PRAYERS FOR MAY 20 2001
PRAYERS FOR MAY 20 2001
Collect (for prayer cards)
Creator God, who sustains all you have made by the power of your Spirit, help us to rejoice in your bounty, to rely on your providence and to ensure the fertility of the land, as we work together with you to produce food for the body and delight for the soul, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
Intercession
In an uncertain world,
Where tomorrow brings new difficulties
As well as new hope,
We pray for all who work with the land and sea,
Feeding an ever more hungry world.
For families, communities, governments
Lord, in your mercy
HEAR OUR PRAYER
We remember suppliers and hauliers –
All those connected
With the infrastructure of agriculture,
And the many whose livelihoods
Are becoming increasingly fragile and insecure.
Lord, in your mercy
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
We pray for those in desperate need of help:
The young, facing uncertain futures:
Families and businesses close to bankruptcy;
The many who need to retire but cant.
Lord, in your mercy
HEAR OUR PRAYER.
We pray for support networks,
Agricultural chaplains and rural ministers;
For farming families experiencing stress;
For rural businesses, garages and shops;For neighbourly gestures
And all that counters isolation
Lord, in your mercy
HEAR OUR PRAYER
Finally Lord, we pray for this world:
Its plants and creatures,
Its seasons and weather patterns,
Its treasures as yet undiscovered.
Guide us, as we learn from our mistakes
And look to a better tomorrow.
Lord, in your mercy
HEAR OUR PRAYER. AMEN
Petition
Ask and you will receive.
Seek and you will find.
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
Forgive us, Father, our hesitancy in asking.
You are always ready to give, without counting the cost.
Rogationtide is the time when we come together
To ask a favour of you –
That you will richly bless our land, our crops and our livestock.
"Be fruitful and multiply" you instructed your living creatures.
We are dependent on this law of nature.
Help us to be good stewards of your creation.
May we work humbly as co-creators with you
Recognising both the possibilities and the danger
Posed by our growing knowledge and capability.
Keep us humble: down to earth.
Keep us aspiring: looking to new opportunities
Which, in your providence, you open up for us.
Keep us following in the steps of Christ,
Revelling in the natural world and
Equally at home in the world of the spirit.
We ASK all this in His name for His sake. AMEN