Prayer of Intercession

Sunday, 28 August, 2016

Ramon Bultron

LET US PRAY.

O God, we thank you for our life, dignity and our being. You have blessed us with the gift of life and a world to live in. In you we are blessed and we offer praise and thanks. Empower and strengthen the witness of your Church throughout the world, that true to its calling it may embody your radical and boundless love.

You are the Source of our life, O God. You have adopted us in the waters of baptism and made us your own in love. May we embrace our lives and the lives of others with courage and compassion, unafraid of joy and pain, sickness and health. May your care be made known in our care.

We pray for our troubled world, wandering in the excruciating twilight of an uncertain peace. In our hearts we know that this is no true peace – rather suspicion and fear, animosity and greed. We ask that Your Spirit will strive mightily with the leaders of the nations as they seek a formula by which the peoples of the earth can live at peace with one another.

Impress upon their minds and heart that until we are at peace with You, we can be at peace with no one else; that freedom can exist nowhere unless it exists everywhere.

Our Father, grant that the promised day may soon come when culture and learning, education and compassion, shall again light all lamps that wars have extinguished; when all wanderers can return to their homes; when all of us may be united in our quest of building a better world.

Almighty God, our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them that peace which is the fruit of righteousness. We pray for countries in conflict all over the world.

Our father God, we pray for all peace advocates in the world to remain courageous and pro active in promoting a just and lasting peace. In particular, we pray for the people of Colombia and Philippines for their ongoing peace and collective efforts for a just and lasting peace. We thank you God for your continued guidance to the recent successful first round of peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

We pray for our sisters and brothers around the world affected and exposed to Zika virus. We ask for your blessings and pray for those who are seeking to find ways and means to prevent the disease from spreading.

O'God, we put into your hands and we pray for the smooth and peaceful geographical and functional constituency election in Hong Kong. May genuine representatives of people and peoples voice be heard in the chambers of Hong Kong council and legislative bodies.

For our congregation in KUC, we pray for those who are suffering from illness and facing various challenges in life

In the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we pray for the people and churches of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

O'God, with your love and compassion, hear the prayers of your people. Enliven us, by your Spirit, to live into the fullness of your reign. We pray through Jesus, our life, our hope and liberator.

AMEN.

Prayer of Intercession

Sunday, 21 August 2016

Eunice Chan

Let us pray.

Gracious and merciful Lord, we come before You in humble surrender to Your loving presence.  We renew our gratitude for Your embracing love and boundless mercy.  You are a consuming fire.  There is one path toward You, that of mercy.  May we all be united and walk this path.  May the ears of our hearts be opened to hear Your commands. 

Lord, the Olympic games will come to a close today.  In the past two weeks, we have witnessed Your wondrous works, in the athletes’ physical strength, perseverance, and kinship.  We are grateful that a refugee team can participate in the Olympics this year.  Yet, the existence of a refugee team has only reminded us once again of the plight of people forced to leave their homes because of conflict and persecution.  While we rejoice at the glory of the refugee team, may we continue to pray for the millions of people displaced, for those who are separated from their close ones, and for those who are seeking food, shelter, and a pair of shoes to continue their journey.

For the Olympics this year, it was not only the games but also various problems such as threats of crimes and the Zika virus that hit the world news.  As the spotlight turns away with the close of the games, may we remember the people Brazil.  We pray for the people in poverty suffering from extreme inequality and economic turmoil.  Lord, may You work vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. 

We remember Syria, the land torn by civil war for five years.  Our hearts are broken by the silent sufferings of the many defenseless people, especially women and children.  The manmade disasters in our world are many – the airstrikes in Yemen, the anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States, the train attacks in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, and deaths and injuries of onlookers of kite-flying displays in India.  Lord, we raise up to You our humble pleadings for Your mercy.

We pray for Hong Kong.  As the Legislative Council election draws near, we pray that the electioneering activities will be nonviolent and rational.  May freedom of speech and political expression be upheld.  Lord, may You guide us continually and make our bones strong. 

For our congregation, we pray for those who are ill or recovering from illness at home or in hospital and for all who care for them.  We remember each one.  We remember those volunteering for our church.  For the children in Hong Kong, we pray for their adequate provisions during the summer vacation. 

In this ecumenical prayer cycle, we pray for the churches in The Pacific islands: Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Western Samoa and the French Overseas Territories of New Caledonia (Kanaky) and French Polynesia (Tahiti).  May You bless them as they continue to sing praises of You and spread Your good news.

We pray all this in the name of Your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Prayer of Intercession

Sunday, 14 August, 2016

Timothy Chan

Loving God, you are God of the universe, we celebrate the diversity that you have created. At the same time, we confess our sin of not being able to appreciate the beauty of diversity and difference. Instead of inclusion and acceptance, we turned to hatred and exclusion. However, you have given us, your children, the privilege to pray, to pray for our brothers and sisters all over the world.

Lord, we pray for Pakistan, 60 Lawyers were killed in a single attack last week in Pakistan. In a place where extremists want to silence the people who voice out for justice, we pray that you may strengthen the people there. Do not let fear and hatred take over them, but restore faith and courage to do what is right. May your healing hand lay upon those who have lost their beloved ones. May justice and peace prevail.

We also pray for Africa, we pray for Ethiopia, almost 100 protesters were killed in a protest about economic injustice and political marginalization of an ethnic group. We pray that voices of the oppressed will be heard, and pray that no particular group of people would be treated differently because of their race and ethnicity. We pray for those countries whose people are facing different kinds of persecution, religious, economic, racial, gender and political persecution. We may not able to name all of them, but God you know every one of them. May your will be done bringing peace and hope to all people.

Lord, as we celebrate the diversity of your creation, we are thankful for the Olympic games, that we may see the beauty of different races and beauty in humankind. But we also remember the people in Brazil, who suffer from the government’s corruption and inability to govern the country. May you listen to their prayers and bring true joy to them.

Lord we pray for HK, for our upcoming legislative council election, may you give us wisdom to vote for a candidate who stands for the value of justice, love and peace.  We also pray for fairness in our election.

Gracious God, we pray for the churches in Hong Kong, may they be light and salt in our society, to have the courage to speak the truth. As we are enjoying religious freedom in HK, we should be thankful and also remember our brothers and sisters in China, who are facing more and more persecution from the mainland government.

Lord, we are thankful for the diversity in KUC, may every one of us here to be the witness of your inclusiveness and acceptance. We also remember those who are ill or recovering from illness at home or in hospital and for all who care for them. We remember Edwina, Saimon, little Samuel, Sea Salt and Revd Kwok in our prayers.

Loving God, we trust that before we open our lips, you know our thoughts. may you listen to our prayer in silence or out loud. Let us pray together with confidence as Jesus our savior has taught us: