The liturgy below is for the Midday Prayer gathering (via Zoom) on July 8 at 12 pm (PDT). 

If you would like to receive email reminders for further Midday Prayer gatherings this summer, along with Zoom login details, please click the 'Receive Chapel Updates' button on this page.

If you would like to receive email reminders for further Midday Prayer gatherings this summer, along with Zoom login details, please click the 'Receive Chapel Updates' button on this page.

Prayers for Peace & Justice

Adapted from Seeds of the Kingdom: Common Prayers for Ordinary Time

Gloria

Glory be to the Father,
    and to the Son,
    and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now,
    and will be forever.
Amen.

Prayer of Affirmation

Sing joyfully to the Lord!
The earth is full of your unfailing love;
    how great is the love you have lavished upon us!

The Love of God

Text and Tune (Love of God): Frederick M. Lehman

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair bowed down with care
God gave his Son to win
His erring child he reconciled
And pardoned from their sin

    O love of God! How rich and pure
    How measureless and strong
    It shall forevermore endure
    The saints’ and angels’ song

When years of time shall pass away
And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall
When those who here refuse to pray
On rocks and hills and mountains call
God’s love so sure shall still endure
All measureless and strong
Redeeming grace to Adam’s race
The saints’ and angels’ song

    O love of God! How rich and pure
    How measureless and strong
    It shall forevermore endure
    The saints’ and angels’ song

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And everyone a scribe by trade
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

    O love of God! How rich and pure
    How measureless and strong
    It shall forevermore endure
    The saints’ and angels’ song

    O love of God! How rich and pure
    How measureless and strong
    It shall forevermore endure
    The saints’ and angels’ song

Prayer of Orientation

Because you were born fully God and fully human,
    you overcame the violence
    that separates us from our true identity as children of God.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you ate with tax collectors and sinners,
    you overcame the violence
    of discrimination and exclusion.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you made the blind to see and the lame to walk,
    you overcame the violence
    of victimization and powerlessness.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you taught your followers to pray for their enemies,
    you overcame the violence
    of hatred and judgment.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you gave yourself over to suffering and death,
    you overcame the violence of retribution and blame.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you were raised to life on the third day,
    you exposed the lie that violence
    is the most effective way to confront evil.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Because you have left us with the joyful promise of your return,
    you overcame the violence
    of hopelessness and despair.
Draw us into your love, Christ Jesus,
    and deliver us from fear.

Scripture | Isaiah 58:1–9a (NRSV)

Shout out, do not hold back!
    Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
    and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
    they delight to draw near to God.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
    Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
    and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
    will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
    a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
    and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
    a day acceptable to the LORD?

Is not this the fast that I choose:
    to loose the bonds of injustice,
    to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
    and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
    and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
    and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
    the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer;
    you shall cry for help, and he will say, “Here I am.”

Reflection

Taken from Charles Ringma's Hear the Ancient Wisdom (Wipf & Stock, 2013)

Listening Silence

In silence, we make space to listen to God’s voice, breathe in God’s Spirit, and centre ourselves with God.

Prayer of Gratitude and Confession

Holy God,
Thank you for creating the world in love.
Thank you that although violence runs deep in our beings,
    because we were made in your image,
    love runs deeper yet.
Thank you that no person and no circumstance exists
    outside of your restoring love.

We confess that we have lived
    as though we believed otherwise.
Instead of praying for our enemies,
    we have spoken ill of them.
Instead of pursuing truth,
    we have clung to what is comfortable.
Instead of resisting fear,
    we have set ‘us’ against ‘them.’
Instead of trusting in the gift of abundance,
    we have submitted to the life of scarcity.

Forgive us our violence toward others
    in thought, word, and deed,
as we forgive those
    who have acted violently against us.
May we continue to move into your peaceable kingdom
    until it is the only home we know,
    both in this world and the next.
Amen.

Kyrie

We come to God
    aware of our own sinfulness
    and our failure to sow peace;
and so we pray for God’s mercy and forgiveness:

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on my community.
Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on the world.

Absolution

May the God of love and power
    forgive us and free us from our sins,
    heal and strengthen us by the Holy Spirit,
    and raise us to new life in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayers of Intercession

May your unfailing love rest
    upon those we fear and those who have hurt us. . .

May your everlasting peace reign
    in places of war and strife. . .

May your merciful justice deliver
    those who are suffering
    as well as those who are abusive. . .

The Lord's Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
    hallowed be your name,
    your kingdom come,
    your will be done,
        on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom
    and the power
    and the glory,
    forever and ever.
Amen.

Prayer of Affirmation

Sing joyfully to the Lord!
The earth is full of your unfailing love;
    how great is the love you have lavished upon us!

Fire of Love

© 2006 Tom Wuest 

Fire of Love we wait on you
To kindle our hearts, kindle our hearts
Fire of Love we wait on you
Kindle our hearts we pray

Fire of Love we wait on you
To kindle our hearts, kindle our hearts
Fire of Love we wait on you
Kindle our hearts we pray

    Holy Spirit fan the flame
    Holy Spirit fan the flame

Fire of Love we wait on you
To kindle our hearts, kindle our hearts
Fire of Love we wait on you
Kindle our hearts we pray

    Holy Spirit fan the flame
    Holy Spirit fan the flame
    Holy Spirit fan the flame
    Holy Spirit fan the flame

Fire of Love we wait on you
To kindle our hearts, kindle our hearts
Fire of Love we wait on you
Kindle our hearts we pray
Kindle our hearts we pray
Kindle our hearts we pray

Blessing

The peace of the Father be yours this day,
The peace of the Son be yours this day,
The peace of the Spirit be yours this day,
The peace of all peace be yours this day,
    and each day of your life.

Go in peace
    to love and serve the Lord.