Hello Everyone
On Sunday 1st November, the Church at large celebrated the feast day of ‘All Saints’.
Today as we circulate our weekly prayer sheet, it’s Monday 2nd November, the day we pray for departed souls.
May I suggest we make time to pray for all the saints and all souls throughout the week, holding them in our minds eye. A good way to Start is with thanksgiving and praise to God our Father.
Spend a while in quiet. Invite the Holy Spirit into the space you are creating. Become aware of the presence of the Holy Spirit, with you now… the Spirit who works in you…
A Reading from Ephesians 1:11-14
11 Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God,for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. 12 God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. 13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.
Why do you seek God in prayer?
What are you looking for? . . .
Would you like proof that you are marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit?
When you spend time: listening, seeking, desiring God, this is evidence that the Holy Spirit is in you and at work in you . . .
This Spirit invites you to be a person of hope.
How is Christ inviting you to hope?
If at times you find yourself with diminished hope, you’re not alone. It doesn’t mean you’ve lost the Spirit. It means you’re alive and life involves struggle.
Speak to God about the challenges of holding on to hope… Read the scripture again, see if you can catch something of the bigger picture. God can see and invites you to glimpse hope through the merits of the saints and souls gone before us.
Ponder the presence of God’s Holy Spirit within you: the pledge of your inheritance!
A Prayer for All Saints Day
By Jan Richardson
God of the generations,
when we set our hands to labour, thinking we work alone,
remind us that we carry
upon our lips, the words of the prophets,
in our veins, the blood of martyrs,
in our eyes, the mystics’ visions, and
in our hands, the strength of thousands.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
As I am sending this email out I am reminded that the first one that was sent was at the beginning of the first Lockdown and it was on the suggestion of two members of Churches Together that we could pray daily at a specific time knowing that others would be praying with us. Obviously this time is not always possible for some but these prayers can be used at any appropriate time during the week. As we enter into a second lockdown let us take with us the words from a song sung by Ladysmith Mambaza ‘Keep praying; ask the Lord for help. For he is powerful. That is your weapon; do not lose it. Pray without ceasing, for the Lord is powerful.’
KEEP SAFE – KEEP PRAYING
Peter
