Thinking allowed

Topical prayers from the Liturgical Commission (1)

on Friday, 26 June 2015 at 3.58 pm by Simon Kershaw
categorised as liturgical texts, liturgy

The Litur­gic­al Com­mis­sion has provided pray­ers and oth­er mater­i­al for a num­ber of forth­com­ing occasions. 

These are:

• The Bap­tism of Prin­cess Char­lotte of Cam­bridge (on 5 July)
• The 70th anniversar­ies of Hiroshi­ma and Naga­saki (6 and 9 August)
• The 70th anniversary of VJ Day (Vic­tory in Japan) (2 Septem­ber 15 August)
• The cen­ten­ary of the exe­cu­tion of Edith Cav­ell (12 October)

The text of the mater­i­al for the first three is in the full post. The mater­i­al for Edith Cav­ell is sep­ar­ated into a post of its own.

On the bap­tism of Prin­cess Char­lotte of Cam­bridge: 5 July

Faith­ful God,
we thank you for your love,
and for your pres­ence at every stage of our lives.
We pray for Prin­cess Char­lotte.
Fill her Christen­ing day with joy and cel­eb­ra­tion.
As she is bap­tised into the Chris­ti­an faith,
strengthen and sup­port her par­ents and god­par­ents.
Through their love and pray­ers,
help her to know your love and care
sur­round­ing her now and always.
We ask this in the name of Jesus.
Amen.

Pray­er for Hiroshima

com­mem­or­at­ing the drop­ping of the first atom­ic bomb on the 6 August, 1945 (Feast of the Transfiguration)

God, you are the Fath­er of all the fam­il­ies of the earth,
and call the nations to live in peace and unity.
We remem­ber with sor­row the dev­ast­at­ing destruc­tion and death
unleashed on this day upon the city of Hiroshi­ma,
and later upon the city of Naga­saki.
We pray for the people of Japan,
and all whose lives are dis­figured by war.
We pray for ourselves,
the often unwise stew­ards of the powers of the uni­verse.
Trans­fig­ure the lives and cit­ies scarred by con­flict
by the reveal­ing of your glory
and move us by your uncre­ated ener­gies
to advance your sov­er­eign pur­pose of peace.
This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ,
our light and our sal­va­tion. Amen.

A Pray­er for VJ Day

God our Fath­er,
in the dying and rising of your Son Jesus Christ,
you have brought life and sal­va­tion out of cruelty and death.
We mark Vic­tory in Japan
in grat­it­ude for the cour­age of the Allied forces
who suffered for free­dom in the Far East cam­paign
and in sor­row for all that hinders the com­ing of your king­dom of peace.
Give us wis­dom to learn from the bit­ter memor­ies of war,
and hearts that long for the unity of all nations.
We ask all this in the name of Jesus,
in whom there is no east or west, no north or south,
but one fel­low­ship of love across the whole earth.
Amen.

A Pray­er for Peace and Reconciliation

Heav­enly Fath­er,
you have called us in the Body of your Son Jesus Christ
to con­tin­ue his work of recon­cili­ation
and reveal you to the world.
For­give us the sins which tear us apart;
give us the cour­age to over­come our fears
and to seek that unity which is your gift and your will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

[Com­mon Wor­ship: Times and Sea­sons, p 140]