 The Lord be with you! Good morning, Cheviot Churches – and Good morning to those in other places too! This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe. We gather in our different places for our service for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost.
Notices:
Call to worship This is a place of welcome A place where all may find solace, Where all may celebrate, Where all are valued, all are loved. God welcomes us wherever we may be. Let us worship God Hymn 722 – Spirit of God (vv 1,2) Prayers of Approach and Confession Lord God, how majestic is your name in all the earth. From north and south, from east and west, drawn by your majesty we come to worship you, our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. For the gift of this new day, fresh from your hand, we rejoice. For the renewal we discover in your friendship in Christ, we praise you. In the Spirit’s energy, blessing us in each moment, whether joyous or difficult, we place our hopes. Lord God, we trust that all of life is your gift so give us glimpses of your splendour, glory and love in this time of worship. Lord of all life and each life, Forgive us when we forget that life is a gift and we fail to appreciate that all the good things in life come from you. Forgive us when we ignore the value of each person you have created and for the pain we have caused to others. Restore our faith in your goodness and free us to live with you and with each other in reconciling grace through the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said, Come to me all you who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Friends, trust that peace and forgiveness are God’s gifts to you this day. Be renewed by the power of the Spirit that moves with you into each new day. 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. Save us from the time of trial And deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, Now and forever. Amen Readings: Genesis 22: 1-14 Matthew 10: 40-42 Hymn 565 – My life flows on (vv1, 4) Here is our weekly prayer from Arthur and Kathleen: Gracious God, you have given us your only Son to be for us both a sacrifice for sin, and an example of Godly life. Give us the grace to thankfully receive this wonderful gift for ourselves, and to always strive to follow His example in giving "even a cup of cold water" in His name. Amen Reflection I watched ‘Talking Heads’ on television this week. It is a series of twelve 30 minute monologues by the Yorkshire writer Alan Bennett. He wrote them in the 1980s and 90s, I think, and they were produced for television with actors like Thora Hird famously appearing in them. Now they are updated with two new ones for Lockdown Britain. But in a number of them there is a sense of isolation or loneliness. They are about people who need to be loved, and the first monologue features a sad, lonely busybody, who has ruined the lives of her neighbours by her prying. She ends up in prison, and ironically it is there she finds acceptance and companionship We all need to be loved. We read just a few verses from the Gospel. It is the end of the story of the sending out of the disciples to take the Kingdom message to the people, and that message included You are loved, you are accepted. Now some people would not receive them well, and they were told to shake the dust from their shoes and move on, but in these few verses today, we are told that the disciples are received with a welcome and even given a cup of cold water. Those who welcomed the disciples welcomed Jesus and would be rewarded. Though also, those who welcomed Jesus are also asked to welcome those Jesus associated. with, and that was the least and the lost. Having lived in the Middle East I appreciate the reference to the cup of cold water. There is nothing better! Remember the story of Jesus asking for water from the Samaritan woman at the well? After a tiring journey in the heat, there was something precious about the simplicity of cold water. A little thing, but it made all the difference. We often imagine the disciples and apostles and biblical figures performing great feats and enduring great sacrifices, such as Abraham being asked to sacrifice the person dearest to him, Isaac. It is a gruesome story, and I think both Isaac and Abraham would have been traumatised by it for life! But it somehow shows Abraham’s loyalty to God. But often discipleship is about simple things – it can be as simple as giving someone a cup of cold water – or a pot of jam or a cup of tea. Something as simple as offering sympathy to someone who is mourning or helping someone to pick up their shopping or prescription. Or supporting a charity. Or lighting a candle every Sunday in prayer. Discipleship does not have to be heroic, but small acts of kindness and forgiveness can help build up relationships. The life of faith is full of such small gestures. But according to Jesus there are no small gestures and anything done in faith and in love has cosmic significance. I am reminded of the story of the star thrower. Someone was walking along a beach which was full of starfish which had somehow been stranded on the beach. But he saw a girl throwing the fish back into the water. ‘Why are you doing that?’, he asked. ‘If they do not get back into the sea, they will dry up and die’, she replied. Looking at all the thousands of star fish on the beach, the man commented ‘There are too many. You can’t hope to make a difference’, to which the girl retorted, as she threw another starfish back into the sea ‘It made all the difference in the world to that one’. Sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed. We see so much suffering in our world, so many people going hungry, so many people needing to be loved. We want to help, but its too much to be done, too many people to help. We are called to followers of Christ, but where do we start. Just like the girl on the beach, we are called to work in the corner where we are placed, seeking to make a difference. For even a cup of cold water can make a huge and unexpected difference to those in need of it. Thank you to all of you for making a difference where you are, especially at this time when we have been hit by the pandemic. We make small gestures, but they can make all the difference in the world. Taize Chant 801 – Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est (Where there is charity and love, there is God) Prayers of Dedication and Intercession Lord, we bring to you our offerings: our money, our time and ourselves, not as payment for something given but out of adoration and thanksgiving for all we have received. Take what we offer and who we are, bless them to the work of this church and your kingdom. God of welcome, we thank you that you are always ready, waiting to welcome us, always waiting to spend time with us and hear what we want to bring to you in prayer. We are so consumed by the effects of a virus that many situations have gone unnoticed. We pray now for those in our world who feel forgotten: for refugees in camps, those whose harvests have failed and whose wells have run dry. And now fear this virus; for men, women and children behind closed doors living with danger and torment at the hands of people who profess to love them; for people living with life-limiting conditions, relying on reduced levels of care; for those in the background within care-giving services, the cleaners and janitorial staff, the administrators and managers, doing what is needed to ensure hospitals and care homes run smoothly and safely; For those preparing for the easing of lockdown, like our teachers: for places of conflict where, with attention elsewhere, dangers are increased and tensions raised, and where deaths continue unheeded. So many places, so many concerns. We lay them before you. O God, hear our prayer. Amen Hymn 130 – Ye servants of God (vv1, 3, 4) Benediction Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you, with the people you love and those whom we are called to love. Amen
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 Good morning, Cheviot Churches – and Good morning to those in other places too! This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe. We gather in our different places for our service for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. This is also Fathers’ Day and Refugee Sunday.
Notices:
Gladden the souls of your servants, O God To you, O Lord, we lift our hearts The Lord is good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love Listen to our cries, O God, and answer God is great and does wondrous things We come to worship and bow down before you, O Lord. Hymn 166 – Lord of all hopefulness (vv1 ,3 ,4) Prayers of Approach and Confession Glorious God, with joy and gladness we gather in our different places to worship you and to rest in your presence. We praise you for all your goodness to us and for sustaining us during these difficult times. In these early summer days we praise you for the abundance of colour and smell in our gardens, for flowers and mown grass, for the sight of tractors in the fields and the earth revealing its bounty. We are your people and you are our God. Receive our praise. Spirit of God, you are the breath of life, the wind of change blowing through our lives, opening us up to new dreams and hopes, new life in Jesus Christ. Forgive us our closed minds, barricading themselves against new possibilities and ideas. Forgive us our closed eyes, which fail to seethe needs of your world, blind to opportunities of service. Forgive us our closed hearts, which limit our affections to ourselves and our own. Forgive us and break down and break down the prison walls of our selfishness that we might be open to your love and alert to the service of your world. In Christ we are made a new creation; the old life is gone, and the new life is come. Know that God loves you and forgives you and beckons us ever to make a new start. Lord’s Prayer Readings Genesis 21: 8-21 Matthew 10:26-39 Hymn 360 – Jesus Christ is waiting (vv 1,3,5) Our Weekly Prayer from Arthur and Kathleen: Heavenly Father, we rejoice in the call to belong to the Church, to believe in the Gospel, and to be united with those who have gone before. We remind ourselves that the Holy Family were once refugees, and in this week, we especially remember the many who are seeking refuge in today's world. Amen. Reflection Cast your mind back a few years, to the time when we were all transfixed by the television coverage of so many refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean by boat or walking by land through Turkey. There was then a stream of people going up through Greece and then through the Balkans, negotiating the borders, with the ultimate goal of reaching Western Europe. Right in the North of Greece was a Protestant church, and it was bang on the route to the border, and many refugees went past its doors. These doors were firmly locked. This was not their problem. But then it happened that the border closed, and the refugees, many of them from Syria, camped by the church, making do as best as they could. The local church people watched warily at first, but they couldn’t help but notice that at least two of the women were heavily pregnant – maybe they needed help. They couldn’t ignore that – they had to engage. Soon, food and medicine were brought, some of the older people and the two pregnant women were given rooms in homes. Conversation classes began and some lessons for the children. Why did they do it? Partly they remembered the teaching of Christ, but also for a more personal reason. Many of the grandparents and great grandparents had grown up in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, and after the 1st World War there was a massive population exchange, with the Muslim population of Greece moving to Turkey, and the Greeks in Turkey moving to Greece. Many had gone via Aleppo in Syria and had been well received, and that collective memory came back. And so this little church opened up to the refugees of different faiths, and both groups benefitted from the interaction. Our bible readings today are about outsiders. When Sarah thought she couldn’t bear a child, she gave Hagar, her Egyptian maid, to Abraham, and a son, Ishmael, was born. But now that Sarah has given birth to Isaac, she becomes jealous of and threatened by Hagar and Ishmael. She doesn’t want Ishmael to get a share in Isaac’s inheritance. And so Sarah and Abraham cast them out. It is a wonder that we find these stories in Genesis, for it doesn’t reflect well on Abraham and Sarah. Hagar and Ishmael are outsiders; they were cast out and we find them in the desert, their water run out, and Hagar can’t bear to watch her son die. It is very poignant, but is a reality even today for so many refugees. But God hears their cries, sees their suffering and brings about their safety. They are within the embrace of God’s love too, and Ishmael’s descendants will be a mighty nation too. No-one nation or group has the monopoly of God’s love. That is the message from the Gospel too. Matthew was writing at a difficult time, when the church was becoming more distinct from the society around. Living out the radical Gospel teaching made society nervous and threatened the Roman Empire. Families became divided, and many Christians were disowned by their families and ostracized by society. In our passage, Jesus talks about the sparrows God’s deep care for these small birds sold at the market for a ha’penny. If God cares for the sparrows, so God cares for us. We are loved and valued without measure, for we are made in God’s image. The imprint of God is on us, and God has counted even the hairs on our head. This passage follows on from the sending out of the disciples we read about last week. They were sent out with few supplies, but with the assurance of God’s love and care. The Christians of Matthews time needed to hear that, and we need to hear it today - that we are valued, but also that others are valued too, and on this Refugee Sunday we remember that those, cast out of their homes and countries for whatever reason, are within the embrace of God’s love. Like the members of the little Greek church, we should be reaching out in God’s love to them. Amen Chorus – Abba Father Prayers of Dedication, Thanksgiving and Intercession Generous God, you have given so much to us. Accept our gifts, we pray, and may we be your hands, feet and voice in the world. We thank you for moments of joy that still break into our lives, even in the strange times of pandemic and re-opening of our communities: for love given and received, for friends who furnish our life with meaning and happiness, and for family who embrace us with love and understanding. And we thank you for all caring and faithful fathers celebrated this day, and praying for those cut off from their families. God of the nations, we pray for our country and countries around this world so deeply affected by COVID-19. Guide leaders to make wise decisions about reopening communities, and give patience and courage to those whose lives have been disrupted, especially those who fear what the future holds. Wherever injustice rules and misinformation confuses, protect the vulnerable and shine the light of your truth to reveal the path to justice and renewed hope. God of compassion, We pray for peace to prevail in places torn by war, and ask that respect for human life will grow wherever people are abused or scorned. We pray for countries going through difficult times and remember Lebanon especially, as it undergoes economic troubles and for countries like Brazil, so affected by Covid 19. We remember all refugees, forced to flee their homes and often struggling to fit in and be accepted where they find themselves. We pray for all those who are suffering in any way. Surround them with your love and support them with the strength of your Spirit. Open our eyes to see how we might bring comfort to those who are hurting. Be with all our workers on the frontline and bless all who are going back to work as lockdown eases, who may still feel anxious. Silence Lord, hear our prayer, Amen Hymn 245 – It’s a world of sunshine, a world of rain (vv 1, 2) Benediction Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, And may the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be with you, with the people you love and those whom we are called to love. Amen  Good morning, Cheviot Churches – and Good morning to those in other places too! This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe. Amazingly this is the 12th Sunday podcast, and we still gather in our homes, gardens (maybe not in this weather) or wherever to have our service for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost. Notices:
Back then there were twelve. Here and now there is us. We are your disciples today and we gather in our own places to worship you Back then there were but a few. Today we number millions, all over the world. We are your disciples today and we gather to serve you Let us worship God Hymn 127 – O Worship the King (vv 1,6) Prayers of Adoration and Confession. Almighty and eternal God, from the depth of mystery you reveal yourself through the wonders of creation. We look at the night sky and are filled with awe. We see the rivers flow and the hedgerow grow and our gardens blossom and praise you. We relish the greening of creation and the intricacy of the butterfly’s wing. Creator God, we worship you and give our thanks. We come as we are before you, from our different places and backgrounds, but all one in you. We praise you. We come before you in confession, owning and admitting all within us that draws us away from you. You long for creations restoration and humanity’s safety, where we destroy and demean. You teach us your ways to be, but we prefer our own ways and ignore the havoc that we shape. We have made mistakes. Forgive us. Hear these words: The Lord our God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Know that your sins are forgiven and be at peace with God, with yourself and with one another The Lord's Prayer Prayer of Illumination Open your holy Word to us, God of comfort and challenge. Let it be a word of life and hope, a word that inspires us and guides us, a word that dances in our hearts and lifts our minds. Amen Readings Psalm 100 Matthew 9:35 -10:10 This is the season of Pentecost, and we sing a hymn of the Spirit. Hymn 593 – She sits like a bird, brooding on the water (vv 1,4) And now our weekly prayer from Arthur and Kathleen: Gracious God, we thank you that there is nothing too hard for the Lord. Hear us as we pray and help us not only to remember our Saviour’s words, but to seek by your grace to live by them. As we go into the week ahead may we, like the disciples, "proclaim the good news, the Kingdom of Heaven has come near”. Amen Reflection I have a riddle for you this morning. What has a sole but no body? A tongue but no mouth? Needs heeling, but there’s no wound? Can be any length, but is always a foot? Those reading the podcast may have a better chance of guessing it than those listening in. The answer, of course, is a shoe. And I was thinking about shoes when reading the Gospel lesson for today. Jesus sends out the 12 disciples on a mission, and in Mark and Luke’s version of the story, they are told to take very little, but they are at least allowed sandals on their feet, but in Matthew’s version which we read today, they are not even allowed sandals. I think, for the disciple’s sake, I prefer Mark and Luke’s version, for the work would have been hard without proper footwear. The disciples are named, and they are quite a bunch. Some like Peter are well known to us, while others like Thaddeus are maybe just a name. There is Matthew who had been a tax collector, working for the Roman occupiers, and Simon the Canaanite, who was a zealot, fighting these same Romans. A motley crew, but they were disciples, and as disciples they were learning from Jesus. Apprentices watching the Master-Craftsman at work. What was that work? It was in reaching out to the people around, and the end of Chapter 9 gives a summary of how Jesus healed the sick, taught and proclaimed the Kingdom, how he brought something of heaven to earth. But he was conscious that the people were harassed and helpless, like sheep without the shepherd. It was a terrible indictment, for the religious leaders had let down the poor, the vulnerable, the marginalised. That is why Jesus sent out the disciples. The harvest was ripe, he said, but the labourers are few. It rings a bell these days with fruit and vegetables in the fields in some parts of the country, ripe to be picked, and a ripe harvest cannot wait, but the usual labour from Eastern Europe not so able to come. Maybe the situation will get better as the summer progresses. But in 1st century Palestine, Jesus sends out the twelve, including Judas. They had been learning from Jesus, watching him in action. NOW they had their practical. Like all good apprentices, they had to put their learning into action. I wonder how they felt. Maybe they were excited. If it were me, I would be panicking, especially with healing the sick and casting out demons. What if it didn’t work! In Zambia, casting out demons was not unusual, and my students were very keen on exorcisms, though I always felt rather inadequate for the task. New College hadn’t taught me this! There is however, much evil in our world which we still have to tackle. This week in particular we have been conscious that we have still to cast the demons of racism out of our society. The toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol has even ‘knocked off’ coronavirus from the headlines of our newspapers. I think there are a lot of issues there, and there will be many views over the rights and wrongs of taking down statues and replacing street names, but it does highlight our task in the here and now of tackling the demons of racism and of how we treat everyone who is somehow ‘different’. As lockdown eases, we face big questions about how we want to live our lives – whether we go back to how it was or whether we create a new normal – a more jus, more caring, more inclusive society. The disciples were tasked with proclaiming the Kingdom values of love and justice and peace as emissaries for Jesus. We have that same task today. The Message says ‘You don’t need much equipment. You are the equipment’, and by living out our lives in love we reach out as ambassadors for Christ to seek to bring hope in our troubled and strange world, to be enemies of apathy, to bring reconciliation and work ever for peace. Amen Chant - O Lord, hear my prayer Prayers of Dedication and Intercession You, O God, give us everything that is good, and out of gratitude we give: we give of our time, our love, our presence, we give of our talents, our tears and our treasure, bless our gifts that, through them, You may change our world. God ever creating, God ever loving, We turn to you in uncertain times, trusting in your steadfast love. Wherever people are anxious about the future, overwhelmed by their responsibilities, or worried because of the upheavals the pandemic has caused, Bring peace and hope, we pray’ God of all compassion, Where people are lonely or isolated, longing for love; Where people are trapped in unhealthy or even violent relationships; Where people are grieving the loss of routines or purpose in their lives or the loss of someone beloved: Bring courage and hope, we pray God of tender strength, Where people feel pain in body or mind or spirit; Where people seek help or healing, Where illness has eroded hope and desperation and fatigue fill each day; Bring healing and hope, we pray God of trustworthy truth, Where leaders work to guide the world and their communities to renewed life: Where professionals discern scientific, medical and economic insights to protect and restore the quality of life after the pandemic: Where individuals still strive to care for the earth and its vulnerable inhabitants Bring wisdom and hope, we pray. Silence for personal prayer Create in us a renewal of hope, a deepening of trust, a strengthening of faith as we seek to follow you, our Sovereign, Saviour and Sustainer, to whom be glory now and for ever. Amen. Hymn 458 – At the name of Jesus (vv1,2,4) Benediction Father and Mother to us, Son and Saviour to us Spirit and encourager to us, Bless us this day and in the days to come With bright hope and deep joy, With willing hearts and open minds. May we follow you wherever you take us To glimpse you at work. May we know you and rejoice. Amen  . Good morning, Cheviot Churches – and Good morning to those in other places too! This is Colin, and I hope everyone is staying well and keeping safe. The weather has certainly changed this week, but I am sure farmers and gardeners are happy with the rain. We gather in our homes, gardens or wherever to have our service for Trinity Sunday. Notices:
Call to Worship O Lord, our Sovereign, How majestic is your name in all the earth! When we look at your heavens, the moon and stars, the work of your fingers, Who are we to praise you? Yet you have made us in your image and set us in this world you love. And so we come to worship you and learn to care for your earth. Hymn 111 – Holy, holy, holy Prayer We have heard about you, God of all power. You made the world out of kindness, creating order out of confusion; You made each one of us in your own image; Your fingerprint is on every soul. We praise and worship you. We have heard about you, Jesus Christ: the carpenter who left his tools and trade; the poor man who made others rich; the healer who let himself be wounded; the criminal on whom the soldiers spat not knowing they were fouling the face of God; the saviour who died and rose again. We praise and worship you. We have heard about you, Holy Spirit. You broke the bonds of every race and nation, to let God speak in every tongue; You made disciples drunk with grace; You converted souls and emptied pockets; You showed how love made all things new and opened the doors to change and freedom. We praise and worship you. God our Creator, we confess that we have not lived wisely in your creation,and so the earth suffers.God our Redeemer, we have not valued ourselves or one another as those made in your image, and so our relationships are strained.God our Sustainer, we have not trusted in your loving guidance, and so we follow paths that lead to foolish ends.Forgive our mistaken choices and selfish desires.Call us back to your loving presence and teach us again how to follow you. If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. Everything old has passed away. See, everything has become new! Thanks be to God that we can all make a new start this day and every day. Lord’s Prayer Readings: Psalm 8 Matthew 28:16–20 Hymn 550 – As a deer pants for the water Here is our weekly prayer from Arthur and Kathleen: Oh Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth. As we look around us here in Cheviot Churches, we give thanks for the beauty of our surroundings. God in three persons, blessed Trinity, we pray for peace in the world, in our communities and our families: create in us a love for peace, not peace that is absent from struggle, nor peace that is blind to injustice but the peace that makes whole what now is broken. Amen Reflection I was at the Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh the other day. Now, I wasn’t breaking any lockdown rules. It was a virtual tour, on my laptop, but I could see the various portraits and photographs of famous people. In most cases they would have known they were getting their picture painted or photo taken and would have planned accordingly, choosing appropriate clothes and background, because that would be how they would be remembered in the future. David Livingstone, for example, sits very nonchalantly, but with books piled on the table beside him. It reminds me of the Zoom interviews and meetings, where people position themselves in front of pictures they like or bookcases, because they want to project a certain image. I once had my portrait painted in Zambia, but from a photograph, and it took me ages to choose which photo to use. Winston Churchill, or maybe it was his wife, famously didn’t like a portrait of him by Graham Sutherland and burned it. How would you wish to be portrayed? Would you wish to appear younger or more mature? Obviously not with a lockdown hairstyle. Out in the country or in a study? We all want to project a favourable image of ourselves. Today is Trinity Sunday, and in a way the Trinity is a portrait of God. It was the early Church’s way of expressing how they viewed God. They saw God as the Almighty, the Creator God, whom we hear about in Psalm 8; the transcendent God, before whose holiness Isaiah was to fall on his knees in awe. Yet they also saw God in Jesus, in his words and his actions, reaching out in love and acceptance to all in need, regardless of gender or age or colour or status. And they saw God in the Holy Spirit, working and involved in the present, encouraging and inspiring. You could say the picture was of God beyond, beside and within. All different, but all working together, because they are interconnected. A traditional Celtic image of the Trinity is of three rings interconnected (see below), while a famous icon by the Russian artist Rublev shows the Trinity as the three angels who visited Abraham in Genesis 12. It portrays the Trinity as being in community with one another, in loving harmony and interdependence, each being distinct (see above). That speaks to me, for we are made in God’s image; and so we too are made to be in community and are only truly ourselves as we live that out. We have to live out our faith together with our fellow-believers. Our Muslims friends often talk about the 99 names for God, 99 different aspects of the divine, and certainly for Christians there are infinite ways in which we could try to describe God – and never fully succeed. However, the image of the Trinity, all different but all working together as a community, is helpful. It is also something we need to emphasise in our daily lives. We have all been outraged by the events in Minnesota, where the appalling death of an African-American man, George Floyd, has resulted in protests and riots. It highlights how divided a society the United States remains, how fractured a community it is. We need to recapture the image of Trinity distinct, but working in harmony and community. At Pentecost the Spirit came upon all the believers and did not discriminate between young and old, male or female, Libyan or Persian. On the mountaintop of Matthew 28, the disciples, some still doubting, were given the commission to take the good news and to baptise in the name of the Trinity– not just to certain people, but to the whole world. Therefore let us rejoice in the wonderful diversity of human beings and rejoice in the communities in which we live, ever working to strengthen them and to affirm all who live in them, for we are all made in God’s image. Amen Hymn 769 – Holy, holy, holy (Argentinian chant) Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession God of our past and our future, God of healing and hope, We come before you with grateful hearts, trusting that you walk with us through all the times of our lives, including this strange time of illness and isolation. You are still the God of our history and God of the world you love, hear us as we pray for your world and the people around us. We remember today those who face danger and despair in these times: Those who suffer the effects of coronavirus in their lives and in the lives of loved ones; those living with hunger while the world is distracted, those caught up in unrest and violence despite the pandemic, and all whose lives are directed by forces beyond their control. We especially pray for the United States; for those who feel devalued because of the colour of their skins. Help them to know that they matter. We pray for those who are frightened and for all trying to work out peaceful solutions. We pray for all those working to relieve suffering of many different kinds and bring justice and peace to those most vulnerable. God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for all those facing fear or frustration, and those wrestling with sorrow or discouragement. We remember those who live with illness, disability or pain day by day, and all who know the grief and change of bereavement… We pray for all those who work to bring healing and comfort to those who suffer, remembering those who put their own health and life at risk during the pandemic. God, in your mercy, Hear our prayer. We pray for all who feel helpless or hopeless in this present time of such uncertainty: For those facing unemployment or struggling to make ends meet, For those caught up in misunderstanding or broken relationships And for those working through situations of conflict at home or at work… We pray for all who offer guidance and support in the midst of such difficulties. Silence Amen Hymn 112 – God whose almighty word Benediction May the holy wisdom of God Guard your ways and guide your paths May the living truth of God Enlighten your hearts and open your minds And may the living Spirit of God Give you life, and life to the full! And may the blessing of God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer, be with you and be with all whom you love, now and forevermore. Amen  |
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