litany for pentecost

Lord we are in need of your reviving power:

we have become stale and unimaginative:

sometimes we are afraid of your

creativity and cower in the darkness because we fear the revolution of your kingdom.

Visit us in the deepest parts of our being:

renew us with the sweetness of your grace,

you who are the source of all that lives.

Come Holy Spirit:

Come Holy Spirit from heaven's pure height;

scatter our darkness with your glorious light.

Come, father of poor folk, great giver of all,

light of our being, the fire of our soul.

The Lord says, I shall make you a light to the nations so

that my salvation may reach the remotest parts of earth.

Lord, we need the refreshment you alone can bring:

sick, we need healing, tired we need energy,

bereaved we need comfort:

sometimes we cry in desperation with Jeremiah, why is there no progress in the cure of our people?

Come Holy Spirit

Of all who bring comfort, Lord, you are the best,

to those admitting you, life's welcome guest;

in toil our refreshment, deliciously sweet,

solace in sorrow, cool shade in the heat.

The Lord says: I have seen their ways, but I will heal them,

I will repay them with comfort.

Lord we need peace:

In the words of your prophet Isaiah,

we are searching for peace in this world like those without eyes,

feeling our way along the walls, stumbling as though noon were twilight, waiting for judgment that never comes,

for salvation that seems far away.

Come Holy Spirit.

Bereft of your presence, most blessed pure light,

bound in the darkness, we languish in night;

come, visit your faithful, our hearts fill with peace;

from sin's grim prison grant saving release.

The Lord says: Look I am going to send peace flowing like a

river, and like a stream in spate the glory of the nations.

Lord we need cleansing: we try to do better week by week but

we fail: we need you to forgive us; bend our stubborn wills

to your gentle purpose, melt our ice bound hearts with the

fire of your passion:

Come Holy Spirit:

Cleanse all that is dirty, what's arid, refresh:.

heal wounds that fester with healthy new flesh:

make brittle minds supple, make frozen hearts warm:

guide the lost wanderers safely back home.

The Lord says: I shall pour clean water over you and you

shall be cleansed. I shall give you a new heart and put a

new spirit in you: I shall remove your heart of stone and

give you a heart of flesh instead.

Lord we need your life within us: we become discouraged so

easily; we wilt before the powers of evil in the world, we

willingly retreat into the obscurity of religion instead of

carrying your light to all people:

Come holy spirit

Please give to the faithful who serve in this place

your sev'nfold blessing, the gifts of your grace;

give goodness its prize, give safe journeys at last,

life that is endless, a joy unsurpassed.

The Lord says I have loved you with an everlasting love and

so I still maintain my love for you. I shall build you up

once more, yes you will be rebuilt.

RJG verses trans from Stephen Langton