Christian Aid Week
Pentecost Sunday 2016
Call to worship
Leader: God declares: ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and the young shall see
visions, and the old shall dream dreams.’
All: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be
saved.
Opening prayer
Pour out your Spirit, as you promised,
on all humanity;
let daughters and sons prophesy,
the old dream dreams
the young see visions,
and all who have been enslaved
break free, to proclaim your goodness.
All: Let all your children eat their fill
and praise your name
for the wonders you have done,
acknowledging your presence
as the one and only Lord.
Let struggles be ended and justice be
done. Accomplish your purpose and
reconcile all things
through the blood of the cross.
All: Make us servants of your justice in the power and name
of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Alan Gaunt for Christian Aid)
Confession
All: Lord God Almighty,
forgive your church
its wealth among the poor,
its fear among the unjust,
its cowardice among the oppressed.
Forgive us, your children,
our lack of confidence in you,
our lack of hope in your reign,
our lack of faith in your presence,
our lack of trust in your mercy.
Break us where we are proud.
Make us where we are weak.
Shame us where we trust ourselves.
Name us where we have lost ourselves,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
(World Council of Churches)
Readings
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
John 14:8-17, (25-27)
Sermon
(Insert speaker’s name here)
Response
Voice 1: Holy Spirit,
in our encounter with the world:
clear the way for peace
clear the way for justice.
Work with us
to uproot what threatens life;
to make fertile the ground we share.
Voice 2: Holy Spirit,
in our encounter with others:
clear the way for love
clear the way for understanding.
Work with us
to disentangle broken relationships;
to encourage new life.
Voice 3: Holy Spirit,
in our encounter with ourselves:
clear the way for painful truth clear the way for growth.
Work with us,
act through us,
pray in us
and give us hope.
(Kate McIlhagga for Christian Aid)
Intercessory prayer
We pray for Morsheda, our neighbour
and those like her,
who don’t know if they will have a home tomorrow,
who don’t know if they will have food tomorrow,
for whom living by a river means living in fear.
We hear your call Lord,
All: Help us to love every neighbour.
We pray for Feroza, our neighbour
and those like her,
who have been lifted from danger to safety,
who have been lifted from hunger to fullness,
who have found new hope with Christian Aid.
We hear your call Lord,
All: Help us to love every neighbour.
We pray for politicians, our neighbours
and for the world’s business leaders,
for courage to push for what is right,
for boldness to forge a path to climate justice,
for wisdom to make decisions that are fair for all.
We hear your call Lord,
All: Help us to love every neighbour.
We pray for our neighbours in the church,
local and global,
that we may be united in your love,
challenged by your Spirit to change,
stirred by the Spirit to act.
We hear your call Lord,
All: Help us to love every neighbour.
We pray for our neighbours in [your community]
for the sick, the lonely and the tired.
As we encounter them this Christian Aid Week, may we show
them the light of your love.
We hear your call Lord,
All: Help us to love every neighbour.
Amen.
Commissioning prayer
O God, you promise a world
where those who now weep shall laugh,
those who are hungry shall feast,
those who are poor now, and excluded,
shall have your kingdom for their own.
All: We want this world too.
We renounce despair.
We will act for change.
We choose to be included
in your great feast of life.
Amen
Conclusion and blessing
O Saviour Christ,
in whose way of life lies the secret of all life,
and the hopes of all the people,
we pray for quiet courage to meet this hour.
We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age.
But let its problems challenge us,
its discoveries exhilarate us,
its injustice anger us,
its possibilities inspire us,
and its vigour renew us,
for your Kingdom’s sake.
(Bangladesh. A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from
around the World, comp. John Carden, WCC, and Cassell, London, UK,
1998, p.179)