Prayer for Christian Unity
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Welcome!
Welcome to excerpts from the worship held within the newly formed Westhills Church of Scotland Congregation. We know that not all members of the congregation are able to be in church on Sunday morning; offering these excerpts from the Sunday morning service might help you feel included. Where we can, we offer parts of the service in text and audio, whichever works best for you.
If this post helps you explore what happens within an act of worship then please read on…
Your Weekly Church Notices
Scripture
Isaiah 58: 6 – 11
Ephesians 4: 1 – 13
Praise – Be still
Prayers
Loving God, we thank you that you have called us together in this place as part of the great family of your people.
We praise you for the common bond you have given us in Christ – the fact that we gather here as friends, in fellowship with you and one another and as part of the great company of your people in every time and place. In one faith we have gathered bind us together in love.
We praise you that through Jesus Christ we have become a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, your own people called to proclaim your mighty acts in leading us out of darkness into light. Once we were no people, but you have called us to be the people of God, chosen and precious to you. Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received your mercy in all its wonder! In one faith we have gathered, bind us together in love.
Loving God, gathered here as your people may we be encouraged through being with you and being with one another. So may your family in this church and all who gather in places of worship in this town, and in every place, grow and flourish to the glory of your name. In one faith we have gathered, bind us together in love.
The offering we place before you Lord is only for the Glory of your name. The gifts we bring are but tools for you to use to bring all people closer to your heart where they may find faith, hope and love. Accept the gifts we bring for the unity of all believers.
Hear us as we join in the words of the Lord’s Prayer saying…
Our Father who art in Heaven Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory forever. Amen.
Address
Praise – Sing to God
Prayers for Others
Lord Jesus Christ, you knew that your followers would be despised and rejected because of the faith they found in you. Persecution is a thing of the past for us but in other nations our brothers and sister in Christ live in fear of death, torture, kidnapping because they place their trust in you. In Yemen, Syria, Nigeria, North Korea and many other nations, the daily persecution of Christians takes place.
We remember Armenian Christians displaced from their homes.
Lord, help us in these moments of prayer to remember those who so seldom enter our consciousness. Help us in prayer to express our unity with all who follow you and to ask you to give courage and resilience to those who are persecuted and a desire for tolerance to enter the hearts of their persecutors. Lord hear us in our prayers for our sisters and brothers in Christ…
Gracious and almighty Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, You are the true Light, who has cast out the darkness of sin and shone into our hearts the joy and hope of Your eternal Kingdom. Accept the prayers of all Your faithful people throughout the world, who call out to You with one mind, one voice and one heart. You promised that if we walk in Your light, then we will have communion with one another, and Your precious blood will cleanse us of all sin. Bring us into blessed
communion, with You and each other.
Remove the scourge of violence from the face of the earth. Change the hearts of
all who make war. Touch the wounds of all who are afflicted by conflict. Comfort all prisoners of war, hostages and prisoners of conscience and speedily bring them home. Let the light of Your love shine in all the dark places of our world, and hasten the day when all peoples may dwell in peace with justice.
Make us children of light and children of the day, so that we may always live our lives reverently, and become for all the world worthy lampstands for Your lifegiving light. AMEN
Praise – The Church’s one foundation
The Grace
And now… May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you and all whom you love, now and for evermore. AMEN.