Urban Prayer – Week 1, Day 3

 We draw near to God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.Silence

Readings

Silence

Relationship

• We recognise that Christian faith is a journey and we are committed to helping people move forward, wherever they are at present.

Reflect on all those in your life today.
Where are they on their faith journey?
What do they struggle with?
What do you struggle with?
What have they taught you of God?
Where has God been present in your interactions?Hold them quietly in your heart and imagine what life would be like for them if God was more fully in their lives. What prayer does that image call from you? Offer it to God.Now reflect on your faith at the moment. What would change for you if God was more fully present to you and in you? Is that a change that you desire? Offer your response to God.Our God
we are a part of that great crowd of people
who are learning what it means to abide in your love.

We thank you that we are not alone in our journey,
but from the beginning of human experience,
right through Scripture,
right through the stories of faithful people
you have invited us to travel with you
in this journey of salvation.

We recognise the journey takes us
through desert landscapes
sometimes dotted with oases
sometimes arid, dry and forbidding
as far as the eye can see;
through beautiful landscapes
filled with water, trees, sky and hills
where all creation cries Alleluia!;
through urban landscapes
noisy with change yet a place
where nothing really changes.

We offer you our journey and pray
that, while you lead us to where we
need to go,
you’ll help us to be fully present today
to your Spirit,
ever beckoning,
ever calling
ever inviting
to life in all its fullness.

And we offer to you the faith journey
of those we know
praying for them your peace and hope,
and an ever deepening awareness
of your love and life.

Free prayerThe Lord’s PrayerLord, in your mercy
Let your kingdom come!

From Urban Expression – http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/liturgy/values/3

Week 1, Day 2

+ We draw near to God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

Silence

Readings

Silence

Relationship

• We believe that the gospel works through relationships and that serving God consists largely in building life-giving relationships with others.

Call to mind the relationships in your life that you carry in your heart today – family, friends, neighbours, your church community – and as you focus on each of them, imagine God’s arms surrounding and holding them.

Are any particular relationships calling for your attention?

Offer your thoughts and feelings about them to God, or simply pray, ‘Lord, have mercy,’ confident in the loving work of the God who knows you and the relationships in a way which does not demand words of explanation.

God, thank you for all those that you’ve placed in our paths for the sorted and the centred for the muddled and bemused for the broken and the fractured for the searching and confused

In all our relationships let the piercing light of your love infuse us and flow through us
challenging the depths of the darkness offering the hope of new beginnings providing warmth where hearts are cold giving strength where wills are weak In us and through us let all those we meet today be touched by your Spirit,
and may we see your presence reflected in the faces of friends and strangersFree prayerThe Lord’s Prayer

Lord, in your mercy
 

Let your kingdom come!

From Urban Expression – http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/liturgy/values/2

Urban Prayer – Week 1, Day 1

+ We draw near to God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.

Silence

Readings

Silence

Relationship

• We believe that, in Jesus, God is revealed locally, and that we should be committed to our local community or relational network and active members of it.

Call to mind where you live.
Imagine that you’re in a balloon floating over the roofs and parks, people and traffic, houses and flats.
Hear the sounds of where you live; breathe its air; feel its life and stay with this for as long as you like.
This is where God has invited you to live.
Notice what part of the neighbourhood is uppermost in your mind.
What’s calling out for transformation today? Silently offer that to God.

God
we come before you just as we are
with all our frailties and vulnerabilities
our baggage and prejudices
our hopes and dreams
our life and love
and we offer it all to you.

Take all we are and hope to be.
Use us here where you’ve brought us
and help us to be like Jesus.
Use our hands, our eyes, our ears,
our words, our silences,
our work, our rest
our hearts and minds,
and let your kingdom come
in the lives of all who live
next door and round about,
in this street and square
in the whole neighbourhood.

Confirm in us your invitation
to be your people here.
Deepen our commitment to it.
In our experience of the
heights and depths of life here
help us to know your surging and renewing love.

Free prayerThe Lord’s PrayerLord, in your mercy
Let your kingdom come!

From Urban Expression – http://www.urbanexpression.org.uk/liturgy/values/1