Pray With Us

Leader:  Choose this day whom you will serve;

All:        We will choose the living God.

Leader:  The road is narrow that leads to life;

All:        We will walk the way of life.

Leader:  Faith is not holding on;

All:        Faith is letting go.

Leader:  We offer more than words, O God;

All:        We offer you our lives.  We will follow you, O Christ, on our Lenten journey.

 

Let us sit & listen to a hymn, ‘On the Holy Cross I see’ (Sacred Weave)

 

 

Please say this canticle & its antiphon as indicated:

All:           All things were created in him, and he holds all things in being.

Side 1:     Let us give thanks to the Father who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.

Side 2:    He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Side 1:    He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, For in him all things were created, in Heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

Side 2:    All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things,  and in him all things hold together.

Side 1:    He is the head of the body, the Church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.

Side 2:   For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in Heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

All:         Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.

All:        All things were created in him, and he holds all things in being.

Psalm 138 Please join in. (Christ be our Light. Ps 138. Tr 5.)

 

 

O God you search me and you know me.

All my thoughts lie open to your gaze.

When I walk or lie down you are before me,

Ever the maker and keeper of my days.

 

You know my resting and my rising,

You discern my purpose from afar,

And with love everlasting you besiege me,

In every moment of life or death you are.

 

Before a word is on my tongue Lord,

You have known its meaning through and through,

You are with me beyond my understanding,

God of my present, my past and future too.

 

Although your Spirit is upon me,

Still I search for shelter in your light.

There is nowhere on earth I can escape you,

Even the darkness is radiant in your sight.

 

For you created me and shaped me,

Gave me life within my mother’s womb

For the wonder of who I am I praise you:

Safe in your hands, all creation is made new.

 

Reading Joel 2. 12-18, followed by a pause for silent reflection.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.  Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the Lord weep between the portico and the altar. Let them say, “Spare your people, Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples,  ‘Where is their God?’”  Then the Lord was jealous for his land and took pity on his people.

 

Please sing the Magnificat & its antiphon.

 

Cantors: When you give alms,

Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

Side 1:    My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

Side 2:   For he has looked with favour on his lowly handmaid,

               And from this day all generations will call me blessed.

Side 1:   The Almighty has done great things for me:

Holy is his name.

Side 2:  He has mercy on those who fear him

              In every generation.

Side 1:   He has shown the strength of his arm;

He has scattered the proud in their conceit.

Side 2:  He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,

              And has lifted up the lowly.

Side 1:   He has filled the hungry with good things,

And has sent the rich away empty.

Side 2:  He has come to the help of his servant Israel

             For he has remembered his promise of mercy.

Side 1:  The promise he made to our fathers,

To Abraham and his children for ever.

All:       Give praise to the Father Almighty,

             To his Son Jesus Christ our Lord,

             To the Spirit who dwells in our hearts,

             Both now and for ever, Amen.

All:       When you give alms,

             Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

 

Intercessions:

Reader:  As this season of Lent begins, let us pray for ourselves

& for those around us.

From the fear that holds us rigid:

All:        God of gentleness, ease us forward.  Pause.

Reader: From our fear of surrender:

All:        God of warmth, melt the ice around our hearts.  Pause

 Reader: From our fear of change:

All:        God of power, release us. Pause.     

Reader: From our fear of losing respect:

All:        God of courage, steady us. Pause.  

Reader: From the fear of facing our fears:

All:        God of laughter, loosen us. Pause.   

Reader: During this season keep us aware of your presence:

All:        God of Love, fill us with awe & wonder.

 

Reader: We pray for people who have died today & for those who will die tonight.  We also remember those whose anniversaries occur tomorrow, remembering especially:

 

Pause for people to add silently or aloud any further intentions.

 

Leader begins the Our Father.

 

Leader:    Support us Lord as with this Lenten fast we begin

our efforts at renewal.  Help us to be resolved, to

persevere and to arrive at Easter filled with your

spirit. We make our prayer through our Lord Jesus

Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy

Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

All:         Amen.

Leader:   As we move into this holy season of Lent, we ask for God’s blessing on these weeks.  Give us open hearts, listening ears, abundant good will, courage & perseverance – & may we be blessed by Father Son and Holy Spirit.

All:        Amen.