Prayer for this month
From Prayers for an Inclusive Church (Canterbury, 2008)
Advent 1 (Luke 21.25-36)
Urgent God,
breaking through the static
to speak to our hearts:
disarm our love of control
and shake the silent heavens
to reveal your dawning glory,
judging all in the light of love;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.
Amen.
Advent 2 (Luke 3.1-6)
Lord of the wilderness way,
whose word scours our smooth evasions:
take us on the unbending road
to the raw centre of our world
with a cry of invitation
and the call of sudden grace;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.
Amen.
Advent 3 (Luke 3.7-18)
God of flood and fire,
calling us to turn
from dead halls
echoing with greed:
may the gift of your Spirit
come to us from another place,
burning with life and a hope
that will not be quenched;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.
Amen.
Advent 4 (Luke 1.39-45 [46-55])
God made known
in the friendship of women,
the word of greeting
and unseen life enwombed:
give us the courage
of the teenage mother
who brings into the world
a song of joyful revolt
and a God who needs her love;
through Jesus Christ, the one who is to come.
Amen.
Christmas Set I (Luke 2.1-14 [15-20])
God of David’s fragile house
of hope and expectation:
in the time of empires,
your word is born to those
who have no place
and sung to those
who watch in the wild;
may his birth unsettle our world
with hidden glory
and untold peace;
through Jesus Christ, the Child of Promise.
Amen.
Christmas Set II (Luke 2.[1-7] 8-20)
God of rough hands
and hardened feet,
giving light to the daughters and sons of earth:
in agony of birth
and gentleness of newborn skin,
may we discover your ordinary beauty
in the heart of our longing world;
through Jesus Christ, the Icon of the Unseen God.
Amen.
Christmas Set III (John 1.1-14)
God of grace and truth,
whose word brings light to birth
in the heart of a darkening world
which fears a love it cannot name:
may flesh be blessed and born anew
by a truth which leaves the heavens
and walks the waiting earth;
through Jesus Christ, the Word incarnate.
Amen.
Prayers to to challenge, connect and transform
I’ve been writing prayers and liturgies informally and for publication for over two decades. As a priest in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, I believe the Church does theology through liturgy. In the space of our celebration, we are held in the presence of God and one another, and transformed by the movement of grace.
As a Christian committed to an inclusive church, I believe in prayers which challenge the boundaries we place around God’s grace and welcome.
Authorised forms of prayer will always be central to my own tradition, but there is also room for different unique voices and experiences to shape our praying. I hope my own small contributions can speak to a need to let God be heard in new ways.
Some of my collects are now approved for use in the Anglican Church of Canada.
Explore
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Prayers for an Inclusive Church
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The Earth Cries Glory
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The Verdant Mysteries
A set of scriptural reflections focusing on Mary and the beauty and worth of creation. Designed to accompany the Rosary.
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Marian Litany of Creation
A litany connecting Marian devotion with reverence for the earth., using titles for Mary drawn from the rich tradition of Christian typology.