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/
