Guided Daily Prayer (Series 2)

December 22, 2023
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Instructions: The underlined text are headings and do not need to be read. [Brackets] are instructions to be followed but not necessarily read. FOR INDIVIDUAL PRAYER: I suggest you read the prayer sheet aloud, but reading silently is fine too. FOR GROUP PRAYER: have one person act as leader. The leader reads the regular print and everyone reads the Bold Italic Type together.

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Opening Sentences:
Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy, which will come to all the people; for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10, 11)

O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP,1979)

Praying Together:
Know this: The Lord himself is God;
he himself has made us, and we are his; we are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Amen. (from Psalm 100)

Heavenly Creator, we praise you for adopting us as your children, and making us heirs of eternal life.
In your mercy you have washed us from our sins and made us clean in your sight.
Yet we still fail to love you as we should and serve you as we ought.
Forgive us our sins and renew us by your grace, that we may continue to grow as members of Christ, in whom alone is our salvation. Amen.  (Australian Prayer Book)

Prayer of Confession:
Heavenly Creator, we praise you for adopting us as your children, and making us heirs of eternal life.
In your mercy you have washed us from our sins and made us clean in your sight.
Yet we still fail to love you as we should and serve you as we ought.
Forgive us our sins and renew us by your grace, that we may continue to grow as members of Christ, in whom alone is our salvation. Amen.  (Australian Prayer Book)

Words of Assurance:
May Almighty God grant us forgiveness of all our sins, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit.

 

Scripture Reading- Psalm- Psalm 95:1-7
O come, let us sing to the Lord;  let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;  let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

[Silent Prayer / or Music may be listened to / or a Hymn is sung.]

Prayers of the People:
“With all our heart and with all our mind, let us pray to the Lord, saying “O Lord, hear our prayer.”

Almighty God, guide the people of this land, and of all the nations, in the ways of justice and peace; that we may honor one another and serve the common good, let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.]

For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and the suffering, let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.]

For this congregation, fill us with zeal to serve our neighbors. Let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.] *

Fill us with patience and longing as we walk the road to Bethlehem. Let us pray to the Lord. O Lord, hear our prayer. [Silent prayer.] *

For our individual and special prayers this day, we lift them up to the Lord. [Silent Prayer]

The Lord’s Prayer:
“Hear us, O Lord, as we pray together:”

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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

Closing Prayer:
Creator God, send us into your world with hearts ready to hear the cries of those who have no hope. Help us, dear Lord, to give them hope in you and your coming kingdom. Amen.