God our Father,
Help us to be living examples of your mercy to others, and bring your love, through our prayers and
actions to all those most in need. We remember especially the sick and housebound, those living in
poverty, those who are persecuted for their beliefs and those who have had to flee from their homes
and families for fear of their lives.
Response: Lord have mercy.
JUBILEE OF MERCY
Diocese of Nottingham
Reconciliation Service—Lent 2016
God our Father,
Help us to show your mercy to our world. Inspire us to care for the environment; to help rebuild lives
and communities: to share in the grief’s and anxieties, joys and hopes of all your people, so that all your
creation may flourish.
Response: Lord have mercy.
God our Father,
We pray for the power to be gentle; the strength to be forgiving; the patience to be understanding;
and the endurance to accept the consequences of holding to what we believe to be right. Help us to
devote our whole life and thought and energy to the task of making peace, praying always for the
inspiration and the power to fulfil the destiny for which we were created.
Response: Lord have mercy.
STOP AND THINK—What has struck you in the stories, hymns and prayers tonight? Take some time to
gather your thoughts and feelings together. Take another look at the Koder picture on the cover.
ACTION:
We invite you to turn to your neighbour and say to them “Accept the Mercy of God” and give them a
hug or put your hands on their shoulders like the Father in the picture
Act of Contrition:
O my God we thank you for loving us. We are sorry for all our sins, for not loving others and for not
loving you. Help us to live like Jesus and not sin again. Amen.
Closing Prayer or priestly words of forgiveness and absolution.
God you are the prodigal father who sees his children even when they are a long way off. You are
moved with compassion when we come to our senses and turn towards us, clasp us, and put your arms
around us. You go out of your way to meet us when we condemn and judge each other and think we
are morally superior. You keep urging us to come together in all our variety so that what was lost may be
found and what was dead may come to life again. We make this prayer through Christ our Lord. Amen
Final Hymn: Praise to the Father the source of our life. (Hymns Old & New 454)
(Individual Reconciliation may follow after the service, if not included within it).
THE PRODIGAL FATHER/SON
Opening Hymn: Lay your hands. gently upon us. (Hymns Old & New no 295)
Opening Prayer:
Lord, people kept complaining about how you welcomed sinners and ate with them. People complain
today about your church becoming too free and easy. Help us to hear your reply as we listen once again
to these familiar stories. Remind us that we all have a bit of the younger and older son and that what we
most need is the compassion, freedom and mercy of their father. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Reading from St. Luke’s Gospel 15:11-20
Jesus also said, ‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of
the estate that would come to me”. So the father divided the property between them. A few days
later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he
squandered his money on a life of debauchery.
When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the
pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.
And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him
anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more
food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat
me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.
Take a moment to look in silence at the Son in Koder’s picture on the front of this leaflet:
See how the hands of the son are gratefully holding onto his loving father and how his eyes are closed.
Response:
Come back to me with all your heart. (Hymns Old & New no. 683)
Don’t let fear keep us apart.
Trees do bend,
though straight and tall;
so must we to others’ call.
Long have I waited for your coming home to me
and living deeply our new life.
Reading from St Luke’s Gospel 15:20-24
‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy,
clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against
heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants,
“Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring
the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son
of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.
We pause again in silence to look at the Father in the picture .:
Notice the joyful father’s hands of gentle embrace, touching his face with the head of his son.
Response: Come back to me with all your heart...
A reading from St. Luke’s Gospel 15:25-32
Now the elder son was out in the fields and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear
music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has
come” replied the servants “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got
him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead
with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.
But for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property—he and his women—you kill the calf we had been fattening.”
The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should
celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is
found.”
Take a look at the elder Son standing at the right hand side in the picture:
See the taut, twisted hands of the angry, resentful elder son, hiding around the corner, looking at them
out of the corner of his eye.
Response: Come back to me with all your heart.
Litany of Repentance:
God our Father,
The story of the prodigal son is the story of your forgiveness and limitless mercy. Please give us the
grace to always be patient and forgiving to our children, to our family members, to our friends and all
who hurt or offend us.
Response: Lord have mercy.
God our Father,
The son in the story returned to his Father when he was most desperate and at his weakest, and the
Father welcomed him with open arms. Please give us the grace and faith to know, that no matter
what we do, or how far away from you we may stray, your love for us never fades, and your mercy is
eternal. Never let us forget that you are always waiting to welcome us back into your arms.
Response: Lord have mercy.
God our Father,
On the return of the youngest son, the eldest son was judgemental and filled with fear and jealousy.
Help us to always know that we are all sinners and always in need of your forgiveness. Give us the
grace to not be judgemental, but to welcome into our lives and our church everyone, regardless of
their race, colour or choice of lifestyle.
Response: Lord have mercy.