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Voice and Prayer by Rev'd Jon Swales
Music by enrique27naveda from Pixabay
Prayer with Visual see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtODNrsN58Y&list=PLmqiQVXn_oPxt7IaNF-vNz3W0Gx9SfIQu&index=7&t=8s

 24: The Prophetic Community

Praise be to you,
Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Who, in various and diverse ways, Raised up prophets

Who gave voice to a new reality,
Who spoke truth in a culture of denial, Who enacted hope in a culture of despair.

Praise be to you,
Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You have spoken definitely and decisively,
In the God-Man Jesus Christ.
He walked this earth proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom of God, In his death, he dealt the death-blow to death itself.
In his resurrection,
He reigns and rules victorious,
And offers hope for
The individual,
The church,
The nations
And the world.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Our world is in peril,
The boat of humanity is cast adrift upon the storms of exploitation and extinction. Many are in denial,

Many are in despair, Lord have mercy.

Humanity faces an existential threat. What have we done? Lord, have Mercy.

Humanity has pillaged and plundered your good creation. What have we done? Lord, have mercy.

Humanity faces difficult decades as a consequence of our ecological violence. What have we done? Lord, have mercy.

And so,
With sad hearts and tears in our eyes,
We look to you,
Father of Creation,
Recognising that you have spoken,
And revealed yourself most clearly in your son.

Father of Creation,
God of Justice,
Touch our lips,
Cleanse our hearts,
That your church may, once again, be a prophetic community. That, in our darkest hour we, like your son,

Would be a servant community,
Which moves and acts with self-giving sacrificial love.
That, in our darkest hour we, like your son,
Would be a light to the nations and work for the reconciliation of all things.

May we, like the prophets of old, Speak Truth to a Culture of Denial. May we, like the prophets of old, Enact hope in a culture of despair.

Help us to tell stories,

Sing songs,
Love and be loved,
Tend and keep,
Guard and protect,
Stand up and speak out,
And live in such a way
That we would provide fresh imagination and hope,
Which can overcome the myths and ideologies
That have brought us to what seems like the point of no return.

Father of Creation,
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Invigorate us afresh by your Spirit,
with the hope of the God-Man Jesus.
Let us be conformed to his image and likeness,
That we might proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God.

In his death, the death blow has been dealt to death itself,
So let us be filled with self-giving sacrificial love
That reaches out with resurrection hope to a dying and exiled world. Inspire hope in us, our churches and the world,
Until that day when all tears are wiped from our eyes.

Praise be to you
God of creation,
God of justice,
And praise be to your Son who rules and reigns with self-giving sacrificial love. To you be all praise, honour and glory.

Amen