World-wide Communion Sunday

Prayer of Intercession

Kowloon Union Church
October 1, 2006

Our spirits our focused today, Lord, on communion—communion with you, communion with each other, communion with our larger world and environment.

It is our communion though with you, Lord, that is the true focal point of our attention this Sunday and every Sunday. We will celebrate our communion with you again in a moment, an act of communion that is at the center of our faith, but let us now take a moment to be in communion with you through prayer, to share with you our joys and anxieties, to listen to you in the silence. [silence]

We also pray for communion today with the poor, Lord, with those who are hungry and homeless. May our hearts be moved to respond to their needs and to be their advocates. We especially remember today those in our community who ask for a minimum wage for their labor. May the wide disparity of wealth in Hong Kong be narrowed. May we also learn from the poor, Lord, the value of sharing and cooperation, from the simplicity of their lives the meaning of what is important in all of our lives. In our communion with the poor, Lord, may our spirituality be nourished.

We pray as well for communion today with those suffering from injustice, Lord, with those who are unjustly imprisoned and tortured, with those whose rights have been denied, with those who are exploited. May those holding power over them be touched by the power of your love, Lord, and may acts of injustice thus be transformed into deeds of justice.

We likewise pray for communion today with those tormented by poor physical and mental health, Lord, with those who are sick, depressed and alone. May your healing hand reach out to them and lift them from their pain and despair.

We pray for communion today with the environment too, Lord, with the Garden with which you have blessed us. May our spirits be refreshed by our communion with nature; may we feel the presence of your spirit, Lord, in the stillness, peace and beauty of the natural world you created. May we take the necessary steps to restore the pristine world you made and we have abused.

We pray for communion today with our sisters and brothers at Kowloon Union Church, Lord, with our neighbors in the pews. May the faith and lives of each of us be enriched by the communion among us within our Christian community. We especially give thanks today, Lord, for the presence of our new pastor in our midst, the Rev. Kwok Nai-wang. May our time of communion with him be a period of mutual learning, growth and joy. We welcome too today the Rev. Tso Man-king and his World Communion Sunday message of church unity that he has given us.

Lastly, Lord, we especially celebrate today our communion with other Christians around the world, both Catholics and Protestants. As part of the weekly ecumenical prayer cycle, we are especially linked today with Christians in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. In our present world, we also feel moved to seek communion with those of other faiths—Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and Hindus.

We recognize though that all our relationships of communion, Lord, are very fragile and are in need of constant repair. We pray for your wisdom and love to guide us toward rebuilding those bonds of communion that have become weak and fractured and to give us the courage to reach out to those who are different to create new bonds of communion and understanding. We confess that our broken oneness is the cause of much suffering in our world today. May our oneness, however, overcome our brokenness, Lord, so that we can know the true joy of communion with each other and with you. Amen.