Leading Intercessions

Notes

  • You don't have to use the responses that are written in the book, but you are welcome to if you want!
  • Start walking up towards the Lectern well before you are due to start.
  • There's a clipboard with prayer concerns on the table at the back of church. Try to include those concerns in your prayers (the sick, the deceased, those who need our prayers). But try to also include others not written in the book. e.g. "Among those who have died, we pray for . . . " "We pray for all who are sick, including . . . "
  • Speak slowly and clearly.
  • Feel free to use the resources that are available, to write your own, or to do a mixture of the two.
  • Feel free to take a service book home with you, for use next year (or afterwards) when you find yourself leading intercessions.
  • The usual response is "Lord, in your mercy." "Hear our prayer". If you are using a different response, you will need to establish it at the start of the intercessions: "In our prayers today, when I say X, we all say Y. And then say, X. Everyone will say, Y, and remember what to say next time!
  • There's usually an ending to prayers written in the service books.
  • We encourage those leading the prayers at Morning Prayer also to say the Collect and the Lord's Prayer, which are usually available on a piece of A4 paper.
  • Books of prayers are available, with different prayers for each Sunday.

Resources on the Internet

The first thing to check is which service book is being used in church on a particular Sunday. Some of these already have a set of intercessions printed in them, or a response that can be used. The rubric usually says "may" be used: you do not have to use them, but they may be appropriate to the day.

If we are using a seasonal service book, feel free to use "Times and Season" at (1) below.

If we are using the Festivals service book, feel free to use "Festivals" at (1) below.

If we are using one of the Ordinary Time service books, feel free to use resource (2) below.

1 Liturgical Resources are available for the Christian Year especially for use during seasons ("Times and Seasons") and Festivals. Within each section, you can find appropriate intercessions for the different days and seasons.

2 Supplementary Texts also has more generic intercessions suitable for a range of occasions, especially in Ordinary Time.

Books are also available from the Vestry and from the Prayer Desk behind the pulpit.

Writing your own Intercessions

  • We often split the intercessions into different paragraphs: Church, World, Community, Sick, Deceased. Separated by the Response.
  • Be clear in your mind who you are praying to - Father, Son, or Holy Spirit - and be careful of switching. You can switch between paragraphs, and could switch within paragraphs, but if you do so, be deliberate! Don't pray to Jesus "in the name of Jesus" or slip between Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
  • Remember that you are leading others in prayer, so it's important not to show a political bias, or to make your prayers so personal that others are prevented from joining in!
  • Ambiguous language can allow others to make their own prayers: "We lift before God all who need our prayers", "We bring to God nations that are on our hearts at this time."
  • Be careful not to preach a sermon in your prayers! Petitions, praise or thanksgiving, but not statements! God already knows that there is a war in Ukraine, who the Archbishop of Canterbury is, what happened on the Day of Pentecost, or whether or not the Bible is infallible.