The following prayers were written by Amy for the Wine Before Breakfast service on 22 November 2022.
Lord we come to you as your creatures, your servants, your beloved children, your subjects, and collectively as your “bride.” And today we are reminded that you also call us your friends! In an age of social media platforms, where a person can have hundreds or even thousands of Facebook “friends” even some we have never met, it’s hard to know what ‘friendship’ even means. Has the term lost its meaning? Lord do we even have a sense of what it means for YOU to call US friends? You said that there is no greater love than when someone lays down their life for their friends. That is just EXACTLY what you did for us, each and all! This shows your friendship toward us. How do we show OUR friendship for You? Through how we demonstrate love for one another. In the way that we endeavour to follow your commandments, the greatest of which IS to love one another as you have loved us! By how we get to know what you are all about, and use that as our model for interacting with the people around us. Help us create spaces where we can gather to care for one another; Spaces where we can share refreshment of body and soul; Spaces where we see You in each other, You, who are the original, Source, purest, and most perfect Love. And in creating these spaces, may we learn from our failures and pursue healing for things that have gone wrong. Help us create space to bring our cares; laying it all out to you in prayer. And oh, we DO have cares on our mind, Lord. Overwhelmed hospitals, an ongoing pandemic, and the new flu season that is already claiming lives. Grief, sorrows, regrets, debts, wounds, and worries. A city that treats our vulnerable and homeless citizens as if they were disposable. The ongoing travesty of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, and of Native communities without safe drinking water. Violence against those who are different, fears for the very climate we live in, and guilty concern about the impact of the everyday choices we make. The prospect of “Women, Life, Freedom” protesters in Iran being sentenced to death. Worries about the outcomes of the political representatives we choose, and the choices they make “for” us. It can feel overwhelming Lord, when there’s so much troubling news! Help us to bring it all to you in prayer. When we turn our cares over to you, may we find solace and courage there. In the expansiveness of your love, comfort, and care. In the streets, in our homes, and wherever we meet with others. May we meet, see, and greet each other In your love, your word, your example; Joining hands with friends and strangers alike. Treating those strangers as if they are Your own dear friends, and therefore to be valued by us, and cherished. Beloved, where we are, you are there. And you can brighten the darkest night, when we call on you and you meet us. Thank-you, Lord. Amen.