Opening Prayer 25 October 2015

All seeing God

above and beyond our imaginations

outwith time and space

the whole universe nestles safely in the palm of your hand

and you gaze at it in glee, joy and love

for you made and sustained it for and in love

You cradle the whole cosmos in your arms and declare, as you gaze upon it, that it is good, very good indeed.

Wow – this is amazing – that you see the whole of creation as good, as so very good.

Somehow, that should not be a surprise for us

the patterns of the seasons, revealed so vividly as trees turn from green to red, yellow and gold

disclosed in the song of the birds as they fly overhead to winter roosts near and far

displayed in human relationships, of family, friends, acquaintance, where love abounds, and we look upon faces of one another made in your image.

Sight giving Lord

we delight in awe and wonder that you view us in this way, made in your image and made to know and worship you all the days, all the moments of our lives, and especially in this hour, in this place, where we set aside the world outside to focus our attention, our devotion, our love on you, you alone

Bless this time we offer you, in praise and prayer, in meditation on and of your word.

May it be holy and pure through your presence in and with us, as we gather together in your name

the name we honour, adore and love

But Lord God, there are times when, though we put on the appearance of physical and spiritual twenty twenty vision, in reality we can be blinkered to what is going on around and within us

we refuse to see the ways we look down on others due to their circumstances

we fail to see the known familiarity we cling to, which stops us from seeing you in all your glory

we neglect to look up from our comfortable lives and truly see the agony of the world around us

lift our glaze, Lord, clear our vision to see your way, your path.

Remove all which blinds us to our failures and our shortcomings

Open our eyes to see we are forgiven of all these and the many ways we are blinded in and through the one we follow, Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught us to pray together saying: