Prayer 1
O God, who sent gifts
of the Holy Spirit to those first saints,
We know you continue to send gifts to us,
Even though we do not claim them.
We confess that we have not always opened our gifts.
We have often chosen to keep them packed away or buried.
Move us, by your Spirit,
To pick up our presents, that you so freely give,
To open them and to spend them lavishly
On the stewardship of your world.
We confess to you how often our thoughts and motives are confused,
Both individually
And when we are together as your people,
And that this confusion has often blinded us
To your interest in our lives.
Break in on our confusion,
And astonish us anew, O God!
Our prayer is that you will claim us again
And silence within us our desire
To always have words for every occasion,
That we might hear the whisper of the wings of your Spirit dove.
In the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen.
Prayer 2
There are times when I talk too much.
There are times when I repeat things which I have no right to repeat.
I pass on a story which may not be entirely true
or add my own embroidered flourish to a tale in the telling.
O God who always listens, forgive me.
Help me remember to keep a deliberate
and constant check on my tongue.
Keep safe within me the hurts and secrets that others have shared,
for they trusted me, and I was glad of that trust.
Keep safe within me the confidences of children,
lest they be hurt by my crass joking over their tender moments.
Keep safe within me those safe disclosures of weakness and fear
shared in a moment of intimate vulnerability by my spouse
as a further expression of love for me.
Keep safe within me all those communications
which were entrusted to me for safekeeping.
Help me to listen, as you do Lord.
Help me to use my ears more than my mouth.
With your help, Lord, may I never again hear myself betraying a confidence
or breaching a trust.
Instead, transform me, Lord, into a listening, trustworthy friend.
Amen.