Prayer for the Day
A prayer for the world and the Church
God, who changes not, we trust in you for our todays and tomorrows. We pray for those with responsibility for making key decisions that might change the direction of world or local events. We pray for those affected by the decisions of others, but who feel powerless in the face of forces of change. We commend to you the decisions that have to be made in your Church, and those charged with making them. Take our gifts and talents, voices and musical worship, Lord, and use them we pray in the service of your kingdom. Amen.
Alternative Prayer for the Day
A prayer that our whole lives be given to God
Preserve us, O God, our whole journey through; that we may live in your love, die in your favour, rest in your peace, rise in your power and reign in your glory, in the joy of Christ and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
A prayer for purity of understanding
God of all understanding,
the more I learn about your holy justice
the more I realise that even my prayers can be
riddled with sin.
In praying for other people
I have thought that I know best what they need.
I have taken the seat of judgement
and found others wanting.
I have not challenged the ground
of my own understanding,
allowing prejudice and stereotypes
to flourish unchecked.
Forgive me.
Help me to kneel before your throne of grace
with both confidence and humility.
Remind me to leave the judging and directing to you.
Enable me to pray for others
not by way of the gulfs that divide us
but via the love in which you hold us all in common,
revealed to us in Jesus. Amen.
Rachel Parkinson, District Chair, Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District