Holy One, Our Only Home (alternative Lord's Prayer)

   

Holy One, our only Home,

hallowed by your name.
May your day dawn,
your will be done,
here, as in heaven.
Feed us today, and forgive us
as we forgive each other.
Do not forsake us at the test,
but deliver us from evil.
For the glory, the power,
and the mercy are yours,
now and forever. Amen.

-- Mother Thunder Mission

Gathering Prayer for 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Year C

We come in these endless days, Precious God,
people in need of the constancy of your love:
may we drink deeply from your fountain of life;
may we continue to be guided by your Light.
We gather in these weary days, Water-changing God,
people looking for signs of hope and wonder:
may we drink deeply from your fountain of grace;
may our weariness be wrapped in your Hope.
We worship in these overwhelming days, Gifting God,
people who try to point others to Jesus:
may we drink deeply from your fountain of joy;
may our life be strengthened by your Life.

-- Thom Shuman, from his blog Lectionary Liturgies, January 12, 2025

Scripture reference: John 2:1-11

Prayer Service for Election Day 2024

 

The Golden Rule, Norman Rockwell, 1961, 

Donated to the United Nations Headquarters from the United States of America

Prayer Service for Election Day

November 5, 2024

8:00 am online

St. Martin’s Episcopal Church,

Ellisville, MO

 

 

Breathe and Center Yourself at the Ringing of the Bell.

Opening Words

Celebrant:   God is Spirit, 

and those who worship must worship in spirit and in truth.          (John 4:24)

People:       We are no longer strangers and sojourners, but citizens together 

with the Saints and members of the household of God.        (Ephesians 2:19)

Celebrant:   Let us pray.

 

Collect for an Election    (in unison)                                              BCP, p. 822

Almighty God, to whom we must account for all our powers and privileges: 

Guide the people of the United States 

and of this community

in the election of officials and representatives; 

that, by faithful administration and wise laws, 

the rights of all may be protected 

and our nation be enabled to fulfill your purposes; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

The Readings

 

A Reading from the Book of Isaiah.                                          Isaiah 58:6-12

 

Is not this the fast that I choose:
   to loose the bonds of injustice,
   to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
   and to break every yoke? 
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
   and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
   and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
   the glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. 
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
   you shall cry for help, and God will say, Here I am. 

If you remove the yoke from among you,
   the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 
if you offer your food to the hungry
   and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
   and your gloom be like the noonday. 
The Lord will guide you continually,
   and satisfy your needs in parched places,
   and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
   like a spring of water,
   whose waters never fail. 
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
   you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
   the restorer of streets to live in. 

 

Reader:       The Word of the Lord.

People:       Thanks be to God.

 

 

Canticle N   (In Unison)             A Song of God’s Love                           1 John 4:7-11

 

Beloved, let us love one another, 

for love is of God. 

Whoever does not love does not know God, 

for God is Love. 

In this the love of God was revealed among us, 

that God sent God’s only Son into the world, 

so that we might live through Jesus Christ. 

In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us 

and sent God’s son that sins might be forgiven. 

Beloved, since God loved us so much, 

we are also to love one another. 

For if we love one another, God abides in us, 

and God's love will be perfected in us. 

 

 

A Reading from the Gospel of Matthew.                         Matthew 20:25-28

Priest:         The Holy Gospel of Our Savior Jesus Christ according to Matthew.

 

But Jesus called them over and said, “You know that those who rule the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around.  But that’s not the way it will be with you. Whoever wants to be great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave— just as the Human One didn’t come to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”

 

Reader:         The Word of the Lord.

People:        Thanks be to God.

 

The Prayers

 

A Litany for Sound Government                                             from Forward Movement

 

Intercessor: O Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.

People:       Lord, keep this nation under your care.

 

Intercessor: To the President and members of the Cabinet, to Governors of States, Mayors of Cities, and to all in administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.

People:       Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

 

Intercessor: To Senators and Representatives, and those who make our laws in States, Cities, and Towns, give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.

People:       Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

 

Intercessor: To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.

People:       Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

 

Intercessor:  And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name.

All:             For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen.

 

Presider:

Almighty God, 

the source of all wisdom,

give grace to all those who will vote in the election,

and bless with your spirit of humility and charity

all who will be elected to public office.

Make your kingdom of love visible among us,

and make all things subject to your just and gentle rule,

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayers for an Election

Written by The Rev. Shannon Kelly, Director Department of Faith Formation, The Episcopal Church

 

Celebrant:

Loving God, Creator of this world, who is our source of our wisdom and understanding, watch over this nation during this time of election. Help us to see how our faith informs our principles and actions.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: We give thanks for the right to vote. Help us to hold this privilege and responsibility with the care and awareness it merits, realizing that our vote matters and that it is an act of faith.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: Guide us through this election as a nation, state, and community as we vote for people to do work on our behalf and on the behalf of our communities. Help us to vote for people and ballot initiatives that will better our community and our world so it may reflect the values Christ taught us.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: Help us create communities that will build your kingdom here on earth – communities that will protect the poor, stand up for the vulnerable, advocate for those who are not seen and heard, and listen to everyone’s voice.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: We pray for this nation that is deeply divided. May we come together for the common good and do as you have called us to do – to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with you through creation.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: Help us act out of love, mercy and justice rather than out of arrogance or fear.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: Lord, continue to guide us as we work for the welfare of this world. We pray for places that are torn by violence, that they may know peace.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: We pray for communities who are struggling with inequality, unrest, and fear. May we all work toward reconciliation with one another and with God.

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

Intercessor: Help us to listen in love, work together in peace, and collaborate with one another as we seek the betterment of our community and world. 

Intercessor: God, our Creator,

People:       Guide us in truth and love.

 

A Time of Silent Reflection and Intercession from Your Heart is Observed.

 

Confession

Priest:   Let us reflect, and confess our sins against God and our neighbor

 

All:

Almighty God, Source of all that is, Giver of every good gift: 

You create all people in your image 

and call us to love one another as you love us. 

We confess that we have failed to honor you 

in the great diversity of the human family. 

We have desired to live in freedom, 

while building walls between ourselves and others. 

We have longed to be known and accepted for who we are, 

while making judgements of others based on the color of skin, 

or the shape of features, 

or the varieties of human experience. 

We have tried to love our neighbors individually 

while yet benefitting from systems 

that hold those same neighbors in oppression. 

 

Forgive us, Holy God.

Give us eyes to see you as you are revealed in all people.

Strengthen us for the work of reconciliation rooted in love.

Restore us in your image, to be beloved community,

united in our diversity, 

even as you are one with Christ and the Spirit,

Holy and undivided Trinity,

now and forever. Amen.

 

The Priest then offers absolution and assurance of God’s grace and love:

May Almighty God have mercy on us,

grant us courage and conviction,

and strengthen us to love others who are unlike us.

May God, the holy and undivided Trinity,

make us compassionate in our actions

and courageous in our works,

that we may see Christ's Beloved Community in our own day. Amen.

Collect for Social Justice                                                           BCP p. 823

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit 

may so move every human heart 

and especially the hearts of the people of this land, 

that barriers which divide us may crumble, 

suspicions disappear, 

and hatreds cease; 

that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Collect for Our Country (read responsorially)                          Diocese of Missouri

O God, where hearts are fearful and constricted, 

grant courage and hope. 

Where anxiety is infectious and widening, 

grant peace and reassurance. 

Where impossibilities close every door and window, 

grant imagination and resistance. 

Where distrust twists our thinking, 

grant healing and illumination. 

Where spirits are daunted and weakened, 

grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams; 

in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

The Blessing 

Live without fear: 

your creator has made you holy,

has always protected you,

and loves you as a mother.

 

Go out into the world in peace;

have courage;

hold on to what is good;

return no one evil for evil;

strengthen the faint hearted;

support the weak, and help the suffering;

honor all people;

love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Go in peace to follow the good road,

and may the blessing of God Almighty be with you always:

In the name of the Creator, and the Redeemer, and the Life Giving Spirit.

Amen.

 

 

Dismissal

Celebrant:   Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord.

People:       Thanks be to God.

Broadcast On Facebook Live on November 5, 2024 at 8:00 am

Benediction based on Psalm 148

God of all the earth bless you.

God of sea creatures and ocean depths,
lightning and hail,
snow and mist,
and storm winds bless you.

God of mountains and hills,
fruit trees and cedars,
wild animals and cattle,
small animals
and flying birds bless you.

God whose majesty
transcends heaven and earth,
bless you … +

--by Andrew at South Sydney Uniting Church, for the Season of Creation, Year C

The Morning Is Yours

Almighty God, Creator:
the morning is yours, rising into fullness.
The summer is yours, dipping into autumn.
Eternity is yours, dipping into time.
The vibrant grasses, the scent of flowers,
the lichen on the rocks, the tang of seaweed.
All are yours.
Gladly we live in this garden of your creating.

But creation is not enough.
Always in the beauty, the foreshadowing of decay.
The lambs frolicking careless:
so soon to be led off to slaughter.
Nature red and scarred as well as lush and green.
In the garden also:
always the thorn. Creation is not enough.

Almighty God, Redeemer;
the sap of life in our bones and being is yours,
lifting us to ecstasy.
But always in the beauty:
the tang of sin, in our consciences.
The dry lichen of sins long dead, but seared upon our minds.
In the garden that is each of us,
always the thorn.

Yet all are yours as we yield them again to you.
Not only our lives that you have given are yours:
but also our sins that you have taken.
Even in our livid rebellions and putrid sins:
you have taken them all away
and nailed them to the Cross!
Our redemption is enough: and we are free.

Holy Spirit, Enlivener:
breathe on us, fill us with life anew;
In your new creation, already upon us,
breaking through, groaning and travailing,
but already breaking through,
breathe on us.

Till that day when night and autumn vanish
and lambs grown sheep are no more slaughtered:
and even the thorn shall fade
and the whole earth shall cry Glory
at the marriage feast of the Lamb.
In this new creation, already upon us,
fill us with life anew.


--George Macleod (1895-1991), Church of Scotland, founder of the Iona Community

Offering Prayer: Planting a Seed

Prayer of Dedication

(inspired by Mark 4:26-34)

May the offerings brought this day be used as seeds,
planted faithfully and nurtured lovingly
so that God’s way may be realized anew in this world.
Grant us the humility we need to plant and then tend your precious garden. Amen.


-- written by Katherine Hawker

Scripture Reference: Mark 4:26-34, Proper 6B

Prayer 4026: Inspired by the Example of Florence Li Tim-Oi

Almighty God,
we worship and praise you this day,
and seek your will in our lives.
Inspire us by the example of your servant Florence,
who humbly accepted your call to minister
even in the midst of war and oppression,
bringing your sacraments to her people
that their faith and hope be nourished.
Give us the courage to feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
shelter the unhoused, landcare for the ill
as bravely and as selflessly,
even in defiance of tyrants,
and grant the warmth of your comforting embrace
to those for whom we pray.

Amen.

Concluding Prayers for POP for 4th after Epiphany B

God of every land and nation,

you have created all people
and you dwell among us in Jesus Christ.
Listen to the cries of those who pray to you,
and grant that, as we proclaim the greatness of your name,
all people will know the power of love at work in the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

OR


Holy God, you gather the whole universe
into your radiant presence
and continually reveal your Son as our Savior.
Bring healing to all wounds,
make whole all that is broken,
speak truth to all illusion,
and shed light in every darkness,
that all creation will see your glory and know your Christ. Amen.

--from Vanderbilt Divinity Library's resources for the Revised Common Lectionary.

Prayers for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany B

Perfect Light of revelation,
as you shone in the life of Jesus,
whose epiphany we celebrate,
so shine in us and through us,
that we may become beacons of truth and compassion,
enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy. Amen.

OR

O God,
you spoke your word
and revealed your good news in Jesus, the Christ.
Fill all creation with that word again,
so that by proclaiming your joyful promises to all nations
and singing of your glorious hope to all peoples,
we may become one living body,
your incarnate presence on the earth. Amen.

--from Vanderbilt Divinity Library's Revised Common Lectionary resources

Go in peace; love and care for one another in the name of Christ;
and may the Spirit of God which filled John and Jesus,
fill your hearts, souls and minds;
may the power of God which upheld them,
strengthen you for each day;
and may the love of God which directed their every action
be your guiding light and your shining star,
both now and forevermore. 

 Amen.

--the Rev. Richard J. Fairchild, found here.

Indigenous Prayer over Oblations

Prayer over the Oblations

Our loving God, Your Son gave his life to gather your scattered children into one family. We offer you these gifts of our lives, our energies, our hopes and dreams. As we acknowledge them sacred, we consecrate them as the saving sacrament of life. May this sacrament heal those scarred by oppression and rejection. May it release those still unjustly deprived of liberty and give them freedom of mind and heart forever. Amen.


From https://www.dominicancenter.org/indigenous-peoples-day-liturgy/

The Lord's Prayer (Ojibwe)

 

O Debejiged, 
bakinamaawishinam iniu nidoninaanin.
Gaye nidoninaanin dawabandaawemaagaton 
eji-wawijenimigoyan.

Danishigendagosi Nossinan, 
gaye Wenijishid Manidoo,
Wayeskat ga-ijiwebak, 
gaye gaginig gedani-ijiwebak, 
apane kagigekamig. 
Amen.

--translated by the Rt. Rev. Mark MacDonald, from Ojibwe Evening Prayer, found in the Rev. Debbie Royals, ed.  A Sampler: Native American/Alaska Native and Native Hawai’ian Liturgies, Prepared for the 76^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, July 2009, Anaheim, CA

 

Indigenous Prayers of the People

 Prayers of the People                       adapted from Church of the Four Winds, Portland, Oregon

Presider      Creator and Redeemer, as we approach YOU in prayer: 

make us walk in beauty and balance, 

     make us open our hearts and minds, 

          make us speak the truth. 

We pray first for your Community, 

     the Church, the Body of Christ. 

We pray for all our relatives 

     and the circle of life throughout all creation; 

for those chosen to be our leaders and teachers; 

All              Creator, teach us and show us the way.

Leader        In peace, we pray to YOU, Lord God.

              We call upon the Earth, our Mother and Home, 

     with its beautiful depths, soaring heights, and deep waters; 

          its vitality and abundance of life; 

and together we ask that it

All              teach us and show us the way.

Leader        We call upon the mountains and tundra, 

     the high green valleys and prairies filled with wild flowers, 

          the snows, the summits of intense silence, 

and we ask that they

All              teach us and show us the way.

Leader        We call upon the land which grows our food, the nurturing soil,     

     the fertile fields, 

          the abundant gardens and orchards, 

and we ask that they

All              teach us and show us the way.

Leader        We call upon the forests, 

the great trees reaching strongly to the sky 

with earth in their roots and the heavens and their branches, 

     the Fir and the Pine, 

          the Cedar and the Maple, 

and we ask them to

All              teach us and show us the way.

Leader        We call upon the creatures 

of the fields and forests and the waters, 

our kindred the wolves and deer, 

     the eagle and bear, 

          the great whales and the fish. 

We ask them to

All              teach us and show us the way.

Leader        In intercession, we pray for the sick and the infirm; especially

X

Leader reads names of those on our prayer list: plus

 for the hundreds of missing and murdered Indigenous women all across this hemisphere; 

(Please add your own concerns)

X

Silence

Leader        Creator, we are surrounded by our ancestor saints, 

especially Martin of Tours, Molly Brant, Onongwatgo, Helen Peterson, Noah Brokenleg, Hehaka Sapa, Enmegabowh, David Oakerhater, Kateri Tekakwitha, Tipi Sapa, Kamehameha and Emma, and countless others. 

On this Feast of All Saints and All Souls, we remember now before YOU all whom we love, but see no longer, 

especially those in our columbarium, and those we now name:

X

(Please say the names of those departed you wish to remember.

You are invited to write them on a card and place them on our Altar of Remembrance)

X

Silence

All              Creator, YOU made the world and declared it to be good: 

the beauty of the trees, 

          the softness of the air, 

                    the fragrance of the grass speaks to us; 

the summit of the mountains, 

          the Thunder of the sky, 

                    the rhythm of the waters speak to us; 

the faintness of the stars, 

          the freshness of the morning, 

                    the dew drops on the flowers speak to us. 

But above all, 

     our heart soars,

          for you speak to us in Jesus Christ, 

                    in whose name we offer these prayers. Amen.

--From the Church of the Four Winds, Portland Oregon, found in National Indigenous People's Day of Prayer from the Anglican Church of Canada, https://www.anglican.ca/wp-content/uploads/nidp-liturgy.pdf