As we journey from where we have been in past months to where we will be in times to come, we are beginning to recover some of the parts of our shared life that had been lost to us for a time.
Within shared communal settings and within the community of God’s people, one of the things that we are recovering is the experience of song and the bonding that the shared experience of singing brings to us.
Within the community of God’s people, we are gradually beginning to recover the shared expression of worship through the singing of ‘psalms, hymns and spiritual songs’. (Ephesians 5: 20)
In recovering that which had been lost, we rediscover a dimension of our shared experience that is integral to our worship of God. As the Spirit inspires us, we renew our thanksgiving ‘to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’. As we do so, we share more fully in the life that God gifts to us through Christ and by the Spirit.
We pray:
God our Father,
As we journey from where we have been
To where we will be,
Fill us with Your Spirit
That we might truly worship You
And praise Your holy name.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God our Father,
As we journey from where we have been
To where we will be,
Inspire us within the community of God’s people
To lift up our hearts
And to renew our praise.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God our Father,
As we journey from where we have been
To where we will be,
Renew us as we renew our praise
With Psalms and hymns
And all the songs of God’s people.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God our Father,
As we journey from where we have been
To where we will be,
Help us to recover that which has been lost
And to rediscover all that unites us
As those who are made in Your image.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God our Father,
As we journey from where we have been
To where we will be,
We give thanks to You
For all your gifts to us
Through Christ and by Your Spirit.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
- Lord Wallace, Moderator of the General Assembly, Church of Scotland
- Most Rev. Leo Cushley, Archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Roman Catholic Church
- Most Rev. Mark Strange, Primus, on behalf of the College of Bishops, Scottish Episcopal Church
- Rev. Dr David Miller, Moderator, United Free Church of Scotland
- Rev. Neil MacMillan, Moderator, Free Church of Scotland
- Rev. Paul Whittle, Moderator, United Reformed Church (Scotland)
- Rev. Martin Hodson, General Director, Baptist Union of Scotland
- Rev. Mark Slaney, District Chair, Methodist Church (Scotland)
- Rev. Thomas R. Wilson, Chair, Congregational Federation in Scotland
- Lt. Col. Carol Bailey, Secretary for Scotland, Salvation Army
- Adwoa Bittle, Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
- Rev. Ruth Turner, District Superintendent, British Isles North District, Church of the Nazarene
- Pastor Chris Gbenle, Provincial Pastor, Province of Scotland, Redeemed Christian Church of God
- Bishop Francis Alao, Church of God (Scotland)/Minority Ethnic Churches Together in Scotland (MECTIS)