Hear Our Prayer

Gospel-Based Intercessions for Sundays and Holy Days

Raymond Chapman

• Publisher: Canterbury Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781853115561
• eBook ISBN: 9781848253971
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christianity

This sequel to the best-selling Leading Intercessions offers a completely new set of intercessory prayers for Sundays and special occasions, following the pattern of the Revised Common Lectionary. Rather than draw on all the Bible passages for the day, this second collection draws entirely on the Gospel readings for the day's Principle Service.

Principal Service Year A

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Matthew 24:36–44

Let us pray, as we prepare for the coming of the Lord.

May the Church be faithful and vigilant, ever on guard against evil, and as a good servant ready for the Master’s call … At this Advent time, grant to her ministers and all her people the grace to prepare in prayer and meditation for the coming Nativity.

Speak to a heedless world where many have ceased to learn from the past the signs of future danger … Be merciful to those who fail in the duty laid upon them for the guidance of others and open their eyes to follow the right path.

In all we do, in all our work, in our homes, in our times of quiet, let us so live that we are ready without fear for the call of God … Grant to those we love the grace of lives fitly offered.

Have mercy on those who have no future hope, those who value the passing moment beyond its worth, those who through pain and sorrow have ceased to care for what is to come … Give them the assurance that this present world is not the end.

We pray for those who have already been called to the future judgement and the future peace, for those who came with joyful expectation into the divine presence, and for those who came bewildered and unprepared … May the love of God enfold them all.

May our prayers be acceptable through Christ the Lord who has come, is present here and will come again.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Matthew 3:1–12

Let us pray to God who receives all who come to him in love and humility.

Renew the life of the Church, that her people shall hear the call of the future and not rest in the comfort of the past … May those whom the Lord has called be confident in his mercy but not forgetful of his judgement.

Grant repentance to the nations of this world, for the cleansing of what is false and evil, and the building of what is true and good … Root out the complacency that will not confess error and the indifference that tolerates injustice.

Trusting in no achievements of our own, claiming no privilege in the values of this world, may we and those with whom we live and work, and all who share our community, come to walk in the path of peace … Help us to remember that we shall fulfil the will of God by waiting upon his word.

Have mercy on all who think that their position sets them above error and beyond judgement … Have mercy also on those who are afraid to turn back to the right way and are without hope.

May the departed find mercy at the heart of judgement and be cleansed from all their sins so that they may stand perfect before the eternal majesty of God … Give us grace at this time to recollect that we too must die.

May Christ who knows the secrets of all hearts mercifully hear our prayers.

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Matthew 3:1–12

Let us pray to God to open our lips to speak as messengers of his gospel.

May we who are the Church of Christ on earth hear his call to repentance … As we see the signs of his healing power, make us ready to receive him into our hearts at this time and to look for his coming in glory.

Come in mercy to the people who seek for help in the kingdoms of this world and do not look to the signs of the Kingdom of Heaven … Break through the doubt and uncertainty that cloud the vision, the false values that hide the truth, that all may know that salvation has come.

Make us faithful witnesses, to bring the knowledge of Christ into our homes, our work, our meeting with others … Guide all in this community so to seek that they may truly find.

Have mercy on the sick in body or mind, the disabled, the sorrowful. Lead them from the wilderness into the fertile land of your healing love, where they may be made whole.

Lord Christ who raised the dead, receive into your Kingdom the souls of the departed … As they saw the signs of your power in this world, may they enter into the fullness of your glory.

We offer our prayers through the one long expected who has come to be among us, Christ the Lord.

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

Matthew 1:18–23

As we wait for the birth of the Lord, we pray for the Church and for the world he came to save.

Lord God, guide your Church into the way of truth and keep her free from false doctrine and all error … Give grace to her ministers, so that your purposes may be clearly known and faithfully proclaimed, to the glory of your name.

Come to the world where the truth is so often unknown and the message of hope not understood … Teach those who hold authority over others to govern without fear and suspicion and to seek the way of peace.

Bring into our homes the joy of those who trust in your love, and share that love with one another … Give light to families where love has turned to bitterness and jealousy. May the tender protection of Joseph and the gentleness of Mary be with them.

Have pity on all whose sleep is troubled, who lie awake in darkness or are tormented in their dreams … In the night hours, may the sick and those who watch with them know your calming presence and the assurance of your love.

Give rest to the departed and an awakening to heavenly joy … As you were with them in this life, so let them now be with you for ever, no longer afflicted by the doubts and fears that they once knew.

We offer our prayers in the name of Jesus our Emmanuel, God with us.

CHRISTMAS DAY

Luke 2:1–20 or John 1:1–14

Rejoicing in the precious gift of the Son, let us pray to the Lord.

Grant to the Church, illumined by the eternal light, the grace to shine as the servant of Incarnate God … May the simple faith of the shepherds, the adoration of the angels, and the love of the Holy Family be the ground of our worship and witness now and at all times.

Son of God, taking our human nature so that all broken humanity might be made new, look with mercy on a world which has not heeded the angelic message of peace … Bring to the nations knowledge of the love which has been from the beginning and which no sin can extinguish or folly destroy.

May the love that shone from the blessed manger bed be ours today … In every heart, every home, every place where some must work, may the grace and truth of God dwell with us and draw us into his holiness, and empower us to tell out the tidings of great joy.

Light of God, come into the darkness of pain and suffering … In the new day that has dawned, may the sick find healing, the sorrowful comfort, the despairing hope and the dying assurance … Bring the wanderers and the homeless to shelter … Shield the newly born and the mothers waiting for the time of birth.

Grant to the departed the peace that unites earth and heaven … The life that was in Christ, the life of all that was made, be theirs in the greater light of his eternal glory.

We offer our prayers through Christ, the Word made flesh for our salvation.

FIRST SUNDAY OF CHRISTMAS

Matthew 2:13–23

We pray to God who has shared the pain of the world.

May the Church, made an image of the glory of Christ, stand also as a witness to his suffering … Change our weakness into strength, our anxiety into trust that he who became helpless for love of us will be our present help and make us able to meet the needs of all who come.

In the world where many are driven from their homes as wanderers in strange lands, where tyrants rage and destroy the innocent, may God direct the ways of those who are lost in sorrow and fear … Come close to those who abuse their power, that they may learn to love, and turn from anger to compassion.

Give us grateful hearts for the security that we know, in our human lives and our assurance of the love of God … Grant to all in this community the mutual concern and sympathy which tell us that all grief is shared and is healed only by his presence.

We pray for those who have lost their homes and all who at the end of the day will have no place to rest … Bring them to a place of refuge, as Mary and Joseph were led to a...

Table of contents

• Hear Our Prayer
• By the same author
• Hear Our Prayer
• Copyright information
• Contents
• Introduction
• Principal Service Year A
• Principal Service Year B
• Principal Service Year C
• Other Days in the Church’s Year
• Special Occasions
• Afterword – On Leading Intercessions