Call to Prayer: Sunday 6th June 2021 Prayer @ 7pm
‘Are we there yet?’ We can easily picture a small child enquiring plaintively from the back of the car as to whether, or not, the destination has been reached? Indeed, even as we mature, we can all readily identify with the sentiment as we enquire as to whether, or not, our desired destination has been reached? Over the past months, we might perhaps have been tempted to succumb to the frustration of a journey’s end delayed and to rather lose heart.
As one who had journeyed and who continued to journey, the Apostle Paul was not unfamiliar with the challenges of doing so. In response to those whom he sensed were ready to succumb to frustration, Paul affirms the basis on which we should continue to journey and concludes: ‘Therefore we do not lose heart.’ What is that basis? It is the assurance that the One who ‘raised the Lord Jesus from the dead’ will also raise us with him and bring us into God’s presence. We share in the life of the risen Lord Jesus and the challenges we face on the journey are to be set in the light of this. We might not be there yet but, as we share in the life of the risen Lord Jesus, we are those who ‘do not lose heart’. (2 Corinthians 4: 13-5: 1) We pray:
Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us when the path is smooth
And the horizon is clear.
Lead us on to the place of your presence.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us when the path is broken
And the way obscured.
Still lead us on to the place of your presence.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey before us.
Be with us as we face the challenges seen
And those as yet unseen.
In all we face, may your abiding presence remain.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey.
Be with those who grow frustrated
And who feel disheartened.
Renew us that we may discover your presence once more.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead,
Be with us on the journey.
Be with us that we might share
In the life of the Risen Lord
And the life everlasting in your presence.
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)
- 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)
- Rev Fred Drummond, Director, Evangelical Alliance (Scotland)