Petitions for the Prayer of the Church/General Prayer
- Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of the office of the Public Ministry by which you
serve your people with your saving word and life‐giving sacraments. Guide our church as
it now studies whether or not women should be ordained into this office. Give us
determination to pay careful attention to your word, and show us your will through our
study. - Heavenly Father, as the Lutheran Church of Australia continues to study the question of
the ordination of women, help the church listen to your word and discern your will
through it. Guide our presidents, theologians, pastors, and lay people as studies take
place throughout our church. Keep discussions honest and open, and build a spirit of
loving care for one another, even when opinions differ. - Heavenly Father, help the church study your word with care and diligence as it seeks to
know your will in the question of the ordination of women. Make it clear to us, so that
there may be unified agreement among us. Remove all mistaken zeal, religious pride,
party spirit and divisiveness that would cloud the issue and damage your people and
your witness to the world. - Heavenly Father, we pray for all those who are hurt over the question of women’s
ordination in the Lutheran Church of Australia, and for those who are threatened by the
issue. Help us to respect each other’s feelings, to care for one another, and to turn to
you in humility, repentance and prayer at this time. Direct our studies and reveal your
will in this matter so that we may know the truth and gladly live by it as servants of
Christ. - Heavenly Father, as our church seeks to come to a conclusion concerning the ordination
of women, please keep us in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Enable us to gather with
gladness in Christian fellowship each Sunday, humbly listening to your word together,
and coming as brothers and sisters to your table. Hold us together as your family, even
while we robustly debate your word and seek your will. - Heavenly Father, be with our church as it studies the question of the ordination of
women. Help us to welcome new things you are doing in the world, and to respect old
things you keep and use. Save us from empty slogans or senseless controversy. Help us
to remain faithful through the course of the debate, recognising that this is how you
mysteriously guide the church into your truth. And direct our final decision so that your
will may be done among us.
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