Prayers

Adult & All Age

Call to worship

Loving Lord,
you desire nothing more than that all your children should be free and live!
We come to you dry and in need of your life-giving water.
We come to you gasping for air and in need of your life giving breath.
We come to you bound and in the dark, in need of your call to come out of the place of death into your new life of resurrection.
Call us by name, unbind us and breathe your life into our dry bones that we may live in you.
For your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ's sake.
Amen.

A prayer of approach

We come to worship as we are,
known by God and called by name.
We come with our doubts and our fears
to a Lord who knows doubt and fear too.
We come, weary and weighed down,
to the Spirit who breathes new life into us
and sends us on our way rejoicing.
Amen.

A prayer of confession, based on Psalm 130

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.
And in his word I hope.

Silence

Lord of the morning, the spring time, the bird-song:
bless us and heal us from all that binds us and keeps us in the dark.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.
And in his word I hope.

Silence

Lord of the mid-day sun, the summer, the heat of noon:
bless us and heal us from all that dries and shrivels our lives.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits
And in his word I hope.

Silence

Lord of the afternoon, the autumn, the time of ripening:
bless us and heal us from all that stops us from being fruitful.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.
And in his word I hope.

Silence

Lord of the night time, the crisp winter dark, the stars and moon:
bless and heal us from all that freezes and paralyses us.
By the power of your Easter life bless us to new life.
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits.
And in his word I hope.

Silence

Jesus says 'Come – unbind him, and let him go.'
So know yourself freed and live in hope.
Amen.

A gathering prayer of praise and thanksgiving

For loving the world so much that you came to live on earth,
thank you Lord.
We thank you, Lord Jesus.
For loving people so much that you wept when your dear friend died,
thank you Lord.
We thank you, Lord Jesus.
For loving me so much that you hold me in your hand and call my name,
thank you Lord.
We thank you, Lord Jesus.
Lead us on to love your world, to love each other and to love ourselves,
to your glory, and praise.
Amen.

A prayer of petition for liberation

Loving Lord,
as we enter the season of your passion,
liberate us from all that binds and traps us.
Give us the courage to unbind ourselves from our resentments and fears
and to walk free in the knowledge that you love us just as we are.
Amen.

Children & Young People

Prayer activities based on the theme ‘Dead or alive’

For children

Icons

If you have a collection of icons or pictures, arrange them on the floor in a circle. Put tea-lights by each picture. Invite the children to sit in a circle around the pictures and pray for people in the world who are like the people in the pictures.

Orthodox

This is an Orthodox prayer for the feast of St Lazarus, celebrated on the Saturday before Palm Sunday:

By raising Lazarus from the dead before your passion,
You confirmed the Universal Resurrection,
O Christ God,
Like the children with Palms of Victory,
We cry out to you, O Vanquisher of Death.
Hosanna in the Highest,
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.

Talk through the words and ask the children to consider what they mean. Invite them to write it in their own language.

If you able to go to a churchyard, invite the children to place the posies or crosses made in the session onto the graves. Remember each person with a prayer of thanks. Finish your prayers with the person’s name followed by the words:

Jesus said
‘I am the resurrection and the life’.

Wrapped prayer

Prepare a long strip of white ribbon or bandage. Pass it around the group so that each person is holding a part. Ask the children to share a prayer for people or situations that are bound up. These may be spoken out loud or mentioned silently. After a time someone says the words:

Jesus said ‘Lazarus come out. Unbind him and let him go.’
Then pray for people and situations who are helping others to be unbound and let go.
Jesus, help unbind us and make us free.
Wind up the ribbon and finally place it next to a simple cross. Finish with the word
Amen.

For young people

Action prayer

Spirit of God be
within me (touch over your heart)
to strengthen me,
beyond me (stretch out away from yourself)
to draw me, over me (link hands over head)
to shelter me
beneath me (reach down)
to support me.

Spirit of God be
before me (put hands above eyes as if looking into the distance)
to guide me,
behind me (place hands on back)
to steady me,
around about me (draw a circle around yourself)
to secure me.
Amen.

Pray for all those who are unhappy because someone special to them has died. Ask that they receive comfort and strength.

Give thanks for people who are special to us who have died.

Fearless

Invite the young people to think about one of their fears. They should write this on to a sheet of toilet paper (as used in Respond to the Word ).

When all have written down their fear, invite each person to bring it out and hand it to a leader. The leader should begin to make a flower, fastening one edge of each sheet together (by screwing them tightly around each other forming a stem and flower head).

The sheets of paper become petals on the flower. You could add some additional ones if needed. Explain that this symbolises the new life we can get by not letting fear play a part in our lives.

End with the following or a similar prayer:

Lord, we bring you our fears.

We offer them to you and we thank you for the new life you give us, free from fear.
Amen.