Selected Prayers

From Prayers and Blessings for an Inclusive Church (Canterbury, 2025)

General collects for Eastertide

God of the flowering spring

in whom all life takes its root:

in the rising of the earth

help us to see the rising of your Son,

whose cross and resurrection

reconciles to God all things in heaven and here below.

We ask this, through Jesus Christ, our peace.

Amen.

God of the new dawn and the empty tomb,

whose risen Son overcame the silence of death

to shine in the stillness of dawn:

remove the stone that lays heavy across the mouth of those silenced by fear

remove the stone that presses heavy on the heart of those tied to grief and shame

remove the stone that sits heavy in the hands of those who do violence to others

that all may be freed and fully alive

in Jesus Christ the living Word.

Amen.

God of resurrection

whose Son rose from death, still carrying his scars:

save us from easy talk of problems solved and pain undone;

in Christ, may we face the reality of suffering and loss

and find the path to new life

through the valley of the shadow of death.

We ask this in his name.

Amen.

Ascension Day

God, unheld by word or wall;

power of love, beyond all lords of war:

lift us from dullness and cynical contempt;

make us ready for your Spirit of transforming fire;

and turn our hearts to the mending of the world;

through Jesus Christ, the name above all names.

Amen.

Pentecost
Come to us, Holy Spirit of God,

through the walls of division and the hardness of our hearts.

Come to us, Holy Spirit of God,

in the untamed wind and the breath of lovers.

Come to us, Holy Spirit of God,

in ever expanding circles of grace and peace.

Come to us, Holy Spirit of God,

and bring us into the unending love of the Trinity.

Amen.