Category: Prayer items

Lent day 5 with Tearfund

by Bellshill Central, posted in Lent 2022, Prayer items

Today, please use this devotion as your 7pm prayer focus. Many have received this devotion from Tearfund and will be praying with you.

A new light arrives

‘Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.’ (Psalm 30:5)

Today’s devotion isn’t quite going to be what was planned. The content for this series was written before recent events shook the world.

I think we’ve all been shocked and disturbed and upset by what’s happening in Ukraine right now. It’s certainly affected me. My great grandparents were refugees from Ukraine. They fled persecution in the early part of the 20th century. And now a million more refugees are running for their lives. And of course violent conflict is a plague in so many places around the world. It can be hard to know how to respond.

The plan for these Sunday devotions was to share a poem. To have it as a kind of Sabbath Day – where we can just spend time with the words and soak in God’s presence.

The poem I was planning on sharing today is about hope. And I wondered whether this was still appropriate. But then I thought, what could be more appropriate? The situation in Ukraine seems kind of hopeless. So many situations, globally and in our own lives, can seem hopeless.

But we hope anyway. Because hope is a choice. One that we always have. And it is a choice today that is rooted in truth – the truth that hate can’t win. Love wins. Hope wins. So, we’re going to share this short poem about hope. And we’ll keep sharing these devotions as we planned to – because we choose to, because the truths of the gospel never change, and because it’s in the darkness that those truths shine brightest.

Read the poem slowly. Ask God to speak to you through it. And let’s declare hope over the world.

A new light arrives

Buried in the night,
anxious thoughts crowded darkly
around me.

The last thing I expect
is a miracle;
the last thing I anticipate is God
riding the dawn.

But then,
like the only answer we ever need,
a new light arrives,
splashing grace-paint
on the worn-out canvas of my heart,

and all of a sudden
hope is running along the tops of the trees
wild-eyed
and rampant.

Gideon Heugh
Gideon writes for Tearfund and is a poet and environmentalist.
Poem is © Gideon Heugh, taken from Rumours of Light.

A Prayer for Ukraine

by Bellshill Central, posted in Prayer items

A prayer for Ukraine by The Church of Scotland Faith Impact Forum:-

The news can be difficult to listen to and to read.
When that news relates to faces we know
And to voices familiar to us,
It becomes all the harder to hear.
Lord God,
We ask you to hold the people of Ukraine deep in your heart.
Protect them, we pray;
From violence,
From political gamesmanship,
from being used and abused.
Give, we pray,
the nations of the world the courage
and the wisdom
to stand up for justice
and the courage too,
to dare to care – generously.
Lord in your mercy,
Take from us all,
The tendencies in us
That seek to lord it over others:
Take from us those traits
that see us pursuing our own needs and wants
before those of others.
Teach us how to live in love
And dignity
And respect – following your example.
In your name and for your sake,
Amen

Sunday prayers at 7pm

by Bellshill Central, posted in Prayer items

Join us in prayers this evening. We pray to God giving thanks, coming before Him, praying for ourselves and others. We pray for the Ukraine.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

For what is beyond, not invented or made up
Let us offer God our thanks and praise.

For thoughts and ways that are not ours,
Let us offer God our prayers and reflections.

For the love that loves first and shows us what love is
Let us offer God our fellowship and service.

For the light that shines from the face of Jesus Christ and enlightens every
human being.
All: Let us offer God our joy and worship.

Holy, holy, holy, God,
to You we come
rejoicing in who You are.
You are light and in You there is no darkness at all,
You are faithful and true and there is nothing false about You,
You have shown us how much You love us in Jesus Christ,
who became one of us and for our salvation.

Freely, gladly we bring ourselves to You.
Holy Spirit help us,
that with all that is within us,
we may bless Your holy name.

Living God, joyfully we find in Jesus what it means to be fully human.
You give us hope that one day we shall be like Him.
May all His sisters and brothers know fullness of life and God’s glory be seen.

Lord in Your mercy
Hear our prayer

We pray for people who are hungry or thirsty, in need of food and drink,
for strangers hoping for a welcome,
for people without proper clothing,
for those who are ill at home or in hospital,
and for people in prison and all affected by crime.

Lord, these are our sisters and brothers too,
help us to do what we can to care and to ensure adequate support.

Lord in Your mercy
Hear our prayer

We look to the day when all of creation will be set free from decay
to enter into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We pray for the climate crisis
that the world’s governments may not falter in their commitment to reduce global temperatures.
We pray for the work of NGOs, charities and faith groups
raising awareness, lobbying governments and garnering support.

Lord in Your mercy
Hear our prayer

Lord God, who has made it known that You love justice and equity,
we pray for a better sharing of the world’s resources,
for an end to poverty and inequality.
We remember the work of Christian Aid
working with some of the world’s poorest communities
and we pray for the work of Covax, the World Health Organisation’s body
tasked with the equitable sharing of vaccines.
You invite us to collaborate with You and our sisters and brothers
towards the day when Your kingdom is complete
and poverty and injustice will be no more.

Lord in Your mercy
Hear our prayer

Compassionate Christ,
as Your disciples did in Galilee,
as the men in the gospel did for their sons,
we bring to You now people we would ask You to bless,
in moments of quiet we pray for them.

Silence

Lord in Your mercy
Hear our prayer

Gracious God, as Lent approaches and we journey with Jesus towards the cross,
may we ever be aware of His glory.
Amen

PRAYER FOR UKRAINE

Loving God,
We pray for the people of Ukraine,
for all those suffering or afraid,
that you will be close to them and protect them.

We pray for world leaders,
for compassion, strength and wisdom to guide their choices.

We pray for the world
that in this moment of crisis,
we may reach out in solidarity
to our brothers and sisters in need.

May we walk in your ways
so that peace and justice
become a reality for the people of Ukraine
and for all the world.

Amen.

A PRAYER FOR UKRAINE

by Bellshill Central, posted in Other News, Prayer items, Weekly Church News

Dear Lord

Author of all peace who through your son reconciled us to yourself, we pray for peace in our world at a time of heightened tensions.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

We pray

for our governments and political leaders – for wise counsel and sound initiative to defuse tension

for diplomats – that they may have space to negotiate

for the people of Ukraine – that their close ties with the people of Russia and other neighbours will remain strong even in the face of military threat.

We pray that all governments commit time to dialogue and understanding, respect the will and freedom of all peoples, invest in welfare and alleviation of poverty and reject militarism and the threat of violence.

May Christ’s teaching and example be our inspiration, may hearts and minds be changed, and may your holy spirit be at work transforming each of us day by day,

Through your everlasting grace and mercy

Amen