Intercession Prayers, at Hull Unitarian Church, Barry Cundhill's Service, my segment, 11 April 2010 11:00, as written by Adrian Worsfold.
I ask us to come together in a short period of intercessory prayer, where we think of others beyond ourselves.
God is not God unless God is a God of faith and trust.
We pray first for faith and people of faith. We pray for this our Unitarian congregation and Unitarian community: we are and we become what we make it. I suggest prayers too for the new development of the Unitarian Baha'i Association in the United States, that it can be an umbrella for many Baha'is who have found themselves, sometimes without knowing why, on the outside of the Baha'i organisation. Our prayers too should consider the deep crisis of Roman Catholicism as it uncovers the shocking extent of its paedophilia problem among a minority of its clergy.
God is not God unless God is a God of justice in the world.
We pray for the world, and especially the death of the Polish President, the longstanding and last Polish President in exile, and for a number of Polish leaders killed in an air disaster in Western Russia when on their way to commemorate a previous disaster for Poland in its history. We pray for peace in the Middle East, with Afghanistan, and Iraq in its stresses, with the continuing political violence in Pakistan and in our relationships with Iran. We pray also that our own General Election is conducted peacably and in some good humour among the serious issues. And let us not forget our own retiring members of parliament in this region, and the governing executive that continues until a new House of Commons is formed and then either retains or removes the present Prime Minister.
God is not God unless God is a God of healing among the people.
We pray for those who are our families and friends, especially where we have difficulty in relationships and hope that they may be improved. Let us now also offer prayers for those who are unwell and sick, and wish that they can receive healing in mind and body. We spend a short moment thinking of them.
God is not God unless God is a God of the Book of Life.
We think or think again of those who have died. We understand, we try to accept, that death gives shape to life, and that life is an achievement. We pray for those who have lived, and made a creative contribution however small to this planet of cultures, and pray for those where the contribution is now a memory among the living. We spend a short moment thinking of them.
Merciful God
Accept these Prayers
And give to this community
Your spiritual benefit that these prayers represent.
Amen.
Adrian Worsfold
Pluralist - Liberal and Thoughtful