Christian Aid Week
Sixth Sunday of Easter 2015
Gathering together in Christ’s name
Words of welcome and introduction
Welcome to this service of worship to mark the beginning of
Christian Aid Week 2015. Christian Aid Week is the single
biggest act of Christian witness in Britain and Ireland. For
thousands of churches, it’s a way of getting out into the
community and of answering Jesus’ call to help people in need.
This Christian Aid Week, we will be sharing stories from Ethiopia,
where Christian Aid’s partner HUNDEE is working with the
poorest of the poor to improve income, nutrition and the status
and situation of women.
And so we gather together in prayer and praise, to share and to
listen, and to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Call to worship (from Psalm 98)
Our God is faithful and his steadfast love endures forever.
Sing a new song to the Lord.
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it; the world and those who live
in it.
Sing a new song to the Lord.
Let the waters clap their hands; let the hills sing together for joy.
Sing a new song to the Lord.
God will judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.
Sing a new song to the Lord.
Praise God, all the earth.
Hymn or song
Prayer of approach
Faithful God,
you love us with a father’s love;
look kindly on your children as we gather in praise.
Pour out your Spirit on all people,
that we may live faithfully,
inspire hope, show love,
and raise a new song throughout all the earth.
Amen.
All-age talk
Hymn or song
Prayer of confession
Merciful God,
we have not always lived faithfully.
In a world where most women are discriminated against from
birth;
where women alone, or alone with children,
are vulnerable to terrible abuse and violence;
where girl children are at risk of forced marriage,
early and dangerous childbirth;
where endless work deprives women and girls of health,
Prayer of confession
education and respect;
we confess:
we have not spoken out against the denial of dignity,
we have not stood up for the most powerless,
we have not acted to prevent the violation of childhood.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Merciful God,
We have not always inspired hope.
In a world where rising temperatures and increasingly
Prayer of confession
unpredictable weather threaten livelihoods,
where droughts and floods hit the poorest hardest,
where natural resources are under extreme pressure from
over-exploitation,
we confess:
we have made idols of our own comfort and convenience,
we have resisted the change that could bring life to others,
we have sought to make offerings that cost us nothing.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Prayer of confession
Merciful God,
We have not always shown love.
In a world where millions still live with food insecurity,
with no reliable ways to feed their families,
where the movement of refugees into already poor countries
deepens long-term poverty and malnutrition,
where lack of access to clean water and sanitation
are a major cause of preventable illness,
we confess:
We have settled for injustice when we might make a difference,
we have given a little when we could give more,
we have refused the claims of community in favour of the
demands of self.
Lord, in your mercy
hear our prayer.
Prayer of confession
Merciful God,
you know our weakness and still you are faithful,
you know our despair and still you inspire hope,
you know our need and still you show love.
You are life for our souls,
you are the life of the world.
Give us the courage and persistence of those who are strong but
still need our help.
In the name of Christ, who taught us to pray –
Our Father...
(You may wish to share Loko’s story at this point using the
Christian Aid Week DVD or the information at caweek.org)
Sharing the word
First reading: 1 John 5:1-6
Hymn or Alleluia
Second reading: John 15:9-17
Sermon or talk
Hymn or song
Responding to the word
A strong woman still needs help
A strong woman walks for eight hours alone to gather wood.
Thin shoes pierced by thorns, fearful of attack by wild animals,
she dreads her task, but does it anyway, four times a week.
If she does not do it, her children will starve.
As she walks, she prays to God to change her life.
A strong woman still needs help.
Responding to the word
A strong woman works for eighteen hours every day.
Fetching water with a 25-litre jerry can hoisted on her back,
pounding maize for meagre meals, washing clothes by hand,
selling firewood, or her labour, in the market.
Her faith is strong, her eyes are fixed on God.
A strong woman still needs help.
Responding to the word
A strong woman owns a cow.
Milk for her children, butter to earn income,
status and respect; no longer belittled and ignored.
Now she has a voice, now she has a future.
Now she shares her hope with other women.
A strong woman still needs help.
Responding to the word
A strong man knows the value and the worth of women.
He shares decision-making, household tasks,
supports his wife when she is pregnant.
He does not beat his wife.
He knows that poverty kills tomorrow,
hunger kills today, but education gives life.
A strong man still needs help.
Prayers of thanksgiving
Loving God,
We give thanks for the strength of women,
doing two-thirds of the world’s work, raising children,
feeding families,
caring for the most vulnerable, often in the most
difficult circumstances.
May our joy be complete.
Prayers of thanksgiving
We give thanks for men who are open to change,
respecting the equality and dignity of women
in the most practical ways;
and for communities coming together in mutual support
and learning to build a new future.
May our joy be complete.
Prayers of thanksgiving
We give thanks for the people of Ethiopia,
for the pastoralist communities of the Borena
in southern Ethiopia,
and for the work of Christian Aid partner HUNDEE,
bringing change to entire communities.
May our joy be complete.
We give thanks for Christian Aid supporters across Britain
and Ireland,
for all who this week will raise money and awareness
by their efforts,
and for all who will respond to this great need.
May our joy be complete.
Prayers of thanksgiving
Most of all, we give thanks that, in Christ,
you have loved us, called us your friends
and laid down your life for us.
May our joy be complete.
Prayers of intercession
Loving God,
we join our prayers of intercession with the daily prayer
of Loko in Ethiopia:
‘Change my life, lead me out of this.’
Prayers of intercession
We pray with all who pray for their lives to change:
for those who battle daily hunger, for those who fear
domestic violence,
for those who cannot get necessary medication,
for those who are forced into early marriage,
for those who walk miles for unsanitary water,
for those denied access to education,
for those who watch drought destroy crops,
for those who do not even hope for change.
Prayers of intercession
Lead them out of this.
Lead them to a world where hunger truly scandalises,
where domestic abuse is culturally totally unacceptable,
where preventable diseases are prevented,
where early marriage is banned in both law and practice,
where water is clean and readily available,
where opportunities are accessed equally,
where the rains come with predictable regularity,
where despair does not overwhelm.
Prayers of intercession
You have overcome the world,
so help us to be agents of change this Christian Aid Week and
every week.
Help HUNDEE and other partners to lead communities across
the world to justice.
Help us all to obey your command to love one another
as you have loved us.
May we abide in your love.
Amen.
Christian Aid Week prayer
(from the Church in Ethiopia)
Let your hand rest upon your people of Ethiopia –
widows and orphans, aged and children,
strangers and wanderers – and join us also with them.
Protect and strengthen us,
from all evil works keep us apart,
and in all good works unite us.
You are life for our souls.
You are the life of the world.
Hymn or song
(during which the offerings of donations and action cards can be
collected)
Commissioning prayer
The offerings and completed action cards are brought to the
front of the church, the people standing.
We give thanks to God for these gifts received, and thanks for all
who have given of themselves.
Bless the gifts we have offered.
Bless the work we will do.
Bless the witness we will bear.
Commissioning prayer
Christ says to us: ‘You did not choose me but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last,
so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him
in my name.’
In the name of Christ,
Amen.
Closing responses
Our hope for the future rests in God.
Remain in God’s love.
Our hope for our children rests in God.
Remain in God’s love.
Whoever loves the parent loves the child.
Remain in God’s love.
By this, we know we love the children of God:
When we love God and obey his commandments.
This is my commandment:
That you love one another as I have loved you.
Blessing
(from the Church in Ethiopia)
Son of the living God,
shine upon us with your unfailing grace.
Grant us wisdom, the power of faith,
and unchanging hope.
Amen.