Daily Prayers Friday, 4 February 2022

I have chosen today’s Bible passage to reflect the fact that, although many of us have returned to church and are able to meet with one another, others are still unable to join physically in fellowship and need to rely on our Zoom Sunday evenings, our daily prayers, and our WhatsApp group to stay in touch.  Nevertheless, we are one fellowship.  We can still join together in our common faith and share our and common concerns.

Friday is the day when, for many years, we held our service of Prayers for Peace in the Chapel.  So, I am basing today’s prayers on some prayers I used for one of our Friday services a few years ago.

A reading from Ephesians, chapter 4:

² Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. ³ Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
¹¹ Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Let us pray:

Let us remember people everywhere who are anxious:
Those who are worried about their health, or that of those they love;
Those who are worried about money;
those whose jobs are insecure;
those who struggle to feed themselves and their children.
We ask you to bring them your peace.

Let us remember people everywhere who are frightened:
Those who live in a war zones;
those who have been subjected to threats;
those who live with domestic violence.
                        We ask you to bring them your peace.

Let us remember people everywhere who are in despair
Those who suffer from depression;
those who struggle to find work;
those who no longer have any hope for the future.
                        We ask you to bring them your peace

Let us remember people everywhere who are angry
Those who see injustice but are powerless to put it right;
those who have been hurt and have become bitter
those who carry a sense of injustice
                        We ask you to bring them your peace

Let us remember people everywhere who are sad or lonely
Those who are grieving;
those whose relationships have broken down;
those who have lost contact with family or friends;
those who have nobody to share their joys and sorrows
                        We ask you to bring them your peace

Let us pause for a moment and notice how we feel ourselves.  May we feel a connection with one another, through our shared connection with you.

We ask you to calm troubled minds and hearts
We ask you to share our joys, our sorrows and our anxieties
We ask you to give us peace, hope and confidence to face the coming days.

We ask all these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour.
Amen

We finish our prayers with a hymn:

Put peace into each other’s hands and like a treasure hold it.
Protect it like a candle flame.  With tenderness enfold it.

Put peace into each other’s hands with loving expectation.
Be gentle in your words and ways, in touch with God’s creation.

Put Christ into each other’s hands, He is love’s deepest measure.
In love, make peace, give peace a chance and share it like a treasure.

Rosemary Kearsey