Adapted Liturgy Of The Hours Staff Prayer
Overview
This prayer ritual follows the style of the 'Liturgy of the Hours' and is suitable for staff prayer in a school community during Ordinary Time.
The Liturgy of the Hours follows the format:
Gather:
- Welcome
- Invitation to Prayer & Praise of the Trinity
- Opening Song (own choice)
Listen:
- Psalmody (one psalm only)
- Scripture Reading
Respond:
- Silence (pauses)
- Intercessions
- Lord’s Prayer
- Closing Prayer
Go forth:
Gather
Welcome
Leader: Welcome to this adapted Liturgy of the Hours for use in Ordinary time.
O God, come to our aid.
All:O Lord, make haste to help us.
Invitation to prayer and praise of the Trinity
Leader: Let us pray
All: Glory to you, Source of all Being,
Eternal Word, and Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning is now,
and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.
Opening Song
Hymn: Choose a suitable song to begin the Liturgy today ...
Suggestion: Seasons of the Heart (on CD)
Seasons of the Heart, By Mark Beiers and Jill Gowdie
1. The heart of our common calling
Summoned to our common path
With those who have walked before us
Communion with the people of the heart
Refrain We gather here for our sacred journey
The journey of the seasons of the heart
We make this time for our sacred journey
The journey of the seasons of the heart
2. Open minds, we seek to know your voice.
Open hands, we seek to do your work.
Open hearts, to hold Your Spirit
Communion for the people of the heart
3. Jesus is the heart of our calling
Our God the fire of our longing
We come to the centre of our being
This is the sacred space of our lives
4. We are joined in a common story;
connected in a hundred different ways
We hold each other in our prayer here
This is the sacred space of our lives
Listen
Psalmody: Psalm 27
Left side: The Lord is my saving light; whom should I fear? God is my fortress; what should I dread?
Right side: When the violent come at me to eat me alive, a mob eager to kill - they waver, they collapse.
Left: Should battalions lay siege, I will not fear; should war rage against me, even then I will trust.
Right: One thing I ask the Lord, one thing I seek; to live in the house of God every day of my life, caught up in God’s beauty, at prayer in his temple.
Left: The Lord will hide me there, hide my life from attack; a sheltering tent above me, a firm rock below.
Right: I am now beyond reach of those who besiege me. In his temple I will offer a joyful sacrifice, I will play and sing to God.
Left: O God, listen to me; be gracious, answer me. Deep within me a voice says, “Look for the face of God!”
Right: So I look for your face, I beg you not to hide. Do not shut me out in anger, help me instead.
Left: Do not abandon or desert me, my saviour, my God. If my parents rejected me, still God would take me in.
Right: Teach me how to live, lead me on the right road, away from my enemies. Do not leave me to their malice; liars breathing violence rise to swear against me.
Left: I know I will see how good God is while I am still alive. Trust in the Lord. Be strong. Be brave. Trust in the Lord.
(The English translation of Psalm 27 from The Liturgical Psalter © 1994, ICEL Inc. All rights reserved.)
SHORT PAUSE
Scripture reading
Scripture:Choose an extract (just a few verses) from the Scripture of the particular Day OR from the Sunday of this week ... (OR lay a selection of scripture out on small cards around the Prayer Space for individual staff to choose and keep for the week)
Respond
Pause for silent reflection
Intercessions
Leader: In confidence we call upon you, O God, and so we pray:
Reader 1: Fountain of Love, you provide water for the thirsty;
All: May we always give thanks for your endless gifts.
Reader 2: Comforting God, in your mercy you drive away our fears;
All: Help us to reach beyond the fears that keep us imprisoned.
Reader 3: Faithful Companion, you walk with us along our journey;
All: Enable us to accept the diversities among us and to bless all who walk, with integrity, a different road from our own.
Reader 4: Liberating God, you make the desert bloom and bring hope and beauty to us;
All: Free us to bring beauty and hope to people in need of refreshment.
Offer any individual intercessory prayers here …… or make a general reference to inclusion of those in the staff prayer intentions book and use this response to follow:
All: Help us see your presence in the journeys of our lives.
The Lord's Prayer
Leader: Let us join all our prayers in the words that Jesus taught us:
All: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen
Closing Prayer:
Leader: Let us pray
(pause)
Leader: O God, author of all truth, we rejoice in the faith that draws us together, aware that selfishness can drive us apart. Let your encouragement be our constant strength. Keep us true in the love that has sealed our lives, as we seek to live the Gospel we profess. We ask this in Jesus’ name and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
All: Amen.
Go Forth
Blessing
Leader: May the God of Mercy keep us from all harm and bless us with every good gift.
All: Amen.
Leader: May the Word of God live in our hearts and fill us with lasting joy.
All: Amen.
Leader: May we walk in God’s ways, always knowing what is right and good.
All: Amen.
Leader: May almighty God bless us, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit..
All: Amen.
Dismissal
Leader: Go in the peace of Christ.
All: Thanks be to God.