Prayers for 2016 Gathering and Meeting of Primates (Jan 11 - 16)

This comes from the Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, the Most Revd Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who is inviting everyone to pray daily for the Bishops and Archbishops who will be getting together in Canterbury, England, January 11-16.

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Philippians 1:3-5

As a Communion, God gives us His daily grace and opportunities to put it into action. We have much to praise and thank our Lord as we look forward to the gathering and Meeting of Primates in January.

It is our earnest request that brothers and sisters across the world who love and wish us well, will join us in praying this Litany day by day, in addition to this prayer.

A special prayer for the Invitation to the Primates’ Meeting in January 2016

Gracious and loving Father, We thank You for the hope and faith of the Archbishop of Canterbury in inviting his colleagues to the meeting of this instrument. We confess our individual and corporate roles in bringing the Communion to where she is today and ask for your forgiveness. As the individual Primate prays and thinks over this invitation, we pray for them that Your Spirit will speak to each of them and that each Primate will respond as guided by the Holy Spirit. May they receive wise counsel from the bishops in their Provinces, and may the bishops themselves receive wise counsels from the lay and ordained members of their respective dioceses. We pray that Primates will hear the voice of the Holy Spirit clearly and submit to Him as they respond to this letter. We pray that there will be a response with a high expectancy level from each Primate and that there will be an outcome that will bring glory and honor to our Lord, a restoration of Godly unity to the Communion and a new energy for the restoration of a renewed commitment to faithful witness in a continuously secular world that is in contest with Kingdom values. We pray all this through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Most Revd Josiah Idowu
Secretary General of the Anglican Communion

The Litany

1. General thanksgiving and praiseFor the privilege to tell the world the good news of Your love for everyone, irrespective of race, colour, gender, religion and status,
   
   We praise you, O Lord.For opportunities to share the love of Christ in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and providing shelter for victims of war,
   
   We praise you, O Lord.For the opportunity to live out our faith in a hostile environment, to test the strength of our love for You and others by relating to those from whom we differ theologically and ecclesiologically,
   
   We praise you, O Lord.For the continuing efforts at working at our relationship as a Communion and finding better ways of living as Your reconciled family,
   
   We praise you, O Lord.For the positive responses from Primates and Archbishops to the Gathering and Primates’ Meeting in January,
   
   We praise you, O Lord.
   
2. Concern for truthFrom media manipulation, misinformation and the abuse of privilege,
   
   Good Lord deliver us.From the distortion of facts and the desire to muzzle other voices with whom we disagree,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.From the twisting of truths in order to present others’ opinions as wrong,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.
   
3. The Participants at the Gathering and MeetingFrom arrogance and the spirit of self-righteousness,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.From anger, ego and the desire to impose our opinions at all costs,
   from a divisive spirit and craving for power more than unity,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.from denigrating others before listening to them,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.From the spirit that looks down on others, despises their convictions and is unwilling to let go for the sake of Christ,
   
   Good Lord, deliver us.That each of us may encounter Christ and be be positively transformed,
   
   Hear us, Good Lord.That this gathering and the Primates' Meeting may open a new and positive chapter in the unfolding history of our Communion,
   
   Hear us, Good Lord.That each Primate / Archbishop will catch a vision from Your holy perspective,
   
   Hear us, Good Lord.That this gathering and meeting may bring glory and honour to Your name, a new and better and stronger fellowship among all participants,
   
   Hear us, Good Lord.That this Communion may tell her own stories free from slanted and cynical reporting,
   
   Hear us, Good Lord.

Lord, this is a part of Your Church Militant.
You called us after redeeming us through Your Son's
sacrificial death, triumphant resurrection and glorious Ascension.
Help us as a Communion to hear clearly
what You are saying to us in this age,
grant this gathering and meeting Your Spirit
that it may lead in such a way as to bring
honour and glory to Your name,
peace and better understanding to Your church,
growth and development to every part of the Communion.
We ask in Christ's name.
Amen.