Are We Letting Worship Shape Us?
Are we still allowing worship to shape our belief and life, or have we shifted into a mode in which the dynamic goes essentially in the opposite direction: our beliefs (and lifestyles) shape our worship?
Resources – Advent 1 – 3 December 2023
God of hope,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness,
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in the which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
so that on the last day when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal,
through him who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit now and for ever.
Amen.
Resources – Reign of Christ – 26 November 2023
Sovereign God,
it is your will to gather up all things
in your beloved one,
reigning in the universe
in the power that is love,
mercifully grant
that the whole of creation,
freed from slavery,
may serve and praise you
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Who Can Baptise?
Lay Roman Catholics can now officially, publicly baptise in their churches. Women are acting in persona Christi as they minister this Sacrament.
Resources 33rd Ordinary – 19 November 2023
God of inspiration,
you caused all holy scriptures to be written for our instruction,
grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them,
that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of your holy Word,
we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
From Despair to Hope
Lead me from death to life,
from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope,
from fear to trust;
lead me from hate to love,
from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart,
our world, our universe.
Resources 32nd Ordinary – 12 November 2023
Compassionate God,
through your inexhaustible goodness,
keep us from all that may hurt us,
so that, ready in both mind and body,
we may, with free hearts, pursue your purpose;
through Jesus Christ
who is alive with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.