Category: Prayer items

This Sunday (6 June), Christians across the country – and further afield – will join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.

As with previous weeks during lockdown, 14 Christian churches and organisations across the country, including the Church of Scotland, have co-signed the letter calling for prayer.

Scottish Christians have been continuing to answer the call to pray at the same time each week, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Lord Wallace, is taking part alongside them.

“We should always be mindful for the wisdom handed down to us from past generations; much of it learned the hard way, from mistakes made and consequences suffered,” Lord Wallace said.

“So, too, we are grateful for the richness that comes to us from living alongside people of other traditions. In our day and generation we must surely allow our minds and hearts to be open so that we can risk getting to know them and learning from them.

“In this pandemic, our responsibility is to come together and offer our prayers for all the many diverse expressions of our Christian faith that enrich life, as we have done for many months now.

“A pattern has been set for us, lived out in Jesus Christ, made possible by the Spirit. May we follow in His way, and be guided by the one over-riding rule of love in all that we say and do.

This week’s letter accompanying the prayer, which is also available in Gaelic, states:

“‘Are we there yet?’ We can easily picture a small child enquiring plaintively from the back of the car as to whether, or not, the destination has been reached? Indeed, even as we mature, we can all readily identify with the sentiment as we enquire as to whether, or not, our desired destination has been reached?

“Over the past months, we might perhaps have been tempted to succumb to the frustration of a journey’s end delayed and to rather lose heart.

“As one who had journeyed and who continued to journey, the Apostle Paul was not unfamiliar with the challenges of doing so. In response to those whom he sensed were ready to succumb to frustration, Paul affirms the basis on which we should continue to journey and concludes: ‘Therefore we do not lose heart.’

“What is that basis? It is the assurance that the One who ‘raised the Lord Jesus from the dead’ will also raise us with Him and bring us into God’s presence. We share in the life of the risen Lord Jesus and the challenges we face on the journey are to be set in the light of this. We might not be there yet but, as we share in the life of the risen Lord Jesus, we are those who ‘do not lose heart’. (2 Corinthians 4: 13-5: 1)”

We pray:

Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us when the path is smooth
And the horizon is clear.
Lead us on to the place of Your presence.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us when the path is broken
And the way obscured.
Still lead us on to the place of Your presence.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us as we face the challenges seen
And those as yet unseen.
In all we face, may Your abiding presence remain.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey.
Be with those who grow frustrated
And who feel disheartened.
Renew us that we may discover Your presence once more.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey.
Be with us that we might share
In the life of the Risen Lord
And the life everlasting in Your presence.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

This Sunday (23 May), as Pentecost takes place, Christians across the country – and further afield – will join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.

As with previous weeks during lockdown, 15 Christian churches and organisations across the country, including the Church of Scotland, have co-signed the letter calling for prayer.

Scottish Christians have been continuing to answer the call to pray at the same time each week, and the outgoing Moderator, Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair, has been taking part alongside them.

“Too often, different parts of the Christian Church have allowed themselves to become distant from one another. They’ve looked at certain doctrinal or liturgical matters in different ways and have allowed those differences to become divisive,” Dr Fair said.

“But we can, and should, all pray together. And when we do, we find that some of these differences that seemed important begin to diminish in significance.

“Through the pandemic we have prayed each Sunday evening at 7pm and we’ve done it together. We’ve been united in praying for the country and in praying for the life and mission of the whole Church.

“Jesus’ final prayer when with his disciples was, ‘My prayer for all those who believe in me is that they shall be one.’

“We’ve demonstrated that by our shared prayer. Let it continue to be so.”

Next week’s prayer will be led by incoming Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Lord Wallace.

This week’s letter accompanying the prayer, which is also available in Gaelic, states:

“The Gospel of John speaks of the One who is to come and of the One who is to go. Jesus is the One who is to go and He must do so first.

“On hearing this, the disciples of Jesus are filled with sorrow and He explains to them that ‘if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you’. The disciples fear that they will be left bereft and Jesus reassures them that His absence will be filled by the outpouring of ‘the Spirit of truth’. The Spirit is the One who is to come and Jesus is the One who is to go. (John 15: 26-27; 16: 4b-15)

“Who is the Spirit who is to come? In the Gospel of John, the word used to describe the Spirit is variously translated as ‘Advocate’, ‘Comforter’, ‘Counsellor’, ‘Helper’ or simply transliterated as ‘Paraclete’. (John 15: 26) The word used is found in only one other place in the New Testament outside the Gospel and here it is used to describe Jesus. Jesus is the One who stands before the Father and pleads for us. (1 John 2: 1)

“On this Pentecost Sunday, we give thanks to God for the Spirit outpoured on the people of God. The Spirit comes to be the abiding presence of God in our lives and in the life of the people of God. We give thanks that the Spirit is the One who has come.”

We pray:

Living God
And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pour out Your Spirit upon us
And fill the hearts of Your faithful people.
May Your Spirit come as the One who speaks for us
And advocates on our behalf.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God
And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pour out Your Spirit upon us
And kindle in us the fire of Your love.
May your Spirit comfort us in our sorrow
And strengthen us in our weakness
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God
And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pour out Your Spirit upon us
And create Your people anew.
May Your Spirit come to counsel and direct us
And grant to us wisdom in all we face.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God
And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pour out Your Spirit upon us
And renew the face of all the earth.
May Your Spirit help us to care for Creation
And to live as those who cherish the gifts You have given.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God
And Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Pour out Your Spirit upon us
And set us free to worship and glorify Your Name.
Come, Holy Spirit,
And fill our hearts with love for You.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

This Sunday (16 May), Christians across the country – and further afield – will join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.

As with previous weeks during lockdown, 15 Christian churches and organisations across the country, including the Church of Scotland, have co-signed the letter calling for prayer.

Scottish Christians have been continuing to answer the call to pray at the same time each week, and Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, has been taking part alongside them.

“Too often, different parts of the Christian Church have allowed themselves to become distant from one another. They’ve looked at certain doctrinal or liturgical matters in different ways and have allowed those differences to become divisive,” Dr Fair said.

“But we can, and should, all pray together. And when we do, we find that some of these differences that seemed important begin to diminish in significance.

“Through the pandemic we have prayed each Sunday evening at 7pm and we’ve done it together. We’ve been united in praying for the country and in praying for the life and mission of the whole Church.

“Jesus’ final prayer when with his disciples was, ‘My prayer for all those who believe in me is that they shall be one.’

This week’s letter accompanying the prayer, which is also available in Gaelic, states:

“Jesus prays for those who follow Him. It can be put no more simply or profoundly: Jesus prays for those who follow Him. In the Gospel of John, we see that Jesus prays for those who have been His followers and disciples and He does so as He comes to the end of His earthly ministry.

“Jesus has given to His followers all that He has received from the Father and now He must leave them to live in the world as witnesses to the truth.

“In the light of this, Jesus prays for them and asks for their protection: ‘And now I am no longer in the world… Holy Father, protect them in Your name that You have given me, so that they may be one, as We are one.’ (John 17: 6-19)

“We pray, in the light of the Ascension of our Lord and in anticipation of the gift of the Holy Spirit, with the assurance that as we do so; Jesus prays for us. As we come nearer, we trust, to the end of the restrictions that have characterised these past months, we pray in the knowledge that Jesus continues to pray for those who follow Him in this world.”

We pray:

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You for all that we have received from Your Hand.
We thank You for the life You have given to us
And Your presence with us in all we face.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You for all that we have received from Your Son.
We thank You that He has prayed for us
And that He continues to uphold us in all we face.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You that You watch over us and protect us.
Watch over us as we continue the journey we have taken in past months
And protect us in days to come.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You that You watch over and protect this world.
Watch over us as we give thanks for the gift of Creation
And enable us to better care for the world You have entrusted to us.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You that Your Son is Risen and Ascended.
We join with the community of all Your people
And anticipate the outpouring of Your Holy Spirit.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God and Father
Of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We thank You that Your Risen and Ascended Son prays for us once more.
We join with all Your people in every place
And ask that You might renew us by Your Holy Spirit.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.