Prayers

For our Mission:

Most good and gracious God, grant to St. Matthew's Church and all our members wisdom and courage. Help us to grow in grace, discipleship, and numbers. Bless us with the strength to proclaim your gospel and share the love of your son Jesus Christ with all the world. Open our hearts and minds, our lives and love, to those outside our doors so that we may reach out and serve them in your name. We ask this for the sake of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

For St. Matthew:

We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

For the Anglican Communion:

Open our hearts O Lord and kindle in us the fire of your love. Renew in us a zeal for justice, peace and the welfare of all God's creation. Bless all who work in the structures of the United Nations around the world, and make us all worthy of our calling to serve others.

May our own Anglican Communion of churches shine as a beacon of hope and faith in this our broken world and may we all, in our own vocation and ministry, empower others to be instruments of blessing in the nations we represent.

This we pray in the name of the crucified and risen Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.

Used at the Zanzibar Mass and Installation of Dr Hellen Wangusa as Anglican Observer at the United Nations
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/50/acns4257.cfm

For a Birthday:

Oh God, our times are in your hand: Look with favor on your servants as they begin another year. Grant that they may grow in wisdom and grace, and strengthen their trust in your goodness all their days; though Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN.
page 830, BCP

Prayer after an Earthquake

Oh God,
at times such as this,
when we realize that the ground beneath our feet
is not as solid as we had imagined,
... we plead for your mercy.

As the things we have built crumble about us,
we know too well
how small we truly
are on this ever-changing, ever-moving,
fragile planet we call home.
Yet you never forget us.

Oh God, come to our assistance
Today, so many people are afraid.
They wait in fear of the next tremor.
They hear the cries of the injured amid the rubble.
They roam the streets in shock at what they see.
And they fill the dusty air with wails of grief
and the names of missing dead.

Comfort them, Oh God, in this disaster.
Be their rock when the earth refuses to stand still,
and shelter them under your wings
when homes no longer exist.
Embrace in your arms
those who died so suddenly in this tragedy.
Console the hearts of those who mourn,
and ease the pain of bodies on the brink of death.

Fill our hearts with compassion, we who watch from afar,
as the poorest on this side of the earth
find only misery upon misery.
Move us to act swiftly this day,
to give generously every day,
to work for justice always,
and to pray unceasingly for those without hope.

And once the shaking has ceased,
the images of destruction have stopped filling the news,
and our thoughts return to life's daily rumblings,
let us not forget that we are all your children
and they, our brothers and sisters.

We are all the work of your hands.
For though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be tossed to the ground,
your love shall never leave us,
and your promise of peace will never be shaken.

Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.Blessed be the name of the Lord, now and forever. Amen

Posted By: Trinity Church, Wall Street, NYC
Author unknown