(Congregation may be invited to be seated for prayer.)
With the prayer “God of new life” you are invited to respond
HEAR OUR PRAYER
1. Filled by your spirit let us join the whole people of God in Christ Jesus as together we pray for the church, those in need and for all of God’s creation.
A brief silence.
2. Gracious Lord, your Word gives light to those who love your name. Open the doors of this congregation so that those who come seeking a place to belong would find shelter in our life together.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER
3. We pray that you would guide and bless the ministry of our neighboring faith communities, our partner Anglican Church of Canada and the congregations of our BC Synod: in particular we pray for Faith Lutheran Church in Kelowna and their Anglican interim pastor, James Buenting; and for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in North Vancouver and their new pastor, Jennifer Marlor. May the pastors, the leaders and all members of all faith communities know joy and confidence in their individual ministries.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER
4. Righteous God, people of all nations cry out daily for justice, for peace and for security. Give them leaders who can discern your understanding of what is good and evil. May they desire to be known above all for their wisdom and for their goodness.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER
5. Faithful one, we trust that all things work together for good. Bring hope to those who have no job, those who have no place to call home, and those who are anxious, lonely or in pain. We pray especially for those we name aloud or quietly at this time…
Give us hearts of compassion in our individual ministry in this coming week.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER
6. God, we thank you for how you continue to surprise us with your blessings:
- we thank you for offering us hope for us and for our church;
- we thank you for those who have known the gift of another birthday, another anniversary, or the
gift of new life;
- finally, we thank you for those special blessings we name at this time….
May our words and our actions give encouragement to all we encounter in this coming week.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER.
7. Your earth is filled with abundant life: with fish, animals and plants of all shapes and sizes, from the smallest shrub to the greatest tree. Teach us to cherish and protect these gifts for the benefit of future generations so that our children’s children would not look back at our stewardship of creation with disappointment.
8. Your face shines upon those faithful servants who now rest with you in your heavenly kingdom. Continue to remind us that neither death nor life can separate us from our love in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
God of new life: HEAR OUR PRAYER.
9. We lift our prayers to you, God of mercy, confident that all things are in your hands. In Jesus’ name we pray. AMEN.
Romans 8:26-39
26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes* with sighs too deep for words. 27And God,* who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit* intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.*
28We know that all things work together for good* for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose…
God’s Love in Christ Jesus
31What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.* 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Bottom of Form / Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; 32it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’
The Parable of the Yeast