Let us quiet our hearts and minds and open our selves to healing prayer. On hearing the words "God of Triumphant Joy", please respond with "Hear our prayers".

Let us quiet our hearts and minds in preparation for prayer as we discover what God is calling us to do in this New Year. On hearing the words, "O wondrous and noble voice", please respond with "Hear our Prayers."

In this New Year, loving God, we pray that we may live with hope and generosity. Help us to be fully aware of those in need around us and to act with patience and compassion toward our family companions, our friends and our neighbors. Help us to become one with You, our source of love and energy, and to feel Your trust and guidance in everything that we do. O Wondrous and Noble Voice...    "Hear our Prayers."

Faithful and Compassionate God, let us be one with all those who are grieving, distressed, worried or ill. We remember especially, in our prayers today, all those named in our Prayer List. We pause at this time to voice the names of others, either silently or aloud, for whom we are concerned...    ...O Wondrous and Noble Voice...    "Hear our Prayers."

Eternal God, our source of strength, we ask your blessing today on all people in the countries of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. In our Presbytery prayer cycle, we pray for Jack Lindquist, retired minister in Kootenay Presbytery. We express our heartfelt prayers for our sisters and brothers at Nyanyadzi Methodist Church in Zimbabwe and for all people in all parts of the world who suffer repression and indignities, are impoverished or are being terrorized by dictatorial governments. Bless our peacemakers and peacekeepers and the families and friends of fallen soldiers and civilians who have lost their lives in the name of Peace. Today, we remember the recent losses of Michelle Lang, Sargent George Miok, Private Garrett Chidley, Corporal Zachery McCormack and Sargent Kirk Taylor. O Wondrous and Noble Voice...    "Hear our Prayers."

We end with a Buddhist meditation:

The wondrous voice,
The voice of the one who attends to the cries of the world.
The noble voice,
The voice of the rising tide surpassing all the sounds of the world.
Let our minds be attuned to that voice,
Put aside all doubt and meditate on the pure and holy nature
Of the regarder of the cries of the world.

Let us carry the glad tidings of God's abundant and abiding love to all we meet and greet today.

And the people say...    "AMEN".