St Paul's
Beaconsfield

Anglican Church near Fremantle, Western Australia

Third Sunday of Lent 15 March 2009

Our parish is a community that seeks God and the fullness of creation by finding ourselves in relation to others. Our giving to the common, to the other, our sharing of ourselves is our commitment to this endeavour.

Collect
God of Love, our Rock and our Redeemer...
We acknowledge the Divine in the marketplace
And we acknowledge strength in our weakness
In Christ... the wisdom of God is revealed
We seek in word and deed to reveal the same
And together we make real the power of Divine Love.....
Amen

Pray
that we will honour the covenant between ourselves and the Divine. Give thanks those who walk with us as we walk toward fullness of life in Christ. Pray that we may know ourselves as the abiding place of the Divine and so live as Children of the Divine. Pray for each other, and for all who know pain, anxiety, loneliness and conflict. Give thanks for those who are not like us; pray that we may learn from our differences. Pray for those who dwell in shadows, make us wise and faithful friends who carry a lamp to them. Give thanks for those who are our elders and for the stories that they pass on. Give thanks that we have freedom to live and pray that we may bring freedom to others. Pray for our continued participation in God’s creative purpose. Give thanks for those who create peace and who are not afraid... For refugees and asylum seekers and all who offer them hospitality. Pray that our journey through LENT will be a time of Reflection, a time of Giving of ourselves and time of knowing the Companions who walk with us. Pray that we may attend to the call of Easter and be creative of new life. Pray for our continued participation in God’s creative purpose and that we may know ourselves as the abiding place of the Divine.

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Morning Prayer
With the rising of the sun
life rises again within me, O God.
In the dawning of the morning light
you lead me from the mists of the nights
into the clarity of the day.
In the new light of this day
bring me to a clearer knowing
of the mystery that first bore me from the dark.
Bring me to a clearer knowing
of the love from which all life is born.
Philip Newell - Celtic Benediction

Alison's Prayers

Third Sunday of Lent Year B (1 Corinthians 1:18-25 ; John 2:13-22) 15th March 2009, St Pauls

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ ; Overturn our hearts

The earth is your body, the earth is your temple
The morning sun illuminates dark corners and interiors ; the sea cleanses the thoughts of our hearts ; rainbows arch over us, drawing our eyes upwards ; candles of starlight calls us to meditation

Teach us to honour the sacred space in which we live ; overturn our hearts and fill us with zeal against the exploitation and pollution of the earth ; Teach us the foolishness of caring for the earth more than profits ; overturn our hearts with thanksgiving for the cycles of life and death and the constant renewal of all creation.

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ ; Overturn our hearts

The world is your body ; the world is your temple

We give thanks for commmunties and organisations who care for the common good ; we give thanks for those who bring nations together and work to create temples of understanding

We pray for places where sacred trusts have been betrayed ; for people dying needlessly from hunger and sickness ; for victms of violence ; ; Overturn our complacent hearts and fill us with a zeal to drive corruption and greed from the temple of humanity

Teach us the foolishness of peacemaking ; teach us the foolishness of not waiting for others to act before we do ; teach us the foolish art of resurrecting hope.

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ ; Overturn our hearts

The church is your body in the world

We give thanks for having a home in our beautiful church ; and for all those who care for its gardens, sweep its floors, polish its candlesticks, wash its linen, and adorn it with flowers and symbols of the season.

We give thanks for all temples and places of pilgrimage ; for all tangible signs of divine presence in the world ; and for all moments of rest and peace ; Teach us to use this space for its truest purpose ; overturn our minds in this moment of prayer so we may believe in life rising from death and take the foolish message of the cross into our lives.

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ ; Overturn our hearts

We are each a temple of your divine love

In the chapel of our hearts, we pray for those in pain and ill health, and for those who grieve, and those who despair of happiness ; May we help one another find a calm and sacred space within ; may we be graced with shared moments of understanding and healing.

We give thanks for our dwelling in the temple of your body ; for our dwelling place here, and for the dwelling of all departed souls in your eternal space.

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ , overturn our minds and teach us the wisdom of foolishness:
The wisdom of breaking our hearts so we may mend them ;
the wisdom of being vulnerable so we may find our core strength ;
the wisdom of pouring away our security so we may be filled with courage ;
the wisdom of overturning our lives to find our true orientation

Ever Dying, Ever Rising Christ ; Overturn our hearts

A Sesquicentenary Prayer

Lord of all generations
Bless our celebration of 150 years of ministry with the Diocese of Perth.
We give thanks for those whose dedication and vision enabled the foundation and development of this diocese.
Guide those of us now entrusted with this responsibility.
Encourage us and give us the commitment, enthusiasm and inspiration we need.
May we have breadth of vision and generosity that will enable us to provide a solid foundation of faith for future generations.
We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Daily Prayer from Perth Anglican Diocese See left hand column

Prayer in the tradition of St Paul

Creator of Life, of light and all Love, we pray thee
to fill this house with thy Spirit.
Here may the strong renew their strength and seek
for their working lives a noble consecration.
Here may the poor find succour and the friendless
friendship.
Here may the tempted find power, the sorrowing
comfort and the bereaved find the truth that death
hath no dominion over their beloved.
Here let the fearing find a new courage and the
doubting have their faith and hope confirmed.
Here may the careless be awakened and all that are
oppressed be freed.
Hither may many be drawn by thy love and go
hence, their doubts resolved and faith renewed,
their sins forgiven and their hearts aflame with thy
love.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From the Chapel porch, Pleshey Retreat House, with amended
divine address.

The Creed

We believe that in the Child of Bethlehem
all love and grace
is gathered for the world.
Here God entered our life
in a way which honoured forever
our struggle to survive
our possibilities for newness
and our ordinary human journey
Here we see our God
in a surprising way
a God who travels with us
a God who loves us to the death
and a God who comes among us
as a small and vulnerable child
This God we Praise
This God we welcome into our life
This God we celebrate today.

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Gâyatrî Mantra

We meditate on the glory of the Creator;
Who has created the Universe;
Who is worthy of Worship;
Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and Light;
Who is the remover of all Sin and Ignorance;
May the Divine enlighten our Intellect.

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May creatures all abound in wealth and peace;
May all be blessed with peace always;
All creatures weak or strong,
All creatures great and small;
Creatures seen or unseen,
Dwelling afar or near.
born or awaiting birth,
May all be blessed with peace!

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We meditate on the glory of the Creator;
Who has created the Universe;
Who is worthy of Worship;
Who is the embodiment of Knowledge and Light;
Who is the remover of all Sin and Ignorance;
May The Divine enlighten our Intellect.