Uniting in Prayer is an invitation for the whole Church to slow down, listen deeply to God, and reconnect with one another across cultures, communities and distances.

From Pentecost Sunday on 24 May to the 49th Anniversary of the Uniting Church in Australia on 22 June, we are embarking on a shared season of national prayer.

Over these 30 days, 30 voices from across the Church will come together. Each day, a new voice will lead us in praying as one body around a single, unifying question: “What does it mean to be woven together in Christ's love across cultures and boundaries?”

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Day 21: Restore us as your body

Risen Christ,
present to your friends
in your wounded body,
you gather us into yourself
and make us a body:
many-limbed, many-hearted,
many-storied,
alive by your Spirit and
bound by the love
that holds all things together.

This prayer is for the body
that has forgotten
it is a body.
For the hand
that believes
it can bless
without the arm.
For the eye
that has forgotten
the wisdom of the feet.
For the one who was told
they were not needed
and the one who forgot
their need of the rest.

While we make our peace with division
and find comfort in withdrawal
You are crying to us: Attend to my body!

Forgive us, O God,
for our body is fractured,
tender and bruised.
Our sinews are torn and muscles rent.

Our joints ache from holding apart
and we have forgotten
that without each part
we cannot live.

We pray, O God:
Through your healing Spirit,
give us one to another.
Join us bone to bone.
Fuse what has been torn.
Let us weep and rejoice.
Restore our feeling,
send us courage,
and make us once more
your body:
wounded and healing,
broken and shared,
bearing the marks of self-giving
yet alive with resurrection life
for the blessing of your world.
Amen.

Bethany Broadstock
Worship and Fresh Expressions Pastor
Banyule Network of Uniting Churches
Melbourne