Call To Worship:

The Lord is my shepherd
I shall not want.
We are like sheep who had lost their way
Baa!
But now he has brought us back
Alleluiah!  Let us follow him.

Prayers of Approach:

Loving God, Every week we pray, "Your kingdom come, your will be done."

We know your will for the world, for you created it good You set the stars in the sky and put the twinkle in my eye; You raised up the mountains of the Alps, and taught moles to dig; You designed the rainbow and decided the colour of my hair; You created great and small, and declared it good.

We know your will for the world, for you sent your only Son to set us free from the mess we make, and to show us how to live.

We know your will for the world, for you send your Spirit to guide us and fill us with your vision and strength, that your will in our lives shall be done as it is in heaven.

We know your will for the world, for our lives, but how often we fall short. How often we pretend not to know, and follow our own will instead. We approach you today with some sadness in our hearts that we have let you down. But we approach you also with some hope in our hearts, for we know you, and we know you are a forgiving God, full of mercy and slow to anger.

Set us on the right path once again, and we will try to follow your light, the light we see in Jesus, the light of the world. Amen.

Intercession:

As this is an all-age service, I favour a "doing" style of intercession.  The prayer takes up the theme of the drama, "Dolly the Sheep gets some rest" (see link on this week's resources page).

Every member of the congregation will be given a little picture of a sheep (pictured opposite) and will be invited to come out and write on the sheep the name of a person/place/situation where there is no resting in green pastures.  This may be for any of the four reasons in the drama or any other reason.  The sheep will be stuck on a big bit of green paper - representing green pastures - and a general extempore prayer will be offered for all those represented and for those we have mentioned quietly in our hearts.