More Prayers 

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November 2024

 

Lord

Walk with us as we travel forward.

• We like our comfort and at times would rather sit and do nothing

• We are often distracted and chose amusement as a substitute for happiness

• Our vision grows blurred and we begin to think that this earth’s baubles might do as a prize. 

 

Keep us travelling along the road to a better world

and

a better life for those around us.

 

Whenever our attention turns towards ourselves,

• shift it out to where we can ease the burden of those who are finding the road through life tough.

and

• sit with those whose road is running out.

 

Lord, as we walk into the unknown we are easily frightened by what lies ahead.

So

• remind us of your constancy thus far

• stay with us

• strengthen us when we weaken

• refresh us with your joy and peace

 

October 2024

 

Lord

Our creator, protector, provider and friend

We bless you for walking with us through all the twists and turns of life.

We don’t always find it easy to live out what Jesus taught us.

    and sometimes find the folk wrapped up with us difficult to live with

When we do, remind us that they are your children too

 

September 24

Lord, we have gathered here

• to sing your praise,

• to hear your word

and

• to gain strength for our journey through life.

 

We have discovered that that journey can never be always on the sunlit slopes of happiness and fulfilment

but that we must travel through the valley of suffering, confusion and disappointment.

Remind us again of what we already know:

• that it is by putting our whole trust in you that we will not only scrape through, but will also find life in all its fullness.

 

As we pick out way through, we see our friends and loved ones struggling with life – and death.

• We wrestle with our own weaknesses and afflictions and do not always bear them with fortitude and grace.

• We know what we should be and what we should do but often we do not do it.

• We let people down, we let you down.

• While we moan about our own little burdens we ignore the crushing loads of others.

• While we are quick to ask for your help in our troubles, we turn away from those who need our time and our care

 

Forgive us, Lord, and help us to follow the path of trust for ourselves and compassion for others.

For it is by taking that way –the way of Jesus, that we will arrive at that place where

• trust replaces fear,

• compassion for others overcomes our love of self,

and 

• in our hearts of hearts, we know that we are where we should be – in tune with your intent for us, and at home in your love.

August 24

Father,

We come to you because you accept us as we are

We read of Jesus

• sitting with sinners,

• loving the lost

and

• welcoming the wayward.

And on that we rely.

 

 

July

• Father,

• We who feel blessed pray that you will stand by those who feel desolate

• Those who

• have lost someone dear to them

• are poor and do not have sufficient to live on

• are ill, particularly those with an illness that has no cure

• are despised by the people amongst whom they live or work

• are plagued by addiction or besetting sins

•  

 

 

 

 

 

June

Father,

At times we are happy that you have chosen us as companions

At others we wish you hadn’t bothered.

 

Sometimes we find ourselves comforted and strengthened by your company

At others we want to hide from what we see as unreasonable demands on us.

 

We realise that you have made each of us different

and have no interest in turning us into

• wooden replicas of the sickly smiling saints in stained-glass windows or

• buttoned-up do-gooders

• or those who try to be good all the time.

 

We thank you that Jesus invited us to come just as we are,

He welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, doubters and sinners just like us,

And claimed them as his friends  

.

Teach each of us, then,

• to be the best we can be

and

• count us among those who seek the kingdom  

• of love, joy and peace

• here, where we are

• now   

 

 

 

May

Father, we are where we are

Wrapped in circumstances, some of which is chosen, some not

Help us

• to enjoy where we are and what we have

• to improve what we have

and

• bear without complaint what we find irksome.

Help us

• fashion a good life for ourselves and those who travel with us.

• steel our hearts against fear and despair

and

• give us joy in trusting.

 

 

April

Father

When evening comes, may it find us at peace

• With ourselves

• With the folk we live with

• With you

• If we have allowed grubby behaviour to spoil the day, forgive us

• If bitter thoughts pester us, teach us to forgive

• If we are anxious, help us to let go and trust

• If we have barred the door against unpalatable truths, open up our minds

• If the gathering darkness has leaked into our souls, let the warm light of your presence grow ever brighter.

 

Above all. come close to us now and teach us to trust.

​

 

Lord, this life of ours often tests our faith and our courage.

• Our faith, for there are no clear answers to the suffering around us

• Our courage, in that the forces of evil seem massive and universal.

We find it easy to doubt and be tempted to give up.

 

Yet what can we do but trust

and

• when we do,

• when we give up our strivings for sense and our blustering for confidence,

• we find that we do not fall but are supported by a strength not our own.

So

• if we fail, may we not be faithless,

• if we fall, may we go down fighting.

 

Help us to go on challenging what is hurting out neighbours

Yet keep

• that cheerfulness that marks out those who know they are safe,

and

• that gentleness of spirit that comes from being loved.

​

January 2024

Lord guide us and walk with us through the year ahead.

 

We search for happiness, contentment, for success, for fulfilment. Our desires and ambitions, our plans and our hopes absorb our attention continually

and

Continually distract us from seeking the one thing needful,

that is,

• to make our peace with you,

• to understand your intentions for us

and

• to improve the world in which we live.

 

You never leave us to wander and stray, for you call to us in every experience and event.

None of it makes sense ultimately without you and your ambition for us.

• Help us, then, to abandon our futile searches and trivial lifestyles

• and seek out what you want for us and from us.

• Trip us up and call us back when we move off track.

• Do not lose patience with us.

So that we know that we are where we should be.

​

​

December 2024

Gracious Lord

We rejoice in this glad time of Christmas,

It comes to

• brighten our darkness,

• proclaim your love and

• lift our spirits.

November

There are times, Lord, when evil is so rampant and error so prevelant that we think of throwing in the towel and settle selfishly for safety and what pleasure we can extract tact from our circumstances

 

We find the world a brutal, confusing and troubling place

We know what is right, what is just, what is good, what we should do

Yet so often find excuses for doing something else, something easier and less challenging

Forgive us

 

We are burdened with things that do not matter

Confused by problems of our own manufacture

And

Frightened of things that are figments of our imagination

 

Then we remember that you

haven’t given up on us.

 

Give us therefore strength for our tasks

Wisdom for our responsibilities

Insight to understand our times

Along with

 A mighty concern for all the people of our world

And a firm grasp on our trust in you

 

 

 

September 2023

Lord,

 We bring you the results of this week’s life;

Of some it we are not proud; forgive us  

But we thank you for the good we have been able to do and the help we have been able to give

And we thank you for those who help us in our living,

   particularly those who do the ordinary jobs that keep the world turning, even when

   they are boring and monotonous.

 

We ask you to stand by

• those who have lost their way in life and don’t know where to turn

• those who have messed up and need forgiveness

• those who are slogging it out in a job they don’t enjoy

• those who are ill, or in pain, or are living out their last days in fear and anxiety

• those who are trapped in circumstances they cannot change

• those whose love or concern for someone close to them makes them anxious and unhappy

 

Help us to help them

And in our own concerns - with age, sickness, about our families and friends.

 

But keep us from moaning and from being self-centred,

Teach us to count our blessing

      and learn to trust       

 

Stay with us, Lord, all of us, this day and every day.

 

August 2023

Lord

we come to you looking for a little bit of comfort and reassurance.

We live in a world that repudiates so much of what we were taught as true and good.

But often the reassurance we seek is that

• we are not mistaken in our prejudices,

• what we hold to be true, is,

and

• what others believe, is not

•  

• Not only that, but we seek to have you on our side

• defending us and protecting us from other people and their demands,

• that you will listen to our excuses for not being better than we are

• or more giving that we should be.

•  

• We have become so used to such excuses that your invitation to follow falls on deaf ears.

• Forgive us Lord for such delusions and such laziness.

• Rekindle in us a thirst for what is right,

•  

• Join us to your great purposes

• to seek, in all we do, to bring in your kingdom,

• first, into our hearts and lives

• then, into the world around us.

 

 

 

 

 

July 2023

 

Lord, we come to you in thankfulness, for every day is filled with your goodness:

• the health we enjoy,

• the comfort of our homes,

• the companionship and fellowship of friends and relations,

• the capacity to love,

• and the opportunities to help each other along.

We thank you for

• the world we live in,

• the air we breathe,

• the food we eat,

• the clothes we wear;

• the sun that warms us,

• the rain and the weather

that feeds us and sustains us.

June 2023

Forgive us, Father, that

• grumble so easily,

• find suffering more appealing than victory over suspicion, aggression, and injustice,

• pile up our woes and discount our blessings,

• find fault with what others are doing

• complain so much and give thanks so little.

 

May 2023

Lord

At times. we feel that you are a million miles away.

Then we feel alone and half-afraid.

and

the world seems desolate; filled with turmoil, nastiness, and sufferin 

April 23

Lord we rejoice in the coming of Easter.

We thank you that

• winter is past,

• dark days are over

and

• the whole earth is bursting with new life.

 

We thank you too, for Jesus and the example he sets for us.

We may not believe in all the magic that has encrusted his story,

But we know that

• he shared our common life

• with all its complexity, suffering and death,

• and lifted it above the commonplace,

• offering to us life in the family of God.

 

And in Easter we see

• the triumph of life over death

• hope over despair

• love over hate

and

• trust over fear

Alleluia

​

​

March 2023

​

Lord we live in troubling times that test our faith in goodness.

Give us therefore hope,

for hope lifts from us the burden of explaining and coping

and

rests on your wisdom and strength.

 

Save us from despair.

When we feel like giving up because we are weak or confused,
remind us of how good life is and how sorting out the world is not our responsibility: we leave it to you.
For the moment help us to do what we can do.

When a sense of failure afflicts us

and

we realise we are not as good as we thought we were,

• lift our eyes to the vision of what we might be

• give us the strength to keep following,

• never allowing us to wallow in our despair

• or to gain satisfaction in our excuses for failure

For as we follow we gain strength.

 

Be with those who despair.

• Lighten their darkness;

• warm their cold hearts to life;

• give them back their dreams.

And their confidence in your intentions for us

 

 

Lord, we step into this new year half-afraid, half-expectant.

We bless you that you have steered us through the year that is past

 Guiding us with

• the example of Jesus

• good teachers

• the promptings of our consciences

and

• honest companions

 

In the days to come,

• keep us from us straying from what is best

• and help us to reach for the stars

 

When we are frightened, comfort us

• when straying, haul us back on track

• when discouraged, call us on

• when confused, enlighten us

 

Give us joy in trusting

• contentment, with where we are and what we’re doing

• determination in our imitation of Jesus

and

• an enduring sense of your companionship.

 

January 2023

Lord, we step into this new year half-afraid, half-expectant.

We bless you that you have steered us through the year that is past

 Guiding us with

• the example of Jesus

• good teachers

• the promptings of our consciences

and

• honest companions

 

In the days to come,

• keep us from us straying from what is best

• and help us to reach for the stars

 

When we are frightened, comfort us

• when straying, haul us back on track

• when discouraged, call us on

• when confused, enlighten us

 

Give us joy in trusting

• contentment, with where we are and what we’re doing

• determination in our imitation of Jesus

and

• an enduring sense of your company in the way.

 

 

December 2022

Our God,

• Gracious Lord

  We rejoice in this glad time of Christmas, that it comes

• to brighten our darkness,

• to proclaim your love and

• to lift our spirits.

​​that we who claim to be followers often stray from the path, especially when it is rough and unpopularthat we are so focussed on our own concerns that we fail to see the needs of those around us.that we are so sure that power. possessions and pleasure will lead us to happiness. the simplicity of Christmas athe plain teaching and example of Jesus to follow the pathetic counsels of those who tell us that the good life makes no demands and requires no commitment. just as Jesus came into our world as a helpless child and

threw himself on our care and compassion, may we trust in your love for us, live our lives in a careless abandon for our own concerns and

 

a complete and enduring care for yours.

 

Enjoy Christmas with us, Our Father

 

 

November 2022

We’d like a world to live in that is more to our taste

• no darkness, only light

• no suffering, only joy

• no war, only peace

• no want, only prosperity

a brighter, settled world where we may be always at peace.

 

That cannot be, so let us discover to our joy that you are with us all the time

• in the darkness and the light

• in the confusion and the clarity

• in the highs and the lows;

 

Teach us that whilst our dreams may be fantasies, the reality can be glorious.

Let

• no niggling temper,

• no laziness of mind,

• no contrariness of spirit

stop us from keeping close to you

 

Help us to see clearly

• the glory of life lived well,

• your hand in ours,

• your conversation in the way,

• your guidance through the confusion,

• your abiding friendship,

• the excitement of your intentions for us

and

• the light that shines steadily to the end.

 

 

 

 

October 2022

Lord

Teach us

• to pray when we don’t think it’s working
• to smile when we feel miserable
• to give time to our neighbour when they have no time for us
• to press on when we feel whacked

And

• to keep trusting when nothing seems to be working out.

 

And thereby learn in life what we cannot find in books, speeches and education

And that trust in our father is firmer than faith in a belief.

• that whereas enjoyment may bless the surface of life, true joy lies deep
• that whilst affections come and go true love is constant, the very stuff of which life is made

 

September 2022

 

We come from you, our Father and our Home, and although we forget whose we are, we know you do not forget - and on that we rest.

We carry with us memories of a larger life that makes our present life seem narrow and paltry.

And knowing that, we can easily become sick at the world around us, and sad at the evil of it.

Yet soon the recollection fades and

• we grow satisfied and cease to be surprised at sin.

• the glamour and clamour of the earth distract us from our origins,

• its temptations rob us of our birthright.

• It becomes hard for us to remember whose children we are and

• that we are here to live out our lives with you.

 

Yet only in trusting can life’s purposes become plain.

So, teach us, Lord, not to despise the things of earth or to separate ourselves into a holy huddle.

But

• to keep constant in the face of disappointment and failure.

• to play our part in the life of our times,

• to think clearly,

• to act kindly,

• to do justly, protect the weak, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and care for the dying.

Help us always to repay good for evil and make some heart glad that we passed their way.

 

And stay with us, Father, to the end.

 

August 2022

 

Lord, we are utterly dependent on you.

Yet you require no slavish obedience.

• where we are afraid to break the rules,

or

• do anything in case it might offend you

 

Following Jesus has set us free from all that

And from

• following the crowd,

• chasing after the world’s toys: wealth, power, amusement, popularity,

or

• what is ‘expected nowadays’

 

We are free

To find the new life you have for each of us to live

So that:

• thinking our own thoughts,

• making our own decisions,

• doing our own thing,

We can make something of this life of ours,

 

Something

• good and beautiful,

• that heals the hurt

• that helps our brothers and sisters in their journey,

• that brings joy and hope to the world. 

Something for you.

 

And, as we take our own track through life, walk with us always.

 

July 2022

 

Since the last blog I celebrated my 90th birthday, and posted this on the Only Christians Facebook page

  

As I reflect on my long journey three things strike me.

1. How often I have lost my way

2. How often those close to me, like Mary my wife, have stayed with me and brought me back on track

3. And, overall, how blessed I am to have arrived at where I am now..

 

Prayer

 Lord,

I have reached where I am now by a winding road.

And am grateful that I did not always get what I wanted,

Nor have I landed up where I once wanted to be.

But have arrived here, in this life of mine, where I am, among good folk.

And in your constant care

Thank you

 

 

 

Prayer for June 2022

Lord,

We come to you for we have discovered that our journey through life can never be always on the sunlit slopes of happiness and fulfilment but will also lead through valleys of suffering, confusion and disappointment.

As we pick our way along,

• we see our friends and loved ones struggling with life – and death.

• we wrestle with our own weaknesses and afflictions
  but do not always bear them with fortitude and grace.

• we know what we should be and what we ought to do
  but often we do not do it.

• we let people down, we let you down.

 

While

• we moan about our own little burdens.
  we ignore the crushing loads of others.

• we are quick to ask for your help in our troubles,
  we turn away from those who need our time and our care

• we brood on our losses but fail to count our blessings

 

Forgive us, Lord, and help us to follow the path of trust for ourselves and compassion for others.

 

And remind us again of what we already know – that it is by putting our whole trust in you that we will not only scrape through, but will also find life in all its fullness.

​

Prayer for May 2022

Lord,

• down the ages people have sought you out,

• often with elaborate rituals, rites, and sacrifices,

• led by specially appointed priests and mediators

• hoping that they might find a secret way to acceptance and fulfilment.

 

We come with needs just as great, but with simpler offerings; our devotion, our honesty and our somewhat muddled lives.

 

We bless you that Jesus showed us

• an open way,

• a ready welcome from a God that loves us,

• who does not need buttering up or flattery

and wants us to be the best we can be.

 

Remind us constantly of your great love for us, and, more than that,

Help us to make real your great ambition for us: to live freely and fully like the people we are - the children of God. 

 

Prayer for April 2022

 

Lord, this life of ours often tests our faith and our courage.

• Our faith, because there are no clear answers to the riddles of life and the suffering around us

• Our courage, in that the forces of evil seem massive, persuasive and universal.

 

We find it easy to doubt and can be tempted to give up.

Yet when we run out of steam and give up whistling in the dark, we find that we do not fall but are supported by a strength not our own.

 

Give us therefore

• the courage to keep on trusting

• the strength to go on fighting

• the cheerfulness that marks out those who know they are safe,

• the generosity to give to others what they need, be it time, money or patience

and

• that gentleness of spirit that comes from knowing we are loved.

 

March 2022

​

Father, we sail in seas that are often stormy and testing.

When we look at Ukraine, we do not understand why the meek and innocent suffer and the evil and arrogant are not stopped in their tracks.

 

We know that we must take our course through whatever we come across.

• Help us to make our way without self-seeking, depending only on what we know to be your intentions for us.

• Help us to make both the bad and good the stuff out of which we build our lives

• Help us to improve what we can and bear without complaint what we cannot.

 

We ask that you strengthen those whose struggle today is particularly fierce and help us to help them

Sail alongside us

• steel our hearts against fear

• give us joy in trusting.

• when we stray off course, call us back,

• when we get angry, calm us down

• when we fall, pick us up,

• when we are weak and tired, give us rest.

Stay with us, Lord, and grant us good companions on our life’s voyage.

 

January 2022

 

Lord, at the start of another year we pray that

You will

• forgive our sins

• deal with our regrets

• open our minds,

• strengthen our resolutions and

• help us to be what you intend us to be.

We pledge again our allegiance to you

• to strengthen our hold on the things that really matter and

• to gain strength to be good. 

We thank you for our reason and our ability to navigate our way through the twists and turns, ins and outs, ups and downs of life.

We thank you for the courage we have,
for it not only helps us to bear the suffering that we will inevitably encounter,
but also allows us to enjoy the happiness and satisfaction that each day brings.

Forgive us:

for our doubts and confusions,

that we worry so much and trust so little, and
deliver us from arrogance, deceit and prejudice. 

Lift our thoughts to you,

• teach us to follow

• to enjoy each day, and

• help us to be a strength, support and comfort to all who are wrapped up with us in the same bundle of life,

Walk with us always, Lord, through all the days of this new year.

 

 

Prayer for December 2021

​

We come from you our Father and our Home and although we often lose sight of what and who we are

But we know you do not forget - and on that we rest.

We seem to carry with us memories of a larger life that makes this frame in which we live seems narrow and paltry. And knowing that we become sick at the world around us, and sad at the evil of it.

Yet soon the recollection fades and

• we grow satisfied and cease to be disgusted at sin, even our own sin.

• The glamour and clamour of the earth distract us from our origins, and its

• temptations rob us of our birthright.

It becomes hard for us to remember whose children we are and that we are here to live out our lives with you.

Yet only thus believing can life be bravely lived and its purposes become plain.

Yet teach us, Lord, not to despise the things of earth or to separate ourselves into a holy huddle.

Help us

• to follow you in the narrow way, the weary task, the fickleness of people, its trials, misunderstandings and strife.

• to dive fully into life, grasp its passing opportunities and make good use of the time we have.

• to bear the fret of care, to keep constant in the face of disappointment and failure.

• to play our part in the life of our times, to think clearly, to act kindly, to do justly, protect the weak, free the captive, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and care for the dying.

Help us always to repay good for evil and make some heart glad that we passed their way.

And keep us, Father, to the end.

 

Prayer for November 2021

​

O Lord you are our light, our strength and our inspiration.

You

• open up our minds,

• strengthen our resolutions and

• help us to be what we ought to be.

We confirm again our allegiance to you

• to strengthen our hold on the things that really matter and

• to gain strength to be good. 

We thank you for our reason and our ability to find our way through the twists and turns, and ups and downs of life.

We thank you for the little courage we have,
courage that not only allows us to bear the suffering that comes our way,
but also to discover and accept the happiness that each day brings.

Forgive us that we worry so much and trust so little.
Forgive us for our doubts and confusions, and
deliver us from arrogance, deceit and prejudice. 

Lift our thoughts to you,

• teach us to follow

• help us to be a strength, support and comfort to all who are wrapped up with us in the same bundle of life, and

• to share our joys

Walk with us always, Lord, through our days.

 

​

Prayer for October 2021

​

Lord we come to you unprepared. 

We would come at our best, offering you 

• the fruit of lives well lived, 

• life at a high level, 

• dedicated lives, gospel lives, 

• lives calm in all circumstances, 

• victorious lives, lives efficiently good.

​

But that is not what we bring.
We come with a rag-bag of 

• faults and sins, 

• broken promises, 

• faded dreams

• restless busy-ness            and 

• reluctant discipleship. 

But we come believing because we know that we will be received and welcomed just as we are.

​

Give us rest from the fever of our lives, 

• of trying to sort everything out, 

• of striving after what the world holds dear: wealth, position, power  

• from the anxieties that afflict us       and 

• the concerns we cannot avoid.

​

Teach us to cast all our cares on you. At all times and in all circumstances to trust in your unfailing grace.

​

Forgive us all that is past    and
      give us that fullness of life that is promised to those seek to live the Jesus way.

​

Prayer for September 2021

​

Father how often we come to you expecting little. We have needs; we know that, you know that, but we do not expect them to be met. 

We hope for 

• a friendly welcome, 

• a little comfort, 

• some re-assurance 

and even, perhaps 

• a little challenge, 

but we do not expect our greatest need to be met, mainly because we keep it hidden, hidden often from ourselves.

We are aware of a dull spiritual ache, 

• a deep unconscious feeling that we are not what we should be, 

• that we do not share the fullness of life as Children of God, 

So, we settle for 

• a modicum of comfort, 

• a dash of religion, 

• a faint hope that we are not all that bad, 

and that, anyway, 

• you are a God who loves and will not hold our sins and failures against us. 

 

Forgive us Lord that we come in such a frame of mind.  That we expect so little. 

Give us a true forgiveness. 

We are heartily sorry for 

• our lack of faith, 

• lack of commitment and 

• our easy-going, self-interested and self-forgiving way of life. 

Help us 

• to see ourselves as you see us, uncloaked by any self-deception. 

• to see in ourselves what you see in us; the glorious potential of lives well lived.

• to live strong and straight, 

• facing the world in all its tawdriness and despair

with 

a sure faith, a deep joy, and a mighty love in our hearts for those who travel with us.

​

Prayer for August 2021

​

Lord, you are our light, our strength and our inspiration. 

 

You 

• open up our minds, 

• strengthen our resolutions 

and 

• guide us to be what we ought to be. 

 

We come

• to confirm again our allegiance to you, 

• to strengthen our hold on the things that really matter 

and 

• to gain strength to be good.  

 

We thank you for our reason and our ability to find our way through the twists and turns, and ups and downs of life. 

We thank you for the little courage we have, courage that not only allows us to bear the suffering that comes our way, but also to face it down

And discover and accept the happiness that each day brings.
 

• Forgive us that we fear so much and trust so little. 

• Forgive us for our doubts and confusions, 

and 

• deliver us from arrogance, deceit and prejudice.  

 

As we pray 

• lift our thoughts to you, 

• give us the grit to follow our saviour,

• help us to be a support and comfort to all those who are wrapped up with us in the same bundle of life.

and

• encourage us to enjoy all the good that life brings.

​

Prayer for July 2021

​

Our Father, as we sit down to consider where we are headed. we bless you that we have found a way of living that leads to happiness and fulfilment.   

At times, certainly, we wander through the mists, not sure of the path and why we are taking it.

At others, we see the way ahead clearly and sometimes hear a still small voice calling us on. 

Yet we are always conscious that we are part of some great and loving purpose and that you are walking close beside us.

 

Stay with us, Lord, 

• strengthen us when we are weak, 

• challenge us when we are lazy,

• encourage us when we are disheartened

• forgive us when we are arrogant. 

 

Show us how to benefit from life no matter what is thrown at us

• whether good or bad; 

• rejoicing in the good and learning from the bad. 

• always following in the steps of Jesus.

 

Teach us, 

• not to moan, but 

• to rejoice in our life’s journey, 

• its ups and downs and sights and sounds 

• in the fellowship of our companions in the way.

• trusting always in your guidance and your care

​

Prayer for June 2021

​

Gracious Father, when, on occasions like this, we still ourselves and seek you out, 

• may we grow more sure of you, and 

• listen as much as we speak. 

We claim that the hustle and bustle of our busy lives, with all its demands, leave us little time to spend time with you.

But that’s an excuse, isn’t it?

Forgive us

 

Yet we know you made us for work, not avoidance.

For you call us:

• not to quiet lives, but to bustling ones. 

• not to meditation but to activity, 

• not to lonely contemplation but to converse with our fellow travellers, 

• not to religious retreat but into the street.  

Perhaps in our common life we have grown careless, 

• offering you worship, prayers, songs, and bible reading

• while neglecting to serve you in our daily duties and in our care for others.

 

So, as we set aside this time for prayer and reflection may we come to understand once again that 

• all life is sacred, and 

• all actions part of your active concern for all your people. 

• our daily frustrations and disappointments may minister to us as much as sermons and lofty thoughts

 

And if, in our cleverness, we have begun to doubt you, recover for us that simplicity of faith that 

• accepts what it does not understand and 

• trusts where it cannot see.

​

Prayer for May 2021

​

Lord, forgive us that we often mistake belief for faith, 

         for then we become arrogant and believe that what we hold to be true must be. 

Teach us that 

• it is our doubts and confusion that make us human.

as well as

• the daily walk along our normal paths.

  

Lead us to venture where we think the way of Jesus lies, 

         although we do not fully understand the direction or the destination.     

 

For we have discovered on our journey so far, that 

• although there is much that we do not know and cannot explain,
  yet we are often surprised by birdsong, blossom, the vast blue sky. 

   and

      discover refreshment in everyday blessings:  

• our homes; 

• daily food; 

• friends,
  and 

• the banter of our companions in the way. 

 

Then we feel certain of your ordinary love 

and 

know that we can rest surely on your daily care for us.

​

Prayer for April 2021

​

Lord, why do we try to shut you up in:

• the mysteries of the universe?  

• abstract philosophy?

• concepts in creeds? 

• elaborate rituals?

• an old book?

 

Is it that we do not want you too close in case you

• discover that we are frauds

• cut off our excuses at root

• take our promises seriously and expect us to keep them? 

 

Or is it that we wish to dodge the practicalities of the life you intend for us.

 

We have every reason to be open with you.

We have found you beside us in the way, a constant companion, a forgiving friend.

So, help us to leave heaven to the angels, and thinkers to their contemplation, their scribbling and their books

And find you, as we have always found you, in the streets where we live. 

 

Lord, you know us well, know that we can only

• come close to you with a human heart

• set our purposes and plans with the understanding that we have, and  

• follow you with human steps. 

That will do, Jesus told us. We hold onto that. 

 

Lord,

• keep us honest 

• keep us true, 

• keep us safe, 

• keep us following.

​

Prayer for March 2021

​

It ought to be simple, Lord, to trust and follow, but sometimes we get it wrong. 

 

You know us well. We are caught always between:

• what is best and what’s convenient

• what pleases us most and what serves others best. 

• what leads on to strength and satisfaction and 

• what to weakness and to frustration.

How easily we allow our own interests, ambitions and desires to distract us from our commitment to you.

 

Yet you do not ask us to go snivelling round, 

• raking over our activities, 

• making excuses

• questioning our every motive, and 

• beating ourselves up for our inconsistencies.

 

You call us to a life of freedom not bondage, of spontaneity not carefulness.  

• We know when we follow closely and do what is right the whole world becomes wonderful and we understand the purpose of it all. 

• Understand not in any cold analytical way but along the heart, in quiet joy and sustaining peace. 

• It is a walk with you, not through cloisters in holy and unworldly contemplation, but among the ordinary commerce of life, along the familiar streets of it. 

 

These paths are not untroubled and sometimes the road is hard. But your love compels us not to avoid the suffering, and your strength, through our trust, supports us.

 

Teach us not to be distracted, 

• to trust completely, 

• to follow more closely 

• not to moan     

but 

• to delight in our walk with you.

​

Prayer from Jan - Mar 2021

​

Lord guide us through these trying times

Our lives are turned upside down

Familiar landmarks and places of refreshment on our journey through life have disappeared and

we wonder what awaits us round the next bend. 

Sometimes, Lord, our courage runs out

and we blunder on,

not clearly seeing where we are going,

not knowing where to go. 

The mists of anxiety, despair and cynicism cloud our minds

and we lose our direction. 

 

Lord, let us sit beside you by the road and rest awhile

let the warm sun of your love break through our darkness

so that we may sure again of your care for us.

and understand that wherever we are

and wherever we are headed 

you go with us. 

 

Stay with us, even in the darkest times.

lighten our minds,

warm our hearts.

give us direction even when we cannot see the way ahead clearly.

and the strength to follow where you lead

 

Above all, here, now, let us know that you walk beside us into this new year.

 

Prayer for Christmas

 

We thank you Lord for the way Christmas brightens and blesses our lives at the darkest time of the year.

​

Especially this Christmas

• It’s been a long haul for us

• we are weary of bad news and gloomy predictions, 

and 

• of the poor hold we humans seem to have on life.

 

But we have slogged through and are determined to set aside our anxiety and take all the joy that Christmas may bring; 

• its light. sound, festive food and cheer 

and 

• the happy company of those we love and who love us. 

 

Forgive us that we who claim to be yours often seek you in the magical and mysterious where you may not be found, 

but don’t recognise you when you come up to us in the street, sit with us in our homes, speak to us in the sights and sounds around us, or cry out to us in the concerns of those around us.

 

Dear God, fill us full of the awe of those who down the years have

• gloried in Christmas

• hailed your coming; 

• recognised you in human form

and 

• understood that you come not push us around but to lift us into the glorious life of your own company. 

 

Lord, bowl us over with the joy of Christmas 

• Give us hearts to embrace your unconditional love 

and 

• Voices and lives to spread it all around us.

​

Up to November 2020

​

Lord, we come to you in thankfulness, for every day is filled with your goodness:

 
the health we enjoy, 
the comfort of our homes, 
the companionship and fellowship of friends and relations, 
the capacity to love, and 
the opportunities to help each other along.

 

We thank you for the world we live in,

 
for the air we breathe, the food we eat, 
the clothes we wear; 
the sun that warms us, 
the rain and the wind that feed us and sustain us.

We thank you too for the victory you give us over our sins, our fears and our weaknesses. 
We regret the things that we have done wrong, for the people we have hurt and for the times we have turned away from what was right.

Forgive us, too,

 
for being selfish, 
for our hypocrisy in singing holy songs about the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and praising the other people down the years who have given up their lives to make life better for others, yet when it comes to us giving up our time or money or attention we are so reluctant to pay the price and we scurry away into our own hidey-holes where the needs of others cannot reach us.

 
Give us big hearts, Lord, open minds, and willing hands to be about your work in the worldPrayer for September 2022

 

We come from you, our Father and our Home, and although we forget whose we are, we know you do not forget - and on that we rest.

We carry with us memories of a larger life that makes our present life seem narrow and paltry.

And knowing that, we can easily become sick at the world around us, and sad at the evil of it.

Yet soon the recollection fades and

• we grow satisfied and cease to be surprised at sin.

• the glamour and clamour of the earth distract us from our origins,

• its temptations rob us of our birthright.

• It becomes hard for us to remember whose children we are and

• that we are here to live out our lives with you.

 

Yet only in trusting can life’s purposes become plain.

So, teach us, Lord, not to despise the things of earth or to separate ourselves into a holy huddle.

But

• to keep constant in the face of disappointment and failure.

• to play our part in the life of our times,

• to think clearly,

• to act kindly,

• to do justly, protect the weak, feed the hungry, comfort the sick and care for the dying.

Help us always to repay good for evil and make some heart glad that we passed their way.

 

And stay with us, Father, to the end.

We’d like a world to live in that is more to our taste

• no darkness, only light

• no suffering, only joy

• no war, only peace

• no want, only prosperity

a brighter, settled world where we may be always at peace.

 

That cannot be, so let us discover to our joy that you are with us all the time

• in the darkness and the light

• in the confusion and the clarity

• in the highs and the lows;

 

Teach us that whilst our dreams may be fantasies, the reality can be glorious.

Let

• no niggling temper,

• no laziness of mind,

• no contrariness of spirit

stop us from keeping close to you

 

Help us to see clearly

• the glory of life lived well,

• your hand in ours,

• your conversation in the way,

• your guidance through the confusion,

• your abiding friendship,

• the excitement of your intentions for us

and

• the light that shines steadily to the end.We’d like a world to live in that is more to our taste

  • no darkness, only light

  • no suffering, only joy

  • no war, only peace

  • no want, only prosperity

  a brighter, settled world where we may be always at peace.

   

  That cannot be, so let us discover to our joy that you are with us all the time

  • in the darkness and the light

  • in the confusion and the clarity

  • in the highs and the lows;

   

  Teach us that whilst our dreams may be fantasies, the reality can be glorious.

  Let

  • no niggling temper,

  • no laziness of mind,

  • no contrariness of spirit

  stop us from keeping close to you

   

  Help us to see clearly

  • the glory of life lived well,

  • your hand in ours,

  • your conversation in the way,

  • your guidance through the confusion,

  • your abiding friendship,

  • the excitement of your intentions for us

  and

  • the light that shines steadily to the end.