Prayers for Southern Seasons: Poems and prayers for Christian worship and devotions

Worship leaders, this engaging collection of prayers will support your work of creating meaningful services that reflect the church year in our part of the world.

Joy provides prayers for many different purposes: Gathering - Candle lighting - Thanksgiving - Intercession - Petition - Confession - Assurance - Illumination - Offering - Blessing - Commissioning.

In Aotearoa New Zealand the church year begins in early summer, harvest comes during the fast of Lent, and we celebrate Easter not when life is emerging anew in a burst of spring flowering but when leaves are turning red and gold and falling to the ground.

The prayers and poems in this collection have been arranged to reflect the cycle of the seasons as we experience them, and the church's feasts and fasts, and other commemorations, as they occur within those seasons.

To lead a congregation in worship is both a great privilege and a great responsibility. Prayer is a vital part of public worship. Many of the prayers are responsive, giving congregation members an opportunity for more active involvement in the service. The poems for personal reflection are ideal for printing on the front cover of an order of service or within a church bulletin.

Joy's hope is that this book will be a useful resource for worship leaders, providing just the right words when they need them, and that they, and others who happen to open these pages, may find within sparks of inspiration to ignite their own devotional creativity.

Praise for Prayers for Southern Seasons

"Joy Kingsbury-Aitken is an experienced lay preacher and worship leader and brings to her writing competence in the use of language and a love of literature and scripture. Most of the prayers in this book were written for services Joy has led.

In a brief introduction Joy points out that in Aotearoa New Zealand the church year begins in early summer, harvest comes during the fast of Lent and Easter is celebrated in autumn. The traditional seasonal symbolism associated with the church's major festivals, which works so well in the northern hemisphere (for example, light in darkness in a winter-time Christmas and new life in a spring-time Easter) has limited meaning for those who live south of the equator. She has arranged the prayers and poems in this book to reflect the cycle of the seasons as we experience them and the church's feasts and fasts and other commemorations as they occur within those seasons.

Starting with summer, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany follow. Then there is autumn with Harvest and Lent including Transfiguration Sunday and Palm Sunday. The Monday to Thursday of Easter week are listed followed by Good Friday, Easter Eve, Easter Sunday, Anzac Day, Home and Family Day and Mother's Day. We then move to winter with Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, Disability Sunday, ordinary time (this is the post-Pentecost season but the material in the book may be used on any Sunday), Refugee Sunday, Peace Sunday, Lay Preachers Sunday and Father's Day. Under spring there is Spring Flower service, Season of Creation, St Francis of Assisi Day, thanksgiving for companion animals, Social Justice Sunday, All Saints Day and Reign of Christ Sunday.

The material includes gathering prayers and calls to worship, candle lighting, thanksgiving, intercession, petition, assurance, illumination, offering, blessing and commissioning. Some material is labelled as poetry. This is intended for personal reflection and is also suitable for printing on the cover of an order of service or church bulletin.

An added pleasure for readers is that ideas are expressed imaginatively. Where prayers or poems have been inspired by a biblical passage references are given. A biblical index has been added.

Rev John Meredith: editor Word and Worship - July 2019