Opening Prayers/Prayers of Adoration on Sin
Kindness flows from you, Lord, pure and continual. You had cast us off, as was only just, but mercifully you forgave us; you hated us and you were reconciled to us, you cursed us and you blessed us; you banished us from paradise, and you called us back again; you took from us the fig leaves that had made us so unseemly a garment, and you put on us a cloak of great value; you opened the prison gates and gave the condemned a pardon, you sprinkled us with clean water and washed away the dirt.
Never again, after all this, will Adam blush when you call him, never will he try to hide because his conscience reproaches him, never will he seek concealment under the trees in the garden. The flaming sword will nevermore whirl about the walls of paradise and cut off the entrance from those who approach it.
For us that were heirs to his sin, all has been changed into rejoicing, for man now has access to paradise and even to heaven itself. The whole creation, heaven and earth, is at one again in friendship, its former differences forgotten, men join their voices with the angels and echo angels’ praise of God…….
There is no doubt who it is that dresses the bride in her finery; it is of course Jesus Christ – he that is and was and will be. Blessed is he, now and throughout the ages. Amen
Gregory of Nyssa, Quoted in Walter Mitchell, Trns, Early Christian Prayers, ed., A. Hamman, Longman Green, London, and Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1961.
Heavenly Father:
You know all about us – our weakness, our failing, our sin;
And you still love us enough to give your Son to redeem us.
Hear the cries of our hearts today.
There’s someone for whom it was hard to get out of bed today.
They’re tired, discouraged or stressed out.
It was an effort just to get here.
Give them hope today:
a light in the darkness, a whisper in the silence.
There’s one for whom everything they touch comes apart:
She’s having a hard time holding the marriage together;
His project at work is going poorly;
There’s a divide between him and his son,
between her and her daughter;
Everything he touches turns to sawdust;
And no matter what she does, she can’t get well.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Come and redeem the relationship.
Take the lessons learned in failure and build a new life.
Use the pain to create compassion.
Create something delightful out of what feels like disaster.
Restore what the devil has stolen;
turn what was meant for evil to good.
We pray on behalf of those who can’t pray for themselves.
We pray for those afflicted in body or soul, who need your healing.
Put your hand on them.
Touch a mind that’s tormented;
a body that’s ill or injured. a heart that’s broken.
Restore them all.
(Prayer of Adoration)
Lord – Creator, Savior and Sustainer:
You called our names and we answered.
When we were lost – You found us.
When we were sick – You healed us.
When we were blind – You opened our eyes.
When we were dead in our sin – You died to give us life.
That’s why we are here; that’s why we praise You.
(Prayer of Confession)
Yet too often we overlook all that you’ve done for us.
We become self-consumed,
loving ourselves too much,
others too little and You hardly at all.
In Your grace and compassion:
hear the silent confession of our own sins,
and forgive us, we pray. (silence)
Dear Christ, hasten to me. Release me from my sins. Free my arms from the chains of evil, that I may embrace you. Lift the scales of ignorance from my eyes, that I may see you. Why do you delay? What are you waiting for? You are my God and my Lord, you are my refuge and my strength, you are my glory and my hope. In you I put my trust. Dear Christ, hasten to me. Amen.
Aelred of Rievaulx (c. 1110-1167)