Prayers for Bangor Diocese
Collects for Epiphany I & II
Eternal Father,
who at the Baptism of Jesus
revealed him to be your Son,
anointing him with the Holy Spirit:
grant to us, who are born again by water and the Spirit,
that we may be faithful to our calling as your adopted children;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit
one God, now and forever. Amen.
Almighty God, in Christ you make all things new;
transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,
and in the renewal of our lives, make known your heavenly glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Bangor Diocesan Prayer, Celebrating 1450 Years, Pentecost 1996
God our Father, we have heard of the power of your grace in the days of Deiniol
and in the age of the Saints,
when our people who were far off were brought to you in Jesus Christ.
O Lord revive your work in our own time,
renew us in faith, hope and love,
and grant that what we are and what we do
may be rooted afresh in regular and living worship.
Come Holy Spirit from the four winds,
breathe on the dry bones of our religion,
inspire us to expect and venture great things in our day,
and fashion us anew to be true and ready witnesses
to the glorious Gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
God help us to change,
to change ourselves, and to change our world;
to know the need of it, to deal with the pain of it, to feel the joy of it;
to undertake the journey without understanding the destination,
the art of gentle revolution. Amen.
Michael Leunig
Eternal God, you have declared in Christ
the fulness of your purpose of love.
May we live by faith, walk in hope and be renewed in love,
until the world reflects your glory and you are all in all.
Even so, Come Lord Jesus! Amen.
A Litany by Bishop Wes Frensdorff, a former bishop of Nevada
Let us pray for a church
in which all know surely and simply God's great love,
and each is certain that in the divine heart
we are all known by name;
in which Jesus is the very Word,
our window into the Father's heart,
the sign of God's hope and his design for all humankind;
in which the Spirit is not a party symbol,
but wind and fire in everyone,
gracing the church with a kaleidoscope of gifts.
Lord, may your kingdom come
Your will be done.
Let us pray for a church
in which worship is lively and fun
as well as reverent and holy;
where people know how to pray and enjoy it -
frequently and regularly, privately and corporately,
in silence and in word and song;
a church where the Eucharist is the centre of life
and servanthood the centre of mission:
the servant Lord truly known in the breaking of bread.
Lord may your Kingdom come
Your will be done.
Let us pray for a church
affirming life over death as much as life after death;
unafraid of change, ready and willing to change,
able to recognise God's hand in the restructuring and revolution,
affirming the beauty of diversity,
abhorring the imprisonment of uniformity,
denying the separation between secular and sacred, world and church,
since it is the world Christ came to and died for.
Lord may your Kingdom come,
Your will be done.
Let us pray for a church
so deeply rooted in gospel and tradition that,
like a living tree,
it can swing in the wind and continually surprise us with new blossoms.
Lord may your kingdom come
Your will be done.
Let us pray for a church
where all together know themselves to be part of the laos ,
the holy people of God:
a ministering community rather than
a community gathered around a minister.
Lord may your Kingdom come
Your will be done.
Let us pray for a church
of peacemakers and healers,
as concerned with societal healing as with individual healing;
with justice as with freedom;
prophetically confronting the root causes of social, political and economic injustice.
Lord may your kingdom come,
Your will be done.
Finally, let us pray for a church
which is an open, caring, sharing household of faith,
where all find embrace, acceptance and affirmation;
a community under judgment,
seeking to live with its own proclamation,
therefore truly loving what the Lord commands
and desiring his promise.
Lord, may your kingdom come
Your will be done.
For all that God can do within us;
for all that God can do without us:
Thanks be to God.
For all in whom Christ lived before us;
for all in whom Christ lives beside us:
Thanks be to God.
For all the Spirit wants to bring us;
for where the Spirit wants to send us:
Thanks be to God. Amen .