Some Previous Prayers
As we set out to follow you, keep our eyes focused on where we are going and who we are following.
Make us increasingly aware of those who travel with us, so that we draw on each other’s strengths and support one another in our weaknesses.
When the going is hard encourage us to persevere.
Help us not to be over-burdened, distracted or unduly anxious.
May we grow in grace, in character, and in all we achieve together in your name.
Amen.
Renewing God, Re-energise our lives, Re-focus our vision, Remind us of your love.
Guide our thinking, Guard our speaking, Generate our enthusiasm, Give us your Spirit.
Turn us towards you, Teach us new truth, Take our talents,
Transform us into your likeness
In Jesus, Amen.
We pray that the life of Jesus may continue to be our inspiration—the live he once lived and the life he now lives.
As he journeys towards Jerusalem so may we travel further along the road of committed compassion.
As he bears suffering through his unlimited love, so may we learn to accept the pain that love for others can bring.
As he triumphs over the worst that death can do to him, so may we find new hope, new life, new courage in following his way.
May we learn to wait with his early disciples for the gift of power, and rediscover, through his Spirit, the life of Jesus within, enabling us to bring life-giving changes to the lives of others.
Through Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Amen.
Inspirational and energizing God, we place ourselves afresh into your hands.
Where we have many opportunities for mission but fail to see them, open our eyes to see connections between people's needs and what the Gospel offers.
Where action does not take place because personalities clash, help us to bring healing and understanding.
Where we simply need encouragement to try fresh approaches or to sustain what is already found to be valuable, grant what we need.
Open our minds to new truth; Galvanise our energies into renewed commitment;
Focus our thinking into fresh insights so that we may serve you with imagination, creativity and compassion, through Jesus our Lord.
Amen.
Loving God, who calls us into a life centered on love for you and for each other, deepen our commitment to each other, our understanding of one another, our tolerance of each other’s differences. In order that our outgoing mission and witness are strong, consistent and effective, help our inner life to grow in mutual respect, integrity and harmony.
Help us to resolve differences without falling out with each other. Help us to see beyond our own limited agendas. Help us to trust one another enough to work alongside each other in shared projects.
Remind us continually that the Church is not ours, but belongs to those who are not yet its members. Extend our vision, inspire our imagination, encourage us in encouraging each other, so that your work of healing communities and transforming human life will take place increasingly among us, Amen.
Renewing God, in all the transitions before us, freshen our faith, deepen our trust and
respect for those to whom we will be relating, stimulate our imagination to see opportunities we can take to serve others, to encourage people towards faith in you, to live out your compassionate love, in the power of your Spirit and the inspiration of Jesus, Amen.
We pray for the challenges faced by our world, our country and our church.Among the problems of: climate change, drastic poverty, war and terrorism, economic crisis, unemployment, cut backs of public services, shortage of ministers.
Grant wisdom to those in leadership, creative thinking, imagination, understanding, and disciplined resolve to all who work towards a fairer world, and an adequately resourced nation.
For our Circuit we pray for the ability to adapt, to concentrate on priorities, to see and take opportunities for mission, to pull together in strongly mutual commitment, through Jesus Christ, our Leader and Lord, Amen.
During the winter’s darkness and cold,
During the Lenten journey to conflict and death,
Inspire us with the hope of new life,
Enthuse us with experience of resurrection.
Amen
As we prepare for the future, help us to be deeply grateful for the past and to live fully in the present.
May we cherish the sacrament of the present moment, thankful for the gift of each new day, eager to serve you within it, enthusiastic to discover more of the wonder of your love.
Amen
We pray for the wider Methodist Church-
· For Alison Tomlin as she moves from being the Chair of District
· For Peter Hancock as he becomes the new District Chair
· For our neighbours in the Thame and Watlington Circuit and for the Circuits around them in considering their future.
We pray for our Circuit
· In decisions we make regarding a possible merger with churches in the Thame and Watlington Circuit
· For the people of Aylesbury in the use of their newly refurbished Church and Community Centre
· For the people of Wingrave, celebrating 150 years of witness and reflecting on future directions
May the wisdom of God guide us and the strength of God sustain us,
Amen.
Help us to build with care
· Buildings for people to meet with God
· Relationships with one another and our neighbours
· A pattern of life in which we encounter you
· An attitude towards life which enables us to be the people you call us to be
Amen
I thank you, Lord, for the food I enjoy each day, for its plentiful ness and variety. I pray for all who are hungry and malnourished because food is scarce and only of one kind.
Thank you for all I possess, for the usefulness, pleasure and enjoyment they each bring to me. I pray for those who struggle to make ends meet, whose homes are impoverished and whose choices are limited.
Thank you for my home, for its sturdiness and space, its warmth and attractiveness. I pray for those with no home of their own, no private space, no pleasant surroundings, those exposed to the decisions of others as to the permanency of where they are now.
Thank you for my friends, my family and all the love with which I have been surrounded from my first days. I pray for the lonely, the friendless, those with no caring relatives, those who do not know the meaning of love.
May my gratitude not make me feel guilty for what I have, but may I become more determined to see that others have the choice to enjoy all that I could so easily take for granted. May that determination lead to action on their behalf.
Amen.
Living God, there is far more about you and your activity than we will ever know; far more to thank you for than we will ever realise. Your love and your purposes are far greater than we can observe: sometimes we may see the plant pushing up through the soil, but we do not see what has gone before that. For all you do which is beyond our observation or experience, as well as for that which we can see and do know, we give you grateful praise.
Amen.
I praise you for continually working in our lives to transform us, even though it means never leaving us alone, never letting us rest content, because you are always refining us, chiselling away at unwanted stone, challenging our attitudes and helping us to move on. May I more willingly co-operate with your process of transformation, that I may become much more fully the person you intend me to be.
Amen.
Lord, I thank you for the great adventure of life and all its opportunities. I would learn that the future is not mine to manipulate, although you do give me freedom to make my own decisions. I would also learn that the most perfect will of God does not always proceed in predictable straight lines, but through many twists and turns. Help me to be both a learner, listening to the experiences of other people and a catalyst, raising the questions which people need to answer and enabling action to take place. When one door opens help me to keep knocking at the next one, following through where each avenue may lead. Use me as someone who takes things forward, sees things through and contributes towards developments being made. May I play my part in working alongside others in a team and may I keep learning what it means to work alongside you.
Amen.
Sometimes in conversations with other people, Lord, we become aware of some weakness in ourselves. Help us to learn from this awareness, and, in your strength, to move out of that particular rut. Help me to learn today, from the signals others give out, what in my behaviour is constructive and helpful towards them, and what is off-putting; what I say that people may misconstrue; where I fail to think things through sufficiently; where I am hurtful in flippant remarks I may make. May my speech contribute towards the well being of others and be part of your purpose for their lives and mine.
Amen.
I long to share the adventures of this day with you; and to discover the joy and wonder that you bring to life. I commit to your gracious care each one of the people who have primary claim on my affection. May today see an exploration of spiritual truth and an experiment in new methods of living. Help me to use the gifts, interests and skills you have given me for the benefit of others. Help me to be alive and sensitive to the promptings of your Spirit and to the feelings of other people. Each day may I love, trust and serve you more.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for other people-for those whose company I enjoy and with whom I can relax; and those whom I find difficult to live with, who challenge me into a broader way of loving. For those who remember me in acts of thoughtful kindness and prayer; those whose love for me is an essential part of their lives, and my love for them an essential part of mine. For those, even people I have never met, whose writings and thinking interest and stimulate me. Remind me today of how my own work is being done for the benefit of other people; and help me to produce my best for them, to take their feelings and thoughts into account. Above all thank you for your presence at the heart of my life.
Amen.
Yours, Lord, is the standard by which our lives are to be judged. Yours is the strength upon which we depend. Yours is the inspiration we need to guide our lives. We thank you for every opportunity to return to you, to reassess life by your values and to be restored to the sanity of your ways. Guide all who have the responsibility of leadership and those who act as their main advisors. Help us to exercise our own responsibilities faithfully and well, submitting to the discipline which makes us truly free. We pray for those who are without power-refugees with no home; children with no parents; the poor with no land; the hungry with no food; the war-torn with no peace; the anxious with no rest. Use us in readjusting the balance, righting the wrongs and bringing reconciliation.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for other people - for those whose company I enjoy and with whom I can relax; those who remember me in acts of kindness and prayer; those whose love for me is an essential part of their lives, and my love for them an essential part of mine; those whose ideas interest, stimulate and challenge me; those to whom I am growing in closer bonds of affection and understanding; even those I have never seen, but from whose skills and work I benefit each day. Thank you for the rich world of relationships, of which I am a part. Remind me today of how my own work is being done for the benefit of other people. Help me, therefore, to produce my best for them, to take into account their feelings and thoughts and to treat each person as one who matters.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for the refreshment of sleep and strength for the new day. Thank you for this opportunity to catch breath, and to begin the day with a sane outlook and a balanced perspective. You are the source of all health-physical, mental and spiritual. Throughout this d me even beyond my death. Every new beginning I have made has been attempted through strength and inspiration you have given. Because my life is not wholly what it should be, help me to begin again this day with you.
Amen.