Christian Aid Week Pentecost Sunday 2016

Leader: God declares: ‘I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and the young shall see visions, and the old shall dream dreams.’ All: Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Call to worship

Pour out your Spirit, as you promised, on all humanity; let daughters and sons prophesy, the old dream dreams the young see visions, and all who have been enslaved break free, to proclaim your goodness. All: Let all your children eat their fill and praise your name for the wonders you have done, acknowledging your presence as the one and only Lord. Opening prayer

Let struggles be ended and justice be done. Accomplish your purpose and reconcile all things through the blood of the cross. All: Make us servants of your justice in the power and name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Alan Gaunt for Christian Aid)

All: Lord God Almighty, forgive your church its wealth among the poor, its fear among the unjust, its cowardice among the oppressed. Forgive us, your children, our lack of confidence in you, our lack of hope in your reign, our lack of faith in your presence, our lack of trust in your mercy. Confession

Break us where we are proud. Make us where we are weak. Shame us where we trust ourselves. Name us where we have lost ourselves, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (World Council of Churches)

Acts 2:1-21 Psalm 104:24-34, 35b John 14:8-17, (25-27) Readings

(Insert speaker’s name here) Sermon

Voice 1: Holy Spirit, in our encounter with the world: clear the way for peace clear the way for justice. Work with us to uproot what threatens life; to make fertile the ground we share. Response

Voice 2: Holy Spirit, in our encounter with others: clear the way for love clear the way for understanding. Work with us to disentangle broken relationships; to encourage new life.

Voice 3: Holy Spirit, in our encounter with ourselves: clear the way for painful truth clear the way for growth. Work with us, act through us, pray in us and give us hope. (Kate McIlhagga for Christian Aid)

We pray for Morsheda, our neighbour and those like her, who don’t know if they will have a home tomorrow, who don’t know if they will have food tomorrow, for whom living by a river means living in fear. We hear your call Lord, All: Help us to love every neighbour. Intercessory prayer

We pray for Feroza, our neighbour and those like her, who have been lifted from danger to safety, who have been lifted from hunger to fullness, who have found new hope with Christian Aid. We hear your call Lord, All: Help us to love every neighbour.

We pray for politicians, our neighbours and for the world’s business leaders, for courage to push for what is right, for boldness to forge a path to climate justice, for wisdom to make decisions that are fair for all. We hear your call Lord, All: Help us to love every neighbour.

We pray for our neighbours in the church, local and global, that we may be united in your love, challenged by your Spirit to change, stirred by the Spirit to act. We hear your call Lord, All: Help us to love every neighbour.

We pray for our neighbours in [your community] for the sick, the lonely and the tired. As we encounter them this Christian Aid Week, may we show them the light of your love. We hear your call Lord, All: Help us to love every neighbour. Amen.

O God, you promise a world where those who now weep shall laugh, those who are hungry shall feast, those who are poor now, and excluded, shall have your kingdom for their own. All: We want this world too. We renounce despair. We will act for change. We choose to be included in your great feast of life. Amen Commissioning prayer

O Saviour Christ, in whose way of life lies the secret of all life, and the hopes of all the people, we pray for quiet courage to meet this hour. We did not choose to be born or to live in such an age. But let its problems challenge us, its discoveries exhilarate us, its injustice anger us, its possibilities inspire us, and its vigour renew us, for your Kingdom’s sake. (Bangladesh. A Procession of Prayers: Meditations and Prayers from around the World, comp. John Carden, WCC, and Cassell, London, UK, 1998, p.179) Conclusion and blessing