Prayer of Intercession: Palm Sunday

Here’s a prayer of intercession for Palm/Passion Sunday.  It was written by Rev Grant Barclay, and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday website.

Prayers of the People
(inspired by Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-40; John 12:12-19)

We pray to you, Lord of palm-branches and the cross,
for you understand us and in love you have promised
not to push away any who come to you.

So we pray for people who feel pushed away:
pushed away from a living faith in Jesus by pressure from friends and family;
those who feel pushed away by other people in churches
if they do not share the same kinds of ideas, or ways, or clothes;
for people who are pushed out by those who want power,
whose main love to be noticed, to have control.

We pray for your church that all those who trust in Jesus
will be made able by your Spirit to follow his humility,
to see and imitate his servant life, to welcome and not to condemn.
Help your church to be like Jesus.
We pray to you, Lord of palm-branches and the cross,
for you know the warm glow of being praised and the loneliness of being hated.

We pray for world leaders,
quick to stand in the limelight taking decisions which affect everyone in the world
but slow at times to do the steady, less glamorous work to which they are called.

We pray for world leaders to understand their role to serve the peoples of the world,
that posturing will be replaced by practical action to make a difference,
and jockeying for position be replaced by genuine efforts
to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and care for those who are weak.

In days when food banks are required in our land
to feed families who struggle to provide the basics for life,
we ask that you will re-arrange our priorities and help us to live more like Jesus.

We pray to you, Lord of palm-branches and the cross,
because you know how quickly life changes to death.

We pray for those who have recently lost those whom they have loved.
In the shock, confusion, pain and sorrow especially of unexpected loss,
we pray for hearts to be open to the comfort of your Spirit,
shown through friendship and community and as deep calls to deep.

We remember those we know who mourn in these days,
who need to be sure of that you invite those in sorrow to turn to you;
and we name them before you now...

We ask, God of grace, that you will make us more like some of the crowd:
that we will follow Jesus and give him our praise in the way we live;
that we will turn away from wrong and evil and stand on the Master’s side,
that we will be faithful in worshipping the one who has come in the Lord's name
through our singing, our worship, our prayers, our attention,
in giving our skills, time and means through the days of our lives;
and in the offering which we make now.
Bless, we pray, all that is given to your glory and the good of many.
Through Jesus who is the Saviour of all. Amen

~ written by Rev Grant Barclay and posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday website. http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/