Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Prayer of thanksgiving and confession based on the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)


This week I'm preaching on Jesus parable of he Good Samaritan. It is  hard passage to come up with fresh insight into, but as I have focused on it this week I found myself seeing it as an expression of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. The Samaritan showed Christ like love to his neighbour... and I thought of the great passage in 1 John 4... calling us to love one another... because God first loved us and sent his son to be an atoning sacrifice...  So in my typically verbose way I wanted to express that in a public prayer of thanksgiving and confession... starting by saying we know what love is because Christ has fort loved us seeing that apply to our own life like in the parable...  and finishing by asking that God may enable us to show that love to others so they may know Christ's love as well.

Father God,

We acknowledge that we know what love is because you first loved us,

We know what kindness is because you have shown us your kindness

We know what grace and forgiveness are because you have forgiven us

We know wholeness and healing because in you we are new creations  

We know this because in Christ you have shown us your great love

You did not wait for us to come to you but came looking for us.

You saw us waylaid by our own sin, under the shadow of death

You came to us on the roadside where we had been left robbed and beaten

You healed our brokenness and bound our wounds

You clothed us in your righteousness, when ours was tatted rags

You paid the price for us to be free and made whole again…

Forgiven because Christ died for us

Alive again because Christ was raised from the dead

Filled with joy because you dwell in us by the Holy Spirit

Able to have peace even in the midst of the continuing storms of life

Able to have peace because you left your peace with us



We know that it is not all wonderful

We know that everything isn’t just going to be swell

You told us in this life we would have trouble

But we know you continue to journey with us

That you strengthen us and consul us

We know in Christ you have walked this path before us

That by your Spirit Christ walks it with us

That Christ has gone ahead to make a way home to you



WE confess  we have sinned and done wrong

We confess we have left undone the good you call us to do

And we ask you again today to forgive us

To wipe the slate clean and restore a right spirit within us  

We thank you that you are faithful and just

We thank you that as we confess our sin you have  forgiven us



We pray you would fill us a fresh with your spirit

Help us to love our neighbour and our enemy

To show them the love we have received from you

Open our eyes to see them and their needs

Open our hearts with the compassion of Christ

Open our lives and our wallets to share what we have

Empower our words and our deeds to embody you in the world

May we love because you first loved us

May we show kindness because you have shown us your kindness

May we show grace and forgiveness because we are graciously forgiven

May we offer  the wholeness and healing we know that you bring

May people know Christ because they see your great love in us.

Amen

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