Daily Prayers Wednesday, 7 December 2022

Good morning Cornerstone friends on this crisp winter morning. Let us warm ourselves with some Bible readings and thoughts for our prayers.

Psalm 103 verses 8 – 13
The Lord is full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and of great kindness.

He will not always accuse us, neither will he keep his anger for ever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our wickedness.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy upon those who fear him.

As far as the east is from the west, so far he sets our sins from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so is the Lord merciful to those who fear him.

Merciful Lord, show us the face of our Redeemer,
that in our frailty we may bless your name and
praise you all our days through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
(Common Worship)

Matthew Chapter 11 verses 28 -30
(Jesus is finishing a prayer thanking God for his disciples and here re-affirms his own mission)

Come unto me all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

–##–

If you are like me you cannot read that section of gospel without hearing the setting to music in Handel’s oratorio, ‘Messiah’. The first section in an amazing aria for either an alto or a soprano and then a chorus for ‘my yoke is easy’.
Our Lord is also drawing upon prophesies in Hebrew scripture with this ending to his prayer.
It seems that we have a theme this morning of God’s love and mercy.

Let’s ask that God’s love and mercy will be more on display in the church and in all the world.

We pray for Christians everywhere and for the variety of ways in which they gather together in fellowship.
There is a new book and an on-line publication from a group in the Church of England, ‘Relational ChurchUK’. The title is, ‘Building a Relational Church’ and it is edited by our Area Dean, Tim Norwood. So let us pray for all congregations and groupings to worship God, to share and spread our faith, including groupings on-line.

In this Advent of expectation draw us together in unity,
that our praise and worship might echo not just in our buildings but in our lives.
In this Advent of expectation draw us together in mission to the world,
that the hope within might be the song we sing, and the melody of our lives.
In this Advent of expectation draw us together in service to the world,
that the path we follow might lead us from a stable to an experience of eternity.
Amen
(from our Advent Course prayers with modification)

We pray for our world and our city.
The news media continue to inform us of war in Ukraine. There are people suffering from conflict and armed aggression in communities all over the world.
The media inform us of famine caused by drought in Somalia. Climate change is putting communities at risk of famine, drought, flooding, wildfires and rising ocean levels in every continent. Give thanks for efforts being made to redress our climate balance particularly for the Earthshot Prize finalists.
The aftermath of the world wide virus outbreak has affected the global economy and supply chains which support our daily life. Our country and many others have high inflation and disruption from strikes by workers who are asking for larger pay rises than they have received in the past. There are many areas of the world where the affects in the global economy are far, far worse than this and where there is little hope that their suffering will soon end. Give thanks for all those agencies seeking to alleviate problems in less developed economies particularly Advantage Africa.

In our city the Food Bank and other agencies helping those in need report that more families are at risk and the demand for services is growing considerably. In the last year some families in our city had to face the loss of young boys from knife crime. The Knife Angel is on display at The StadiumMK drawing attention to this problem. The drug dealers and those who wish to pervert our young people to a life of crime and vice are still there in the shadows. Pray for the work of Police and Social Workers, Secondary School teachers and others who seek to guide young people in our fair city.

We cannot fathom the solutions to all these problems but can bring them to God and plead that our leaders and people of goodwill may help us the relieve suffering everywhere.

‘Where God dwells there is peace and concord’, let us pray that this can be true of our world.

God of our pilgrimage bring us with joy to the eternal city founded upon a rock,
and give our earthly cities the peace which comes from above through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
(I wrote this down and cannot now remember its original source)

Have a wonderful day experiencing God’s love and mercy in everything you do.

Don Head