Prayers.......
I write prayers for public worship. By prayer I don't mean finding clever words to persuade God to do what we want: I don't believe in an interventionist God. So what then is prayer?
Prayer is about opening ourselves to God
- so the words of public prayer need to be about offering creative images and challenges that might lift ourselves out of despair and the desperation that often comes when we want God to 'sort it all out'
Prayer is about being with those who are in need
- so the words of public prayer need to open us to others: and this must be done creatively, otherwise we just prayer for those who are easily known about and remembered. Sometimes being with those in need is also about silence. Sometimes it is about uttering the words that others cannot find.
Prayer is about opening ourselves up to hope because hope is an action, not a nice word or sentiment
- so the words of public prayer need to draw us out and offer ourselves to the possibility of creating a new future, which just might, of course, be about opening ourselves up to God.
On the pages that follow are some of the prayers I have written. They have different roles - some prayers of concern and hope, others prayers of praise. Some are prayers of confession, others prayers for the Eucharist or Communion. Some prayers spring out of scripture, some from a situation, some from a hymn or something else I've read. Some just from inside me.
Prayer is about opening ourselves to God
- so the words of public prayer need to be about offering creative images and challenges that might lift ourselves out of despair and the desperation that often comes when we want God to 'sort it all out'
Prayer is about being with those who are in need
- so the words of public prayer need to open us to others: and this must be done creatively, otherwise we just prayer for those who are easily known about and remembered. Sometimes being with those in need is also about silence. Sometimes it is about uttering the words that others cannot find.
Prayer is about opening ourselves up to hope because hope is an action, not a nice word or sentiment
- so the words of public prayer need to draw us out and offer ourselves to the possibility of creating a new future, which just might, of course, be about opening ourselves up to God.
On the pages that follow are some of the prayers I have written. They have different roles - some prayers of concern and hope, others prayers of praise. Some are prayers of confession, others prayers for the Eucharist or Communion. Some prayers spring out of scripture, some from a situation, some from a hymn or something else I've read. Some just from inside me.