December 4, 2016
With the words, Dark winter days are upon us, you are invited to respond Come bring us light.
Knowing that you will come again and again, we wait with anticipation and joy as we pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.
a brief silence
Bless Bishop Greg and the congregations of our synod.Today we pray especially for Grace Lutheran inBurnaby and Pastor Nathan Fong and Mount Zion in Smithers. Enlighten the work of our partnership with the Anglican Church of Canada. Bless Bishop ______of the Diocese of ______.
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
You call people to you in every place and in many ways. Help to hear your Spirit speak in surprising ways amidst the confusion and fear that sometimes touches our lives. Let us find time for you even as this busy season is upon us.
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
You give us great abundance in our land. Help us find many ways to share it: through local food banks, through refugee sponsorship, through CLWR, through another charity of choice. Trust that there is enough to go around.
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
You invite us to call upon you in pain and suffering. Help the poor, the meek, the unwelcomed, those suffering from malaria and HIV/AIDS. We pray especially for those who have requested your care and strength (name those on the prayer list)
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
You bless us with animals, large and small, with plants that nourish us, trees that shelter us, and water that sustains us. Let us celebrate the winter resting time that allows them to flourish in good time.
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
You bless those who travel, those absent from this gathering, and those preparing for baptism. We ask special care for our military men and women, and pray that the scourge of suicide after terrible mission be stopped with care and counselling.
Dark winter days are upon us
Come bring us light.
Sometimes we doubt, sometimes we are confused, but we enfold our concerns in the arms of the one who has come, is coming, and will always come again.
Amen