Kirk issues call to prayer this Sunday

This Sunday (6 June), Christians across the country – and further afield – will join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.

As with previous weeks during lockdown, 14 Christian churches and organisations across the country, including the Church of Scotland, have co-signed the letter calling for prayer.

Scottish Christians have been continuing to answer the call to pray at the same time each week, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, Lord Wallace, is taking part alongside them.

"We should always be mindful for the wisdom handed down to us from past generations; much of it learned the hard way, from mistakes made and consequences suffered," Lord Wallace said.

"So, too, we are grateful for the richness that comes to us from living alongside people of other traditions. In our day and generation we must surely allow our minds and hearts to be open so that we can risk getting to know them and learning from them.

"In this pandemic, our responsibility is to come together and offer our prayers for all the many diverse expressions of our Christian faith that enrich life, as we have done for many months now.

"A pattern has been set for us, lived out in Jesus Christ, made possible by the Spirit. May we follow in His way, and be guided by the one over-riding rule of love in all that we say and do."

This week's letter accompanying the prayer, which is also available in Gaelic, states:

"‘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)
• 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)
• Rev Fred Drummond, Director, Evangelical Alliance (Scotland)