When the heart is hard and parched up, come upon me with a shower of mercy.
 When grace is lost from life, come with a burst of song.  
When tumultuous work raised its din on all sides, shutting me out from beyond, come to me my Lord of silence, with thy peace and rest.  (Tagore 1861 – 1941)

Lord we pray for those whose lives are filled with darkness, and for those whose days are shadowed with despair, for those whose eyes are closed to hope of your presence, and for those whose words and deeds darken the lives of their neighbours.

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

Lord we pray for those who work in the media, and for those we trust to bring us the news.  We pray for those who share the news of events here and around the world that they will do so with honest and integrity.  

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

Lord we pray for those on the bottom rung of life’s ladder of hope, and for those who have reached the top without regard for those who are struggling, we pray for those who are counting the pennies and for those who have too many pennies to count.

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

Lord we pray for those who do not know where their next meal is coming from and for those who wonder if it will come at all.  For those whose health is suffering because they are drinking too much and for those still thirsty for a life with real meaning

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.   

We pray for those who set out with such high hopes and for those whose house of cards has come crashing down, for those whose work brought them satisfaction and fulfilment and for those now paying the price of others’ extravagance.  

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

Lord we pray for those whose homes are a daily battle ground and whose promises to love have been broken, for those who still long for reconciliation and for those who are discovering the pain of learning to trust again.

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

Lord, we pray for those for whom each day seems harder than the last, and for those rung dry by the pressures of life and the struggle just to live, for those who feel let down by society that promised peace and security and for those who are discovering the emptiness of the trinkets it offers.  

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

We pray for those who are looking earnestly for purpose and meaning and for those who are finding it in Jesus, the living word of God, for those who are acknowledging the promise of life to come and for those who have received the gift of the Holy Spirit and are now seeking to live and speak for their Lord.  

Come Holy Spirit and set the world on fire.  

We pray for this congregation, especially all those grieving and bereaved and all this suffering in mind, body or spirit.  

Blessed are you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.