Prayers

Let us thank God for the love that holds us in being,
moment by moment,
ever welcoming us home.

God, our father and mother,
we quieten ourselves to be present
to ourselves, to you and to each other.
We come as we are, sometimes lost,
because we choose our way and not yours,
because we make an outward show of your way,
but without love – and that is not your way.
Thank you for your outrageous love,
always and forever welcoming us home.
Amen.

On this Mothering Sunday,
we open our hearts before you, faithful God,
bringing those we love, and those we struggle to love,
those we have lost, and those we are afraid of losing.
We bring our tears and our joy,
our disappointments and our hopes.
We bring all that we carry and all that we long to lay down –
in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Living God,
you do not save us from our mistakes,
but you release us to learn from them.
Thank you for being there
to welcome us back when we have lost our way,
to challenge our resentment when we have lost our grace,
to embrace our need
when we have exhausted our self sufficiency.
We are so grateful.
Amen.

A prayer of confession

God of the prodigal and the elder sons,
we are sorry for the times we get lost in our world with no
thought for others.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we use our resources selfishly.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we doubt your love, and our pride prevents
us from admitting our mistakes.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we resent your generosity towards others,
and judge their failures more harshly than our own.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
We are sorry when we hurt those we love and abuse their trust.
Forgive us and help us to find our way home.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.

Assurance of forgiveness

Faithful God,
in a world that judges and blames,
you forgive and understand.
In a world that has no time for failure and mistakes,
you forgive and understand.
Thank you that your heart is so full of love,
it can never run out.
Amen.

God of our families and our friends,
we praise you for those who have inspired us,
for those who have mothered us,
for those who have been patient with us,
for those who have nurtured our faith
and shown us your love.
Amen.

This week is sometimes seen as a time for refreshment in the middle of Lent’s austerities and before the story really darkens. Many will mark this Sunday as Mothering Sunday – a day for thankfulness, but also a difficult day for some.

In the shadow of your wings, we sing for joy.
O Lord, restore us and make us new.

God of love,
for the softening of our hearts and the opening of our arms;
for generosity that welcomes the lost;
for our need of your tenderness to restore our failures;
for our churches to be renewed in loving and giving;
for the courage to lay down our lives for one another;
for the strength to answer your call to serve others;
for a new start:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love,
for all who carry the scars of conflict,
the external and internal signs of pain endured;
for the lost and lonely;
the displaced and the dispossessed;
for all whose lives have been broken;
for those in our own community who are suffering…
for all who wait powerless at the bedside of the ill and the dying:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love,
for the needs in our own communities;
for families under pressure;
for people struggling with rising bills;
for people in debt and distress who have nowhere to turn;
for all who need to know today they are loved;
for all who are bringing up children amid the pressures of today’s world;
for the sacrifices that form the fabric of parenthood;
and for children and young people facing a future full of challenges:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love,
for mothers who are apart from their children;
for all motherless and lost children;
for all of us whose mothers have died;
for a parent or parents of a child who has died and for children without parents;
for all who long for children but are unable to have them;
for all the struggles of family life;
for children far away from home;
for unaccompanied children fleeing fighting;
and for children whose homes are not places of safety and kindness:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love
for the places in Ukraine that are now our litany of despair:
for Mariupol, reduced to the ashes of a dead land,
for Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson,
for Odesa, Melitopol and Kyiv;
for towns razed to the ground;
for communities wiped entirely from the map;
for the besieged, the abducted and the starving;
for motherless children in a war zone;
for the injured and the dying
and for those who weep by their side:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love,
for the places in the world that are torn apart by conflict;
for Myanmar, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen;
for the hungry and the homeless;
for the persecuted and the oppressed;
for all who need safety and shelter;
for those whose rights are denied;
for the places where truth cannot be spoken
and where dissenting voices are silenced:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

God of love,
for simple pleasures in the midst of challenge and hardship;
for lengthening hours of daylight;
for people who lift our burdens,
wipe away our tears,
share our lives and our dreams
and call out our best selves;
for your faithful presence with us
through darkness and light,
and for a deeper experience of your love
which shapes us, calls us, rescues us
and will bring us home:
we cry to you.
Bring healing and hope.

In the shadow of your wings, we sing for joy.
O Lord, restore us and make us new. Amen.

We pray for those who know they have made big mistakes –
may God turn them around (all turn round on the spot)
and bring them home.
We pray for those who want to live differently,
but may not know how to change –
may God turn them around (all turn round on the spot)
and bring them home.
In Jesus’ name we pray.
Amen.

God of outrageous love!
Thank you that we cannot fall out of your love,
no matter what our mistakes,
no matter how mean and grudging our love is.
As you welcome us with ever open arms, enlarge our hearts
and minds, to serve faithfully and to love outrageously!
Amen.

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