Our church building may be closed, but God’s eyes are open and his ears are attentive to our prayers (2 Chronicles 7.15).

If you would like to receive these by email, please click here.

Opening

Speak these words out loud:

Let us take up the cross and follow Jesus,
whatever the cost.

from Luke 14.27-28

Today’s Proverb

Read the proverb through three or four times, slowly. Pause in-between, maybe write it out by hand – savour the words, let them speak deeply to you.

Proverbs 17.15

Here is one very good reason why handing vengeance over to the state is a good thing. Most of us – especially when we are victims – want guilty people banged-up, and get cross when it looks like the state is being lenient. But those who have been falsely accused – or even falsely convicted – know to their great cost what happens when the innocent are condemned.

The Church of England is facing these problems right now, having received the report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA). You may have read about it in the news, and it is devastating in its criticisms of the way the Church has (mis-)handled accusations, victims, and perpetrators.

Obviously when someone has perpetrated a crime, especially a crime of this nature, they should be punished; too often in the past such crimes and accusations were covered up or brushed aside. The Church of England needs to show that it really does take such crime seriously.

However, particularly when it comes to emotionally-charged crimes like child abuse, the danger is that the innocent can be caught up in our desire to punish the guilty. False accusations – which result in the accused being suspended immediately, innocent or not – can destroy a person’s reputation and ministry: the innocent are condemned in the court of public opinion.

Those who lead the Church of England (and all churches facing these issues) need great wisdom to find the best way through all this (let’s be honest, horrid) stuff: please pray for them today, they need it!

Prayers

Pray for Five – pray for your five friends / family from Thy Kingdom Come.

Our daily prayer sheet includes the names of everyone for whom we have a signed church family directory form – and local parishes and senior church leaders. Today we are praying for:

Dennis & Dorothy Holland, Frank & Sue Joyce

Father, please bless them with your peace, and a deep awareness of your presence with them, every day and in every way.

We also pray for: Prayer Meetings

Please pray for our leaders and healthcare workers, and all those working to keep us safe, well, and fed. Please pray that people would unselfishly put others before themselves.

Church Family Prayer

Come Holy Spirit,
and make us one in heart and action,
so that we can serve God faithfully:
abounding in love,
maturing in holiness,
and seeking out the lost.
Help us grow as disciples of Jesus –
in commitment, in depth, and in number –
that we may be a blessing to Amington;
to the glory and praise of God the Father.
Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.

Closing Prayer

Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus
the only way to the Father.

Psalm 127.1, Hebrews 12.2 & John 14.6

May Christ our Saviour give us peace.
Amen.