Over the coming weeks a number of bishops have committed to participate in 40 days of shared prayer and fasting as we continue to pray for the Church, and for our shared mission and ministry in our partnership in the Gospel.
As a diocese, as we venture into the autumn carrying both joys and concerns, I want to encourage us all to make prayer a priority — individually and together.
When we talk about prayer, there are no experts and there are many questions, but we choose to come into God’s presence and pour out our hearts, and to listen and to wonder at the God of love and forgiveness revealed in Jesus Christ, who walks with us in pain, celebration and the ordinary. As we give thanks and open ourselves to the work of the Holy Spirit in us and through us, the cries of our heart grow ever stronger as we voice our longings for the world and for ourselves.
I am delighted that we now have a new version of the diocesan prayer diary . It is simple in form and I hope will enable us to pray for one another across the many different contexts of this diocese.
If you are someone who does not yet have a pattern of daily prayer and reading scripture, do dare to be honest about that and perhaps ask others in your worshipping community what they find helpful. Each day, many people join in with the Church of England pattern of morning and/or evening prayer — a simple liturgy of prayer and Scripture between 15 – 30 minutes. There is a link here on our website Prayer – Diocese of Gloucester, and there is a Daily Prayer app you can download Daily Prayer app and podcast | The Church of England.
There are other apps and resources available, and you may want to explore the diocesan website as more is added. Do share any resources you have found helpful.
In our private prayer and our corporate intercessions, we continue to pray for peace across the world, not least in the Middle East, and thus I am grateful that a number of Christian charities and aid agencies, working with church leaders, are organising a Day of Prayer for Peace in the Middle East on Sunday 21 September to coincide with the UN’s International Day of Peace: Churches invited to pray together for peace in the Middle East | The Church of England. Resources and information are available here A Call to Prayer and Public Witness for Peace in the Holy Land – CTBI.
This Saturday, I will have the privilege of presiding at the annual Eucharist in the Cathedral during which new Readers and Funeral Ministers are licensed. In that service we will acknowledge that funeral ministers share prayerfully in God’s story of hope in Jesus Christ; and within the promises the new Readers will make is a saying ‘yes’ to being ‘diligent in prayer.’
So, as we walk into September, I am thankful for our prayers for each other, for our diocese, and for the world beyond. As we live and share the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ, may God bless us as we venture deeper into prayer, desiring that we and all people and places may know life in all its fullness.
LIFE prayer
God of hope and transformation,
who in our Lord Jesus Christ offers the gift of life in all its fullness,
send your Holy Spirit and grant us joy in our following and vision in our leadership.
May we be rich in imagination, confident in faith,
and courageous in our engagement with the people and places of this diocese.
As we share your life with the world, keep us rooted and grounded in love
as we bear witness to your glory
and pray for your Kingdom to come.
Amen.
News Hub
