April 25th, 2021

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we are safe and secure. Within your embrace we know that we are precious in your sight. Within your embrace we feel the warmth of family, relationship and belonging. Within your embrace we grow and are nurtured together as one flock, the people of your pasture under your loving care and protection.

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we find comfort and healing. We bring to you those who are weak, or struggling with physical, mental or spiritual health. We pray that your comfort will enfold all who grieve. We pray for deep measures of peace as well as restored strength.  You are the great healer, and we pray for healing of mind, body, and spirit for those we now name in the silence of our hearts……..

We pray for our households of faith.

We pray for strength and wisdom for each new day.

We pray for continued good health and for family bonds to be strong with love, laughter, and fun.

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we find justice. We bring to you the brave voices who cry out for freedom, those prepared to stand up and be heard without counting the cost. We pray for those who have been marginalized or suffer due to their race, skin colour, gender, or faith.

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we find life in you. As your resurrection people we join with you in your mission of restoration for all creation. You have made us stewards of the earth’s resources. May we do our part to protect, to restore, to further life rather than destroy it.

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we find peace. We bring to you those without homes, those who are displaced due to war, refugees wandering this earth in search of a home. We pray for all victims of violence and for all those who have dedicated their lives for the search for peace and reconciliation.

Good Shepherd, within your embrace we find our true identity as your beloved children. Continue to lead us. Continue to feed us. For we need your help from day to day…..  we pray in the name of Good Shepherd who laid down his life that we might have life in abundance. Amen

April 21st, 2021

Tomorrow April 22 is Earth Day. In praise and thanksgiving for Creation offered to each of us by our Creator, let us call to mind how we depend on and care for our common home:

  • How do we return to the Earth the love, care, and sustainment we receive from it?
  • How can we better attend to the needs of one another through our attention to creation?

Let us pray,

God, Creator of All, we offer our prayer in gratitude and humility that we might heed your call to care for one another through our care of the least, the lowest and the most vulnerable of all your blessed creation. Grant, we pray, the courage to speak on behalf of the soft soil under our feet, the running and still waters, the warmth of the sun on our face, and all the crawling, flying and swimming creatures you love. May our courage to speak translate into actions that protect our planet – so that our children and their children might enjoy the fruits of what we sow. In your name, we pray…

WMC Missions Committee encourages us to take action this week, caring for creation in our own neighbourhoods.

April 18th, 2021

Risen Christ, the light of your love shines on, illuminating the places where you are present.  As disoriented and bewildered disciples pondered the stories of your appearance, you penetrated the darkness of their fear and doubt with your word of peace.  You showed them the marks of evil and violence that pierced your hands and your feet. You opened their minds to understand how through your death you defeated evil and death. Increase our understanding, we pray. Open our minds and hearts to receive you.

Bring to us O God, a sense of your living presence as we go into this new week. Renew in us the faith you want us to have, the faith that is not afraid to reach out in your name, the faith that assures us you are walking with us and will provide all that we need for the living of these days…

All-knowing God, you know our hearts, you know our needs, you know the deep sufferings of the world….

We pray for our world’s suffering amidst global pandemic. Strengthen front-line workers, grant patience as vaccines are rolled out, comfort the grieving, and strengthen the weak. Grace us with deep patience and resilience for this continued hard journey. May the sound of your steps by our side grant us strength and courage.

Compassionate God we pray for all who grieve. May our Easter faith which proclaims death and suffering is never the final thing, be a source of solace and hope.

Listening God, hear our prayers for all who stand in need of hope, healing and wholeness.

Hear our prayers for those whose needs we carry deep in our hearts.

We also pray for our households of faith.

May your love and care surround them day to day.

May each day be filled with deep joy, contentment and gratitude.    

Eternal God, as your gathered and scattered body, guide us each day. Deepen our awareness of places that are shimmering with your grace, compassion, your presence of peace. May we be bold to join you in your mission. Lord Jesus, help us each day to bear witness to your name and to do that which you are calling us to. We pray in your name. Amen.

April 4th, 2021

In the joy and hope of this Easter morning,

we raise our Alleluias with fullness of heart.

Christ is Risen! Love is stronger than Death!

Alleluia!

In the joy and hope of this Easter morning,

we welcome you, risen Christ into our lives.
We welcome your resurrection for it is
life changing, life giving, and life sustaining.
We welcome the hope it brings to the world.
We welcome the joy that breaks through all darkness.
We welcome the empty tomb

for we know that it means you are alive, amongst us and within us.

In the midst of our Easter morning praise and hymns,

we know there are those who are bewildered and sad.

We pray for those who suffer from anxiety, loneliness, and fear.

We pray for all who stand in need of healing, hope, and wholeness and those whose needs we carry deep in our hearts …………..

We give thanks for your healing grace and celebrate. We pray for deep measures of comfort and patience amidst many adjustments.

Hear our prayers for our loved ones in long term care and families providing support safely distanced.

We pray for our Households of Faith. We pray that your love and grace will surround each one and that their lives will be filled with peace and deep joy.

We pray for those places and peoples in our world

where death and domination rule,

where imperial powers ignore the poor,

where war never ends,

where covid infections continue to rise

where children are hungry,

where parents grieve because they cannot provide,

where violence rages and death abounds senselessly.

We pray for those held hostage to addiction and chronic illness that debilitates.

In the joy and hope of this Easter morning,

we realize the depth and breadth of what it means

to be your Easter people.

For we are the ones who are called

to go into the places in our lives and world

to work for justice and life for all in your Creation.

It is up to us to bear witness to the promise of resurrection,

to hold those in despair,

and believe for them,

that Love is stronger than death.

In the joy and hope of this Easter morning, O God,

give us the courage to bear witness to and share your living Love

in every corner of our lives,

so that your peaceable realm will be so,

here on earth, as it is in heaven.

In the name of the Risen Christ, we pray,

Alleluia! Amen.

March 31st, 2021

As we follow Jesus into Holy Week, we sense the rush of the crowds and seek the deep, steady current of God’s steadfast love, calling us to deep hope in the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

God of passion and life,
this is a week of
conflicting emotions,
We have come to a bend in the river, a turning
in the narrative,
a juxtaposition of celebration
and impending sorrow.

We too feel the strangeness
of life sometimes weighed
down with the stresses of
pandemic life, yet dotted
with joy and hope.
We pray for moments
of relief, for times of
pleasure in life even
in the face of challenge.

Like a river in spring
that sometimes overflows
her banks, flooding the
surrounding lowlands,
may love and joy overflow
in the low places
in our lives. May we
delight in your never
ceasing goodness,
bubbling and dancing
like water flowing over rocks and obstacles.

Pull us deeper into your
current of life,
a river that is wide
with mercy and justice,
a river that carries
the full range of emotion,
a river that ebbs and flows
but never ceases.
Amen
(prayer by Wendy Janzen Burning Bush Forest Church)

Have a blessed Holy Week,
Pastor Kara