this world, and for all the peoples of this earth.
We are all created in God’s image, we share a common humanity. May a spirit of wisdom and mercy, justice and peace prevail, and with it, a true concern for the well-being of those we are meant to serve.
We are grateful for the communication systems that connect us to the rest the world and aid in our understanding of CIVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful for the common sense public health measures of social distancing and simple hand washing.
All: Jesus, light of the world; Open our eyes to see love’s face.
Leader: For the grieving, the dying, the sick, and the needy of our community.
We pause in our hearts to grieve for families whose members have been swept away by the virus. May we replace fear during this period of increasing lockdowns with focus and quiet action. May we grow in new ways of understanding, especially of our connectedness to each other and to the whole of creation.
We pray for the safeguard of our emergency and health care teams and all persons and families exposed to this virus across the continents – too many to name, on a list that continues to grow.
May they all know love and compassion from family and friends, nurses and doctors, and their community.
All: Jesus, light of the world; Open our eyes to see love’s face.
Leader: Jesus, Light of the world you are our life and our hope. As we learn to follow your way from birth to death to resurrection, may we challenge all in our lives that is negative and that harbors darkness, and may we commit ourselves daily to living lives that help create a world of light and life, the kind of world that Jesus lived and ultimately died for.
All: AMEN
Prayer:
Heavenly Creator, send your Holy Spirit into our hearts to comfort us in all our afflictions, to defend us from all error, and to lead us into all truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
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.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Note: this prayer service is based on the Prayers at Mid- Day in the BAS, modified with prayers written by the Rev’d Mark Pretty (rector of St. Andrew’s Anglican parish Timberlea), with the prayers of intercession as composed by Gerry Punke (layreader, New Glasgow).