Bishop Bev has encouraged all across our diocese to join her in prayer for unity this lent. In a letter to our diocese, she has encouraged us to join her online on Ash Wednesday and all Wednesday during lent and Holy Week. The 20-minute prayer sessions will start at 9 pm. You can get the link by emailing BishopsLodge@liverpool.anglican.org. The bishop has also highlighted prayers that can be used in your devotions
- You can read the letter here
- You can access the prayers here
Bishop of Warrington's letter to our diocese
As we enter the season of Lent I would like to invite you to join with me in using this time to pray and fast for the unity of the Church and our Diocese of Liverpool. I will be hosting an online prayer time at 9pm on Ash Wednesday and every Wednesday at 9pm throughout Lent and Holy Week. You are invited to join me and my colleagues in prayer then. I’m aware that many of you shall already have Lenten and other commitments and I understand that it might not be possible to join in at these times. If you are unable to join me, please do include prayers for unity in your personal devotions and collective worship and corporate prayer. We shall be recording the prayers so that if you are able to join us at other times, should you so desire.
You can join the online prayer meeting via a zoom link you can get by emailing BishopsLodge@liverpool.anglican.org. We will start promptly and finish after 20 minutes.
Lent is seasonally the time for repentance, prayer and fasting as we seek a deeper intimacy with God. Our recent General Synod has brought to the fore the very painful divisions that exist in our Church around human sexuality, relationships and marriage. The Body of Christ is hurting and fracturing.
In John 17, just prior to the arrest and crucifixion Jesus prays, 11 And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
In the fashion of the One whom we have devoted ourselves to, whose last words to the church when He ministered to us as the One enfleshed, were prayers for unity, I believe our praying and fasting for healing, restoration and unity should now be a priority for us.
Some of the suggested prayers are taken from our Maundy Thursday liturgy, which is used across the Anglican Communion and causes us to dwell with our Lord on the night before his crucifixion. As he looked to his death in all its implications - for the life of the world, he pleaded for the unity of that which he would call his body – the Church.
The Church is aching, hurting, messy and broken! If we take seriously Jesus’ commandment,
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another as I have loved you." [John 13, v34 ], then please join me and the people of this diocese in prayer.
With my deep gratitude for your faith and faithfulness and for our shared ministry in the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ.
May God grant you a Holy and Blessed Lent.
With the assurance of my prayers for you
+Bev
Prayers for unity at Lent
Please find a compendium of prayers and liturgy for use as you so choose, during Lent and Holy Week and most especially as we commit, as a diocese, to pray and fast for the unity of our diocese and the Church. Any combination of the prayers or others of your choosing may be used. The person leading may choose silence, reflective music or meditation. There is no agenda and this is a safe place for all to gather as we commit to praying for the unity of the Diocese of Liverpool and the unity of the Church.
A Prayer of Penitence
Father eternal, giver of light and grace, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour, in what we have thought, in what we have said and done, through ignorance, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault. We have wounded your love, and marred your image in us. We are sorry and ashamed, and repent of all our sins. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us, forgive us all that is past; and lead us out of darkness to walk as children of light. Amen
Absolution
God, the Father of mercies, has reconciled the world to himself through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, not counting our trespasses against us, but sending his holy Spirit to shed abroad his love among us. By the ministry of reconciliation entrusted by Christ to his Church, receive the pardon and peace to stand before him in his strength alone, this day and evermore. Amen.
Lord have mercy Lord have mercy
Christ have mercy Christ have mercy
Lord have mercy Lord have mercy
A Litany taken from the CW Maundy Thursday liturgy
Father, on the night he was betrayed, your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ washed his disciples feet. We commit ourselves to follow his example of love and service. Lord hear us.
And unite us.
On the night he was betrayed, Jesus prayed for his disciples to be one. We pray for the unity of your Church, here in Liverpool, across the Church of England and throughout the world. Lord hear us.
And unite us.
On the night he was betrayed Jesus prayed for those who would believe through the witness and proclamation of his disciples. We pray for the mission of your Church. Lord hear us.
And renew our zeal.
On the night he was betrayed Jesus commended his disciples to love, but suffered rejection himself. We pray for the rejected and unloved. Lord hear us.
And fill us with your love.
On the night he was betrayed Jesus reminded his disciples that if the world hated them, it hated him first. We pray for those who are persecuted for their faith. Lord hear us.
And give us your peace.
A COLLECT FOR UNITY
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
Written by the Chemin Neuf Community
Prayers from the Anglican Church of Southern Africa to the WCC's 70th anniversary.
- God of grace, send upon us today your Holy Spirit as you poured out the Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
- May your Holy Spirit ignite in us a passionate desire for unity. We wish to be one, so that the world may believe.
- When your church unites people with Christ, in the power of the Spirit and manifests communion in prayer and action;
- when your church affirms the sanctity of life and proclaims unity, just peace and reconciliation,
- when your church provides healing and overcomes divisions of race, gender, age and culture,
- We give thanks and praise, 0 God. As we draw closer to Christ, we draw closer to each other.
- There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
- there is no longer male and female, for all are one in Christ Jesus. In Him all nations shall be blessed.
- Many people will come from East and West, from North and South, and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven. The nations will walk by in the light of the Lamb.
- Because God's purpose is to gather the whole creation under the Lordship of JesusChrist;
- because the church is to unite people with Christ in the power of the Spirit, topromote life, justice and peace;
- because the church is a foretaste of the koinonia (community), which God wills. We give thanks and praise, 0 God.
And may God bless us with life forever; may Christ Jesus breathe his Spirit and peace into us; may the Holy Spirit kindle our hearts with love and undying hope; and may the Blessed Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, preserve us in unity and help us to discover joy in walking together as part of Christ's body.
Amen.
COMPLINE
Preparation
The Lord almighty grant us a quiet night and a perfect end.
All Amen.
All who made heaven and earth.
A period of silence for reflection on the past day may follow. The following or other suitable words of penitence may be used
Most merciful God,
we confess to you,
before the whole company of heaven and one another,
that we have sinned in thought, word and deed
and in what we have failed to do.
Forgive us our sins,
heal us by your Spirit
and raise us to new life in Christ. Amen.
O God, make speed to save us.
All O Lord, make haste to help us.
All Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen.
The following or another suitable hymn may be sung
Before the ending of the day,
Creator of the world, we pray
That you, with steadfast love, would keep Your watch around us while we sleep.
From evil dreams defend our sight, From fears and terrors of the night; Tread underfoot our deadly foe
That we no sinful thought may know.
O Father, that we ask be done Through Jesus Christ, your only Son;
And Holy Spirit, by whose breath
Our souls are raised to life from death.
The Word of God
One or more of the following psalms may be used.
Psalm 139.1-18
1 O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; ♦
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You mark out my journeys and my resting place ♦
and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 For there is not a word on my tongue, ♦
but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4 You encompass me behind and before ♦
and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ♦
so high that I cannot attain it.
6 Where can I go then from your spirit? ♦
Or where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; ♦
if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning ♦
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand shall lead me, ♦
your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me ♦
and the light around me turn to night,’
11 Even darkness is no darkness with you;
the night is as clear as the day; ♦
darkness and light to you are both alike.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; ♦
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13 I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ♦
marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.
14 My frame was not hidden from you, ♦
when I was made in secret
and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished; ♦
already in your book were all my members written,
16 As day by day they were fashioned ♦
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How deep are your counsels to me, O God! ♦
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, ♦ and at the end, I am still in your presence.
Psalm 134
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, ♦ you that by night stand in the house of the Lord.
2 Lift up your hands towards the sanctuary ♦
and bless the Lord.
3 The Lord who made heaven and earth ♦
give you blessing out of Zion.
At the end of the psalmody, the following is said
All Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and shall be for ever. Amen.
Scripture Reading
One of the following short lessons or another suitable passage is read
You, O Lord, are in the midst of us and we are called by your name; leave us not, O Lord our God. [Jeremiah 14.9]
I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. [Zechariah 12.10]
(or)
The following responsory is said
Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
All Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
For you have redeemed me, Lord God of truth.
All I commend my spirit.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
All Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit.
Keep me as the apple of your eye.
All Hide me under the shadow of your wings.
The Nunc dimittis (The Song of Simeon) is said together
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
1 Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace: ♦ your word has been fulfilled.
2 My own eyes have seen the salvation ♦
which you have prepared in the sight of every people;
3 A light to reveal you to the nations ♦ and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now and shall be for ever. Amen.
All Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
Prayers
Intercessions and thanksgivings may be offered here.
If you are using this by yourself, please pray for the unity of Christ’s Church and for our diocese of Liverpool.
A Collect for Unity
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
A Collect for standing at the foot of the Cross
Almighty God,
as we stand at the foot of the cross of your Son, help us to see and know your love for us,
so that in humility, love and joy
we may place at his feet
Silence may be kept.
Visit this place, O Lord, we pray,
and drive far from it the snares of the enemy;
may your holy angels dwell with us and guard us in peace, and may your blessing be always upon us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Blessing
May God bless us,
that in us may be found love and humility, obedience and thanksgiving,
discipline, gentleness and peace.