Prayers for Worship
Proper 6
by Ron Gordon

Mark 4: 26-34

Collect:
 

Lord God, you gave Emmanuel to the world as a grain of wheat falling into the earth and dying, 
yet being raised by your  loving and justifying power. May all who love and listen to him 
hold fast in confidence to your secret working by which you offer justice and peace to all peoples. 
May we truly walk your way in love and truth, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayer:
 

Father in heaven, hidden in the wonders around us: in the light above our heads, 
in the earth beneath our feet, in the community of humanity and in the very mystery of our existence. 
We praise and adore you, for you have given us clues to your being not only in the majesty of creation, 
but also in the words and lives of our fellow beings. Above all you have spoken to us in your beloved Son, 
who so loved you and us that he freely offered his love and his life on the cross. 
Blessed is he who comes in your name.

Jesus our divine storyteller, we adore you, for you share with us insight into the ways of God 
and how we might live here and now, in faith, hope and love. You ask us to have confidence in God’s working, 
when we cannot understand and even when there seems to be so little evidence, and are overwhelmed 
by opposing forces of doubt, distrust and despair. May we have a core of trust and confidence in your power 
to achieve what you promise; an assurance that brings peace within which can be shared with others.

Spirit of God, holy and loving, help us to confess our lack of faith, insight and commitment, 
and may we seek new opportunities of growth and service.  When we as persons or churches:
have the arrogance to imagine that we are the initiators of God’s rule and that it all depends on us:  Lord, have mercy.
when we do not have the patience and trust to wait upon God for the fulfilment of God’s plans:  Christ, have mercy
 when our restlessness leads us astray from the way of Jesus, and our hope in him:  Lord, have mercy.

Lord Jesus, true revelation of God’s presence in the world, open our hearts and minds to the renewing power 
of your word that we may rejoice in you with the Father and the Holy Spirit now and always. Amen.

© 2009 Ron Gordon (used with permission)

there is more in you than you think
by Jenn Gordon
 
Mark 4:26-34

deep in the ground
of your being lies
a seed
planted in the dark of your unknowing
waiting, waiting, waiting,
slowly growing

it whispers with a voice
that knows your name
and whence you came and so much more
than even your mother
could guess
or know for sure

and in the vast uncharted space
of who you are,
this mix of clay and sea and star
where journey, once begun
is never fully told, completed, done
the seed takes hold

and while you wake and work
and sleep and wake and work
rooted in the mystery of time
the seed grows
until the stalk shows

stalk and head and grain
grow and grow and grow again
and harvest brings
such unexpected, unimagined things;

wheat for the taking
flour for the baking
bread for the breaking

there is more in you
than you think

(Comments to Jenn at jennieg@labyrinth.net.au.)