Richard has produced these stunning images to help us reflect on Isaiah 64:1. These could be used with, or independantly of, this "Come Down" prayer. Another idea might be to pair these with the Paul Baloche song "King of Heaven Come Down" (lyrics and chords here).

The prayer combines confession, petition and intercession. It begins with personal prayer and ends up in praying for the world.

Rather than moving too quickly through the stanzas, it's suggested that after each response, a couple of seconds are left before moving on to the next couplet. The lines are short, so it might be tempting to speed through it, but this should be avoided. The prayer is designed to ignite the reader to supply their own real situations and concerns to fit each section.

Before beginning, invite those present to spend the few moments of silence after each response making those prayers personal e.g. in the first stanza about emptiness and brokenness, each one can mention silently to God the areas of their own life where they are empty and broken.

Also, the personal prayer sections can be used at one part of the service, and the intercessory parts later on, so feel free to divide up the prayer as necessary, or to stop at various points for longer times of prayers.

The supplied images can be cycled through to accompany this prayer. Each one simply has the words "Come Down" and how they are used to fit with the words is up to you.

Extract from the prayer:

Into our emptiness,
into our brokenness:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our loneliness,
into our neediness:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our busyness
and our distractedness:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our chaos
and our unsettledness:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our shallowness
and our small-mindedness:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our past
and into our present:
All: Lord, come down.

Into our future,
with all its uncertainty:
All: Lord, rend the heavens and come down...

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