Prayer

Lord,
In the beginning
We read that your Spirit was moving over the water,
Let your Spirit move over the chaos and emptiness of today.
Let your Spirit move like a like a rolling river of justice,
Your righteousness like a never-failing stream!

Let your Spirit blow over a generation of followers,
head-over-heels in love with Jesus,
Who are willing to give up all.

Spirit break into our lives,
Come like the breath in our lungs,
So that we inhale your perfect will
And exhale our imperfect ambition.

Spirit breakout over our government
So that leaders favour our poorest communities with their decisions.
Spirit breakout over our wealthiest churches to resource under-served neighbourhoods.
Spirit breakout over the neediest parts of our nation
So that the church can be pointed back to the poor.  

Spirit rest upon single parent families
So that their homes are filled with love, peace, and provision.
Spirit rest upon the anxious and the agitated
So that quietness stills their storms.
Spirit rest upon those juggling bills,
So that there’s food on the table
And warmth in the house.

Spirit break the shackles of addiction,
The chains of poor health,
The bondage of poverty,
So that communities need suffer no more.

Spirit open our hearts, lives, and church doors
To the ballsy, brash, and straight-talking,
To the unkempt, dirty, and ragged,
To the forgotten and forsaken,
To the dishonoured and disliked,
The ignored and impoverished,
Make us one family,
One tribe,
One church.

Lord,
Deliver us from a spirit of division,
A spirit of independence,
A spirit of self-centredness,
And let us be filled with your Holy Spirit
So that Jesus is seen through our unity,
God-dependency,
And generosity.

Spirit move over the darkness,
Move in our church,
Move in our lives,
Move us to the margins,
Move us from comfort and lethargy,
Fear and doubt,
Self-interest and prejudice,
Into proximity of the poor.
Move us into momentum.
Holy Spirit breathe on a generation.

Amen.