Transformed through prayer

Prayers

Listening God,
sometimes we pray confidently,
trusting in your love.
Sometimes we approach you fearfully,
conscious of our own failure.
Sometimes we are reluctant to pray,
evading your call to us.
Sometimes our prayer is a snatched moment
in the hassle of activity.
But always
You hear us.
Amen.

When prayer is as easy as talking,
Sharing news and secrets with a friend
A quiet trust threading through the everyday:
O Lord hear my prayer…

When prayer feels blocked and impossible,
Words hitting the ceiling and bouncing back,
Or an empty silence devoid of meaning
O Lord hear my prayer…

When prayer is a cry of pain
For a hurting, vulnerable world,
All we can offer in our helplessness
O Lord hear my prayer…

When prayer is an adventure
Delighting in creativity and colour,
Exploring faith with sounds and senses,
O Lord hear my prayer…

Use the sung response O Lord hear my prayer (R&S 398)
or a spoken response such as Loving God: hear our prayer

A suggestion for creative/open prayer

If you have used the exercise “How prayer works” on p.7 of the booklet, then read out some of the phrases, lighting a candle and allowing a few moments of silent reflection after each one, or sing Through our lives and by our prayers…(R &S 401)

Ideas for hymns and songs

Rejoice and Sing
347 Be still and know that I am God
368  I sought the Lord, and afterwards I knew
374  O Christ our Lord, we meet here as your people
400  We do not know how to pray as we ought
401  Through our lives and by  our prayers
405  Angel voices ever singing
409  O God in whom we live and move
412 There’s a quiet understanding
413 What a friend we have in Jesus
518 Father I place into your hands
Common Ground
138 We cannot measure how you heal
Songs of Fellowship
2065  The Splendour of the king
1190 Be lifted up
1113 When the music fades
1067 To be in your presence
1377 Jesus be the centre
1025 Come now is the time to worship
Consuming fire
1562 This is the air I breathe

Youth – Songs of Fellowship
1906 When tears fall
1753 Even though I walk through the valley