God of hope,

your servant Isaiah refused to give up on hope

and imagined a peaceable kingdom

without bloodshed and violence.

Give us courage and faith

to hold that hope for your world in our own times,

to follow in the footsteps of Jesus

who showed us how to be a blessing

to those we meet, to each other, to your world.

Easter shows us that your Kingdom is a reality,

that life and hope will prevail:

Give us this Easter faith.

Make us people of life and hope.

God of hope

we pray for your church wherever it has ceased to be a blessing,

that you will fill your people with your Spirit,

And transform each Christian and each church

Into the likeness of your Son..

Inspire us to be warm and welcoming

positive and hopeful,

peaceable and loving,

wherever we go.

Help us to be a blessing to each other

and to our local community.

God of hope,

we pray for all whose hope is wavering,

for all who live in darkness and despair,

for all who look at the coming Christmas season with dread.

We pray that you will sustain the hope of those who are frail and ill:

that you will breathe hope into those who are dying

and give hope for the future 

to those who are bereaved.

Bless us – you who are the source of all blessings.

In this Advent season 

we give you thanks 

for the hope promised us at Christmas:

for the coming of the Christchild

who will bless the earth and its peoples;

for a spirit of generosity and kindness

which will see no-one left out,

no one left feeling unloved,

no-one brutalised by violence.

May your Kingdom come:

count us in!

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