Creator God, we thank you for the beauty and the rhythms of your creation. As we move from winter to spring and to summer, we thank you for the seasons, and the blessings that each one bring Winter, with reflectiveness, rest and quiet, Spring, with its color, new warmth and light and promise of new life – heralded by the blooming of the wattle.

We thank you Gracious God, that you sent Jesus to u grant that we may be so filled with your Spirit that we truly respond to him as he sends us into the world you love. We pray for a clearer vision of the work you have set before us and a better understanding of your Gospel as it applies to each of us in our lives and the lives of those we meet. We seek a deeper commitment to your service and a fresh sense of urgency in the tasks set before us.

We bring before you all the things that express our mission as the people of this parish – outreach, mothers’ group and children’s work, ministry with older people and in the hospitals, our fellowship with missionaries in Australia and overseas – and so many other things. Enrich and strengthen all these things Lord.

In this new season, help us to be willing to prune things that are no longer as profitable to our mission as they once were. Help us to take on new things as we are directed by you. And help us faithfully to sustain continuing ministries, large and small, that are precious to us and to you.

Every season seems to bring its own challenges. Even Spring brings hay fever. Though Winter brings floods to some – and we pray for them – for ourselves, we urgently pray for yet more water to overcome the dryness of our land.

And as Winter ends, we ask for your comfort and healing for those troubled by coughs, colds and ‘flu, bronchitis and even pneumonia. For some of us, Lord, they are just a nuisance, but for others they are serious, and we ask your healing hand on all who need your touch. Heal and comfort all that we think of now who are in sickness or any other distress, we pray.

We are troubled by the exhaustion experienced anticipated by our fire fighters as they dread the prospect of another hot, dry summer and more fires. Lord, we know that we are privileged to live in a beautiful city, and we know that we are better off than many, but we are much in need of your care and help to keep the city and its bushland safe. Have mercy we pray.

Creator God, we glorify your name and enjoy you forever.
You have immersed us in your world and baptized us with your Spirit.
Open our eyes so we may see your goodness.
O Creator, our Creator, we glorify your name and enjoy you forever.

Amen