New Parish Conference 2017 - a new poem and an adapted prayer

Disrupted - A Poem From the New Parish Conference 2017

We

The gathered

And the dispersed

Are called into

The habit of community, called

To witness to unity and unexpected beauty

To walk through our streets

As neighbourhood pilgrims

Facing chaos-crafted encounters

With listening ears, open hands

And humility

We

The gathered

And the dispersed

Are called into

Loving mutuality, called

To dwell deeply

With our neighbours

Becoming friends

Becoming family.

Living well with integrity

Taking the slow path

Holding hands -

Travelling light with former strangers

Disrupting cynicism with hope

Ever deepening, ever lovingly

We

The gathered and

The dispersed

Are called into

Weaving peace into

A noisy world,

To live alongside

The displaced, in the midst of empire

To build homes of hospitality

With deep down roots

To be open to interruption

Looking for disruption - holy intersections

As kingdom collaborators

We

The gathered

And the dispersed

Are called into

Being present

Watching football with

Our neighbours or

Chatting while putting the bins out, or

Finding our voice at a shared table

With each other, sewing seeds of resurrection

Amidst the noise.

We

The gathered

And the dispersed -

We are called.

A Prayer of Preparation (A Sending Out) - A Prayer From the New Parish Conference 2017

Lord, Creator

            Speaker of love

            Bringer of peace

            Sustainer of all things

We come before you,

Bearing our scars

Nursing old wounds

Waylaid by past failures

Forgive us,

            For the time we have wasted

            For all our foolish outbursts and lack of discipline

            For all our well-intentioned programs that give no space for the voices of our neighbours

Speak to us afresh,

            Call us from the shallows to the deep waters of the neighbourhood

Lead us by your Holy Spirit

Place your Word as a seal on our hearts

Hold and sustain us

When we falter and fall back into old damaging patterns

            When we slip into busyness

            When temptation whispers its seductions to us... “excellence”... “success”...

Transform us by the power of your Holy Spirit

            Strengthen our resolve to seek you

            Open our hearts to your mysteries

            Open our eyes to see as you see

Call us onwards

            Into our streets

Into community

            Into service

Attune us to your ways

That we might

            Live simply

            Learn obediently

            Worship extravagantly

All this we pray, in the name of

The Father

The Son

And the Holy Spirit

Amen.

Prayer adapted from ‘A Prayer of Preparation’, in Tim Watson, Journey to the Inward Wild (Proost, London: 2016)