30 July
This week Worship of the Week comes from the congregation of Claremont Parish Church, East Kilbride.
Prayer for the week 30 July, 2023
Prayer of Thanksgiving / Intercession
O God, if You are for us, who is against us?
You have given us Your Son and through Him You give everything else as well.
We have a shelter from the storm,
we have nourishment for body and soul,
we are held for ever in the love of Christ from which nothing can separate us.
So, for all the signs of Your care and favour
we bring our thanks in word and gift and promise.
We pray for others.
We pray for our wonderful and troubled world.
In some places the violence of war tramples and crushes the seeds of peace.
In others the bread may rise but it is not shared and people go hungry.
We seek the growth of reconciliation and the flowering of justice.
We pray for our Church in these days of stretching and straining.
Afraid of the future and of those around us
we sometimes keep the seed of the Kingdom rather than planting it,
sometimes we store the rising yeast instead of stirring it through.
Help us to be the sowers of the word and the sharers of blessing
that in our place and our time all whom we meet might encounter the living God.
We pray for our nation in all its diversity.
We ask for those who must make decisions on our behalf, wise and discerning minds
that the right paths may be chosen and the whole people may be served.
We pray for those we know the best and love the most.
For some of them these are days of fretfulness or fearfulness, confusion or despondency, emptiness or addiction.
Help us, where we can, to ease their burden and share their load.
Even when it seems there is nothing we can do
we still hold them before You in the silence of our hearts.
Eternal God, throughout the centuries You have called people into service
and have equipped them with gifts for using and sharing in the Kingdom's cause.
We give thanks for their faithful service
and we remember in particular those who sowed the seeds of faith in us.
Keep strong our faith and enliven our witness
that the Church of Jesus Christ may prosper
and that many come to find for themselves the love of God
from which nothing can separate us.
We ask things through Jesus Christ our Lord and in his words we pray together and say:
Our Father, ….