11
May
2020
09
May
2020
Prayers for 10th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Cathy Gale
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
John Wesley encouraged the early Methodists to be engaged in what he called “Acts of Piety” and “Acts of Mercy”. Acts of Piety were disciplines which he said were “means of grace” – practices in the life of the Christian through which God could channel this loving relationship called grace. The practices included things like Prayer, Searching the Scriptures, Holy Communion and Fasting. Today I want to focus on Prayer.
I found this candle in my Mum’s house when my sister and I were doing some sorting back in January. If you look closely it says on it “Pray without ceasing”, a quotation from 1 Thessalonians 5:17. What struck me was that it was still wrapped up in plastic! It seemed to me to be a symbol of how we often hold this wonderful gift God offers us – prayer. It’s full of power and potential, and yet we keep it wrapped in plastic, as if keeping it for a special occasion!
Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Wesley’s idea of prayer as a means of grace is that it is first and foremost about relationship with God, a relationship that God wants with us. So today, as you reflect (perhaps using this image of an unlit candle) I invite you to think about these things:
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How gracious is God’s offer of prayer in the place of worry and anxiety!
At this anxiety-ridden time, we don’t have to know what words to say, we just need to trust that God is listening. -
How amazing is the truth that in prayer we meet with the living God – the One who made us and the whole universe!
-
How transforming might prayer be if we would listen as well as speak?
So pause, light your candle (not necessarily literally), and relax in God’s presence. You are praying.
08
May
2020
Prayers for 9th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Cathy Gale
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
May is a significant month in the life of the Methodist Church as we remember the “Aldersgate Experience” of John Wesley which transformed his life and began the movement which became Methodism. There are lots of ways in which we feel restricted during this time of lockdown, but for many of us an opportunity which has emerged has been more time for reflection and prayer.
I’ve embarked on an online course delivered by Wesley House, Cambridge entitled “Growing in Grace: Exploring the Wesleyan Way”. On Wednesday the course leader, the Revd. Dr. Andrew Stobard, gave this really simple definition of grace:
Grace is a relationship initiated by God, a relationship that exists because God wants it to.
I invite you today to ponder that definition – in your own life and the life of our world.
I offer this image as an aid for your reflection on grace. The dandelion head (here, amazingly captured in a paperweight) – so fragile on the one hand, and yet able to explode into new growth! Could this describe our relationship with God through grace – so much potential for growth and transformation?
Use your time in prayer today to thank God for grace in your life and bring the world and its needs before God.
08
May
2020
Prayers for 8th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Delyth Liddell, Coordinating Chaplain at Cardiff University
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Psalm 46:1
Today is the 75th Anniversary of VE Day and many of us will have been expecting to commemorate with street parties and church services. Instead, unless we are keyworkers, we find ourselves at home, listening to the Queen’s speech at 9am, taking part in the two minute silence at 11am and raising a toast to the heroes of WWII at 3pm with the words, “To those who gave so much, we thank you.”
The day the guns fell silent in Europe was indeed a day of celebration, although the war still raged for some time in Asia and the Pacific. So today we remember and give thanks for those who gave their lives in times of war, whilst also being aware of the troubling time that we find ourselves in. These words of Jesus remind us that our peace is found in Jesus:
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
John 14:27
So today, I invite you to pray:
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For those in the Armed Forces, many still in war zones around the world, and others helping out with the global pandemic.
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For those on the front line of our current crisis, the doctors and nurses who put their lives on the line to care for the ill and dying.
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For those who return from active service wounded, physically and mentally, and for those struggling with their mental health during this pandemic.
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For those who have lost loved ones, through war or in this present time.
-
For those who toiled on the home front, in the fields and factories during the war effort; and the many key workers in shops and providing deliveries throughout our land.
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For the Methodist Wales Synod, as we conclude the 15 months of prayer across Wales as a time of prayer for our church.
As Jesus offers peace, so we pray for the peace of this world,
peace among nations,
peace to the church,
peace within our communities,
peace within our homes
and peace in our hearts;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Act of Commitment
Let us pledge ourselves anew to the service of God and our neighbours: that we may help, encourage and comfort others, and support those working for the relief of the needy and for the peace and welfare of the nations.
Lord God our Father,
we pledge ourselves to serve you and all humankind,
in the cause of peace,
for the relief of want and suffering,
and for the praise of your name.
Guide us by your Spirit;
give us wisdom;
give us courage;
give us hope;
and keep us faithful now and always.
Amen.
O Lord our God,
as we remember, teach us the ways of peace.
As we treasure memories, teach us to hope.
As we give thanks for the sacrifices of the past,
help us to make your future in this world,
until your kingdom come.
Amen.
06
May
2020
Prayers for 7th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Alexis Mahoney.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
New ways of living:
Most people don’t like change, do they? I know from my own experiences that change can bring with it anxiety and even resentment.
However, change can also bring excitement and hope that the ‘something new’ will bring with it a better way of being or living. I suppose it depends on whether your natural inclinations are that of an optimist or a pessimist. Or whether the changes taking place are desirable or not, or whether you have a certain degree of control over them. And also whether there’ll be any sacrifices of an ‘old’ way of living that you’ve been accustomed to and fond of.
One thing’s for sure, times have changed for us now. And one of the things being in lockdown has done is bring to the fore the forthcoming potential of a ‘new normal’ of a post-Covid world. Basically, everything has changed, and we need to prepare for and envision a new normal.
President Macron of France recently said that “this is not a time for falling back on comfortable ideology. We need to get off the beaten track, reinvent ourselves, find new ways of living”. And I have to agree with him. And I think that this applies as much to our wider society and culture as it does for our churches, our Circuits and our Synod.
I fully realise that there’s been a call for the church to adapt and change for many, many years, and that I’m definitely not the first to say this. But maybe, just maybe, this now is our opportunity to fully reflect on what it might mean for us to make those changes that we’ve been too worried to contemplate, let alone implement.
“Lord Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
When Jesus Christ came into the world you created,
he gave us a message of hope of love for all the world.
Through his grace and love for us all,
which overflows with such profligate generosity,
he also gave us his own life on The Cross.
And, Lord of wonder and miracle,
you also gave us the wonderful hope of resurrection and new life.
We are an Easter people who live to be born anew,
to love, and be loved by you.
Lord, we ask that you give us the courage and comfort of the Holy Spirit as we face change in our lives.
As we face a new normal in our society and cultures,
let it be one which contains a continuity of what is good from the old,
and likewise let us see clearly what needs to be changed.
Gracious Lord, we know how much you love us and love your Church,
So we pray that our churches, our Circuits and our Synod be filled with new hope and a clear vision for what will be our own new normal.
Let our new vision be one which is clear enough to know that it is of You,
and that we may be brave enough to see it through.
For thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on Earth,
as it is in heaven.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
05
May
2020
Prayers for 6th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Alexis Mahoney.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
Dreams:
I don’t know about you, but my dreams have become more vivid, more frequent and more memorable while we’ve been in lockdown. Some of them are almost definitely ‘anxiety dreams’, and some are so bizarre I wouldn’t know where to start describing them!
But apparently, I’m not the only one currently experiencing vivid dreams while we’ve all been in lockdown. Already there’s a research project being undertaken by a group of postgraduate psychoanalysis students in London asking people to fill in an online survey about the dreams they are having at the moment. (If you feel brave enough or adventurous enough to do so yourself you can click on this link and tell them one or more of yours: http://lockdowndreams.com/). Essentially, the aim is to collect and analyse a variety of dreams to see how the Covid-19 crisis is being experienced “unconsciously”.
I’ve long been fascinated by dreams and visions in the Bible. Though there’s the caveat that much dreaming can be meaningless (Eccles 5.7), there’s also passages which suggest that dream interpretations belong to God (Gen 40.8), and that dreams can be of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2.17).
As I see it, dreams are one of the ways God engages with us; through our imagination and unconscious states of mind. They can be a way of seeing things anew, as well as providing us with a new ‘vision’ for how things could and should be.
In light of this, I invite you to pray that our dreams will be from God; or if they seem unintelligible to us that we offer them back to God in prayer; or if they’re clearly not from God then to put them down to an interesting experience. Either way, let’s keep our dreams in our daily prayers and reflections.
“Lord Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are so full of mystery and majesty;
your ways are not our ways,
and can be so strange to us sometimes.
But your still, small voice,
persistently and gently whispers of your unending love for us all;
of your plans of abundant life for us all.
Yet we so often prefer to just listen to our own voices,
or the voices that speak so loudly and confidently, and with such self-proclaimed ‘knowledge’ around us.
Lord, we know from Scripture that one of the ways you speak with us,
is through dreams;
So we ask you that while we’re all in lockdown,
and where dreams have curiously come into the foreground of our current experiences,
that you fill our dreams with comfort and hope,
and a vision for the future.
We pray that our dreams enable us to see Your way, anew.
We pray that our dreams will give us courage to rise to the challenge of new insights you have given us.
And we pray that whatever dream is not from you will be easily discerned,
and that whatever dreams you may send us are prayerfully interpreted.
Lord, we are thankful for whatever dreams you send us,
but right now we ask that you send us dreams of hope for the future.
We ask for dreams that show us how we can live in our world right now;
and how we can defeat Covid-19.
And we ask for dreams that show us how we can live in a post-Covid world,
how our churches, our Circuits and our Synod can be Christ’s true church,
in a brave new world,
that cares more,
loves more,
prays more,
with you at the centre of all we do.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen”.
04
May
2020
Prayers for 5th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Alexis Mahoney.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
On Prayer:
“British public turn to prayer…[1]”. As you can imagine, this recent newspaper headline immediately caught my attention. In a nutshell it reported that there’s been a surge of interest in prayer as 1 in 20 people in Britain have now started to pray since the coronavirus lockdown was put in place.
The findings of this poll confirm what many of us already sense or know: that people pray more during unusual or stressful times of anxiety and danger. Further proof of this is the Church of England reporting that over 6000 people called into a coronavirus prayer hotline in the first 48 hours of it being opened.
And, according to the poll, the most frequent subjects of prayer since the lockdown has been: family (53%), friends (34%), thanking God (24%), the person praying (28%), frontline services (27%), someone unwell with Covid-19 (20%), and other countries with Covid-19 (15%).
I find this sort of poll fascinating as it’s a really good indicator for where people’s values lie, (and possibly ours too, if we’re honest). Where their heart is. What they truly love and care about.
In light of this I invite us all to pray into, and alongside, what’s on the hearts and minds of the people of the UK during this time of anxiety and crisis.
“Lord Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
who loves us all with such delight and depth,
we pray for ours, and for everyone’s families and friends.
Protect them from all evil, keep them from all harm,
embrace them with your loving arms so that they feel the comfort and peace and security of your irrepressible and all-inclusive love,
which is always offered to us all.
Gracious Lord, we are also so thankful for what you have always-already given us.
We look around us and see that you have given us so many wonderful people,
so many wonderful things!
We thank you for the love and fellowship we find in our churches,
in our Circuits and our Synod.
We thank you for the selflessness and braveness of our frontline services.
We thank you for the gifts of a smile and laughter,
for compassion and empathy.
We thank you for the gifts of art, science, poetry and music,
for good food and water, for a roof over our head,
and indeed for everything you give us to live an abundant life through Jesus Christ.
And Lord, I pray for me and my position,
and for all the “me’s” you have created in your image.
All those millions and millions of uniquely crafted individuals you love,
no matter who they are.
Make me feel loved and protected by you.
Please don’t let me get ill.
Please give me your strength so I can be strong for those who need me,
and help me remember that ‘I’ is always better with you.
Merciful Lord, we also pray for all those who are ill with Covid-19.
We dare to ask for your hand to touch them and ease their pain and distress;
Lord – heal them.
And we pray for ours and other countries struggling to contain this dis-ease.
Let us all know your presence in ours and their anxiety and grief;
give us all hope and light and love!
Help us all find a vaccine so that healing can proceed.
Lord – heal us all.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.”
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/03/british-public-turn-to-prayer-as-one-in-four-tune-in-to-religious-services?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR2lFvLmmjEKTxNMO3Hme75Sh-kmoIUNAtVshIlhYBbG6r7KY8q–g4lGag
03
May
2020
Prayers for 4th May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Judith Holliman.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
I suppose being married to a green chemist/engineer means that the environment and its issues are rarely far from my mind. It has been interesting during this indoor time to sit in my lovely breakfast room and hear the birds. Normally they are rather overshadowed by trains passing us here at the sidings but just now they are out in full force, we have seen Jays, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, I could go on. Our cats are thankfully watching cat TV from afar and not eating what they are seeing.
It has also been astounding to hear from friends that the goats from the Great Orme in Llandudno have been strutting through the town as the cars and the tourists have disappeared.
Nature – Creation seems to be reclaiming its own. I wonder what this means to you? Me? The city? The nation? I note with interest that Milan has already decided to shut off much of its centre to traffic, that York have made wide ranging changes to their traffic flows . . . it seems a really positive impact of a difficult time to see people future scanning and making life changing decisions.
It must be extraordinary to look from your home in the Punjab and see the Himalayas for the first time in 30 years but it is not just far away that is relevant here. What will happen in Wales, in Cardiff to address the huge fall in pollutants that were experienced? – will we simply return to over consumption and traffic queues as the old/new norm? What can we do to learn from this?
Paul describes creation as groaning and it is something that has been more and more apparent in recent years as we learn the impact of our actions, yet Paul also says in Galatians 6 take the opportunity. Well if this last period has not been an opportunity to revisit our lives, our habits, our consumptions, our expectation that we can do what we want, when we want and our totally false understanding that we are in control, I seriously don’t know what would be. What an opportunity it is for us, an opportunity that has seen a massive increase in online engagement, an opportunity that has seen more people hearing the call of Jesus to turn back, to come home, to find prayer, to relish our place in his earth, there is nothing good about covid-19 but so much good can come from listening intentionally to what creation is telling us.
Creator God, you who flung stars into space,
Help us to understand the glory of your gift to us of this earth.
Enable us to discern a way forward that gives more and takes less.
Be with us during this lockdown in a way that challenges our ‘norm’
Raise up people to voice the need we have to love our world more,
Let it start with us.
Creator God, you who made us to be in community
Help us to remember that we are part of a greater whole
Enable us as a Synod to discern a new way forward.
Help us to question the ‘norm’ and to learn from this quiet time
Raise up people to share in the ministry of the people of God at every level,
Let is start with us.
Creator God, you who knit me together in my mother’s womb
Help me to understand that I am beloved.
Enable me to discern what you are calling me to be in this new world
Be with me as I navigate my way through this lockdown in its highs and lows.
Raise up my spirit, help me to learn your voice that it will not be drowned out,
Let it start within me.
Our Father,
Who art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On earth as it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory
For ever and ever,
Amen.
God bless you this day,
Judith x
02
May
2020
Prayers for 3rd May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Judith Holliman.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.
Dear Friends,
Every now and then a book comes my way that becomes in its turn part of me, I don’t just read it, I walk into it. Or as Julia Donaldson says:
‘I opened a book and in I strode
Now nobody can find me.
I’ve left my chair, my house, my road,
My town and my world behind me.’
That happened for me this week when I read ‘Liturgy of the Ordinary’ by Tish Harrison Warren. Much of what I now write comes from the ideas begun by this book.
I often comment when I am preaching on the baptism of Jesus that he hadn’t actually ‘done’ anything when he was baptised, nothing that is except to be himself, he had been him, and in being him he was God’s son with whom God was well pleased. He was beloved. When we wake first thing in the morning, rumpled and drooley (maybe that’s just me!), slightly not quite awake yet, we are beloved, we haven’t done anything, but we are loved. Our waking identity is given to us by grace: an identity that is deeper and more real than any other identity we will don that day belongs in that moment to us.
To awake is a gift – do you start the day thanking God for it even if it is that brief, thank you.
Thank you, God that before I get up
Before I clean my teeth or go for a wee
before I even think straight
I am beloved.
Today is a special one for us in the Holliman household as James is 19. James gives me many reasons to pray on a daily, often hourly basis and that is okay. I developed the need to put down and process lots of things as James found his own way through life and school especially, I found that doodle prayers worked really well.
They are very much a personal way of talking to God without talking, enabling me to put things deliberately before God and as I doodle, trying to accept, to understand, to find my way, my place – to acknowledge that God knows and understands.
Perhaps it is something that could work for you if you give it a chance, not much to lose is there?
So here are some doodle prayers for today – give it a try.
If it works for you there is lots of other info at prayingincolours.com
01
May
2020
Prayers for 2nd May
Today’s thoughts are provided by Rev. Judith Holliman.
You can download a copy of these prayers here.