Prayers for June 2011

Please pray for.....

1. Those affected by the Tornado's in US
2. Persecuted Christians in Orissa India, China, Iraq and Iran
3. The violence against Christians in Egypt
4. Those thinking of abortion or have gone through a termination
5. Those thinking of ending their own lives in Switzerland
6. Those looking towards priesthood
7. Churches working together in Christ
8. Encouragement and courage at All Saints
9. The ministry of our ministers in the community
10. Ourselves - to show others the good news

Prayers for Sunday 21.3.2010

The response today to LORD OF LENT is RENEW OUR LIVESHeavenly Father as we journey through this time of Lent let us remember that You faced temptation in your life and because of this may we should never be ashamed of temptation in our own lives - but save us from the weakness that gives way to it.
Grant us all the strength to stand up against all that is evil and keep us firm in times of trial and temptation knowing that your support and love are always close at hand.
Make us resolute in obeying your will and seeking your kingdom that we may stay true to you.Lord of LentRenew Our LivesWe pray for your Church and give thanks that we can meet together in this church and pray openly to you. Help us to see where you are working in our lives and in our communities and bless us with opportunities so that we can build your church. Give courage and strength to those wanting to outreach into our community and spread your good news.

Lord of Lent Renew Our Lives

Lord, help each one of us to see our priorities and not be led astray. Too often we fail to live up to our ideals; we compromise for comfort; we become too concerned about material things and other peoples business. We fail to put our trust in you, trusting only in our own schemes and plans. As we journey through Lent help us to see more clearly the ways by which we follow you and as we come to you for direction and nourishment, help us to forget ourselves and find true happiness in serving you. As we re-examine our lives through self discipline, prayer and study help us to enter your stillness, be sensitive to your call and know your will for us.

Lord of Lent Renew Our Lives

We pray for Your world, especially we pray for all people who hold positions of authority that they do not misuse their power to the detriment of those they are supposed to be helping. We pray for all the world’s leaders and for our own leaders who are responsible for making decisions about our future. We pray that they will be given the insight and integrity to govern wisely according to your will, being fully aware of the true needs of the people.Lord , look with compassion on all those whose minds are full of anxiety and bewilderment and for whom everyday is one of despair. We pray especially for involved with Natural disasters and the problems that come with that, famine, broken families, uncertainty about the future, we pray for those caught up in war and those still suffering from past wars, landmines still going off and causing injury, planted 55 years ago.
We pray that you will turn their despair to hope and free them from fear. Whatever the future may bring them, may they know that you are the rock on whom they depend and that your love will help to ease their burden.

Lord of Lent Renew Our Lives

Lord Jesus, we pray that you will bless and protect our homes, our families and our friends. Help us to build bridges of tolerance and understanding between the different generations. May our homes be havens of peace and rest – a place to call our own and a community in which we can feel safe and secure.
Help us to be mindful of those who have no homes, families or friends. Make us grateful for all that we have so that we may use every endeavour to ensure that every person has a home to call his own and feels wanted within his own community.

Lord of Lent Renew Our Lives

We pray for all people everywhere in their varying needs. Into the gentleness of your healing love we bring before you the lonely, the hungry, those living in poverty and those without hope. We remember all those who are ill and in pain: those recovering from surgery - giving thanks for the work and dedication of our doctors, nurses and care workers.
We have in our hearts some people known only to ourselves, who are in need of our prayers and we remember them in a moment of quiet……………….

And this morning we pray especially for those in our church family who have been made known to us….PEW SHEET

May your healing touch support and strengthen them and we pray that you will remove from them all that hurts, harms and hinders.Lord of LentRenew Our LivesWe pray for all those who are mourning the loss of loved ones that you will comfort and strengthen them in their time of need.

Lord of Lent Renew Our Lives

We remember before God all those who have died…………..
This morning we pray for and remember those whose anniversaries fall at this time …………………………

Confident in the promise that those who believe in you will live though they have died, we give you thanks for all who have left their earthly body and now share with you the joys of heaven.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son, Our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Moira's Service Notes for March: http://www.allsaintsstretford.org.uk/worship/service-notes-march-2010.php

Fresh Expressions 2

Prior to starting Fresh Expressions I have felt quite strongly that God was calling me to gather people to bring my master plan together. Fresh Expressions suggests that you start with prayer. Over the last six weeks I have prayed, listened and prayed and discovered that God is actually challenging me to put aside the ideas and plans that I had conceived and instead to search for interested people where God led me, this is the next step, finding support. I had been trying to fit people into the gaps in my plan, the problem with this is that you are not listening and being open with them, it lags integrity. To build the relationships up that you need to discern Gods call and what we will do in response you need to listen and be open to the people i come into contact with. God is calling me to listen and get to know unchurched people without jumping in too soon with some form of responsive action.
Through prayer the next step is to find people who have the same interest/calling and are willing to pray and work out what God is saying to us regarding the community needs.
At this moment I do not know how this is going to work, I will continue in prayer and wait to be led to people and places and be able see the opportunities God gives to me.
Prayer is essential and the next step as God leads me within the community is to ask myself "what does loving service look like here?"


I'm sure in time waiting and listening to see what God does with us will build a community of unchurched and dechurched people. Let me know if you are interested in organising prayer meeting specifically for discerning Gods call in the community.

Prayer October/November

Please include in your prayers this month

1. continuing prayers while we discover what God is already doing in our community and how we as "church" can get involved.
   
2. thanks for refreshment from the pilgrimage to Walsingham
   
3. pray for our cuommunities the diversity we can find, unity and working together
   
4. increasing understanding of our faiths
   
5. 15th Nov - unite in prayer and bring refuge, hope and strength to persecuted Christians
   
6. for the work of the CTiS that it grows and is of benefit to some
   
7. pray for strength for ourselves to be able to show and tell others what it is really like to be Christian
   
8. prays of thanks and remembrance of those lost in all wars, their families and loved ones
   
9. pray for creative and new ways to bring church to our communities

Prayer Diary for June

Please include in your prayers this month:

Pray for;

1. The sick, those at home or in hospital - pray for God's healing power
2. Those who have lost someone dear
3. Meetings at Church - PCC, for understanding and doing Gods will
4. Church Unity - demoninations and people within your own church
5. Those caught up in war, famine and natural disaters.
6. Youngsters who find relief through self harm
7. Growth in our church

Prayer - Nourishment

I was thinking about how prayer gives me nourishment to carry on or helps me to put aside problems and trust in what God is doing with me. I believe I am always learning when praying, prayer gets better, when praying I do not stray and see things through God. But I do find it hard to trust, to understand and to make sure that I open up fully. I know God is around me and knows my inner most thoughts but sometimes I cannot get them out myself.
Each time we pray it gets easier, it is a relationship and we need to work at it and build it up over a period of time. We need to do this daily as we would in any relationship, I speak to my mum each day, my wife everyday, we need to speak to God everyday. Imagine if we were building a house and we did some building today and then left it, prayer is often left out of our lives for various reasons. Sometimes work is very busy, sometime home life can be busy and challenging so we miss the things we think we can do without. I don't believe we can do without prayer it is the nourishment that sustains us in our daily lives.

Ramblings about the week and Lent

A fair old week I've just had and although I haven't done much except lie down and read I'm still extremely tired. I have gone back to work today and now I'm even more exhausted, I'll have to have a afternoon snooze.

My Lenten plans have been messed up and I'm really eager to get them back on track. Along with the more frequent mass attendances and beefing up my prayer life in other ways as well. It is easy to miss out on prayer and attending extra services at church. Sometimes it cannot be helped such as when your ill but now I'm recovering I want to return to my plans. My other plans included some extra reading, especially on calling/vocation and discerning my own vocation within the Church.

Calling, vocation whatever word you want to use has been at the back of my mind for a few years now. How do you know you have a calling, people tell you. I know I need to follow up. Ever since my return to the church the whole experience has been different, not just participating but growing. Up to now I have attended several vocation evening's, a Living Stones conference and a chat with the DDO. I am aware that this is a new relationship with God and I see ordination simply as an outward public sign of that relationship and that the change in you as a person when you are ordained that others see in your ministry. So it doesn't have to be ordination into Priesthood but it could be another area, reader ministry or OLM for instance.

Anyway, it's the second week of our Lent course tonight. We are looking at what nourishes and sustains us on our journey to follow Christ. I'll let you know all about it.

Prayer Bulletin

Please pray for;

11. Moira our new priest in charge, pray for her move to Stretford in the near future.
12. The sick in hospital - especially those waiting for serious operations.

Prayer Bulletin

Please include in your prayers this month:
Pray for;

1. Those caught up in the needless suffering in Zimbabwe.
2. Continued cessation of hostilities in Gaza
3. The current and deepening financial crisis creates uncertainties and hardship at all levels of our society and we pray for careful and considered leadership
4. Pray for those who are in physical, mental or spiritual need and known to you personally
5. Area's of strife in Africa - War in Congo, Khat (Drug) problems in Ethiopia,
6. CTiS Lent course - support and fulfilment from the course
7. Those suffering from substance abuse
8. The homeless in Trafford
9. Give thanks for family and friends
10. Those who are lonely
    
    More to follow.....