I hope that these emails and prayers are useful, and that you are able to spend a few minutes at noon each day, as we pray together as a church family. Please do keep sending your prayer suggestions to me, so that we can make sure we are praying around the needs, burdens and encouragements of our whole church family.
Monday
Thank you, Jesus, that you came to be our Good Shepherd and to lay down your life for us. Please help us to know that you are with us and give us ‘life to the full’ when we are feeling lost, limited or alone this week.
We remember the children we know this week, who have their own struggles in the pandemic. Please would you settle the hearts of all anxious children today. We particularly remember children who are adopted or fostered, children with additional needs, or children who already had physical or mental health challenges before the virus struck. Please fill them with your peace at this unsettling time. Amen
Tuesday
We entrust to you, O God, all those times when we can see only shadows and not the true picture of the future; those times when suffering seems so unbearable, life so fragile, and death so permanent. Bless us with the assurance that you there are in all things, the beautiful and the tragic, the joyful and the painful, the brightness and the dark. This we ask in the name of Christ, the light of the world, today, tomorrow and for ever. Amen
Wednesday
We pray for positive and beneficial relationships between nations at this time. Would governments unit in the fight against the virus, practicing generosity towards each other, and maintaining integrity at all times.
We pray for our own government, as they continue to take advice and weigh the various social and economic costs of different choices. Please would you give them wisdom and help them to care for everyone as best can be managed at the moment. Amen
Thursday
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, may the rainbow of many colours bind us to God himself; may the soft winds of heaven refresh our spirits and may sunshine brighten our hearts. May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon us, May God enfold us in love, and may the blessings of God the Holy Trinity bring us peace beyond all understanding, now and for ever. Amen
Friday
Compassionate Saviour, the Light who shines in the darkness, we remembered especially at Easter that you know death and loss better than any of us. We pray especially for those whose lives are overshadowed by the darkness of death at the moment. Help them to know that you have walked that path too, and that you are walking it with them. Please help them to find comfort in you who conquered death, and please help those around them to find ways of comforting them too, even when we cannot meet. Amen
Saturday
Help us all, Lord, to trust you with our fears, worries and burdens. We pray that this pandemic will teach us more and more that you are our Rock, and that with you no storm is too great to weather. Amen