Tuesday 31st March
Hymn: Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy (StF 526/H&P 552)
Prayer:
Lord, I invite you into this new day: beginning the day with you helps me to focus on what’s important.
Lord, I invite you to share my thoughts and my feelings: through this I get things into perspective, and become more positive and hopeful.
Lord, I invite you into every task and activity: with you I discover more energy and purpose.
And, Lord, as this day comes to an end, I thank you for your love surrounding me, your joy uplifting me, and your peace filling my heart, not only today but every day.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Monday 30th March 2020
Hymn: Beauty for brokenness (StF 693)
Prayer:
Lord God, sometimes it takes a sharp shock, a world crisis, to make us sit up and take notice – to notice the damage we are doing to your world and its people, as we discover just how interconnected we all are. As we go through these difficult times, help us not only to learn to value the freedoms we have had to set aside, and become wiser in the way we use the resources you have given us, but to ensure that these freedoms and resources are available for all people everywhere – indeed ‘to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with (y)our God’. (Micah 6:8)
Amen
Liz Stuart
Sunday 29th March 2020
Song: By the rivers of Babylon
Prayer:
It feels like we’re living in a strange land, Lord, a foreign country, separated from so much that we hold dear, even learning a new language of ‘lock down’ and ‘social isolation’ – of distancing from one another. And yet … and yet we are still bound together by ties that are strong and unbreakable – by the ‘grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’, and by your promise that nothing can ever separate us from your love. Yes, even in this ‘strange land’ we will still continue to sing our songs of praise and worship!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Saturday 28th March 2020
Hymn: From the breaking of the dawn (StF 156)
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord God, that we can take hold of every one of your promises in absolute confidence, knowing that they will never be broken, that you will never let us down. Help us to remember that, whatever our circumstances, your love and grace are sufficient for our every need.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Friday 27th March 2020
Hymn: What a friend we have in Jesus (StF 531)
Prayer:
When other friends seem so far away, how good it is to know that you, Jesus, are only a prayer away. As we bring our cares to you and our concerns for those we love, fill us and fill them with your peace and the assurance of your presence.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Thursday 26th March 2020
Hymn: Faithful one so unchanging (StF 628)
Prayer:
Everything around us has changed, Lord – the normal, taken for granted features of daily life, no longer there. Time, usually at a premium, hangs heavy; days merge into one another, shapeless in their similarity. Thank you, Lord, that you are unchanging, that we can be sure of your comforting, strengthening presence, and that in all this shifting scenery, your love remains an anchor where we can find security and hope.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Wednesday 25th March 2020
Hymn: I watch the sunrise lighting the sky (StF 469)
Prayer:
Loving Lord God, as the sun follows its path across the sky bringing us light and darkness, may you become part of the rhythm of our days, every day, that in helplessness we may find tranquillity, and in aloneness a growing sense of your nearness. Use this time of restrictions, Lord, to bring people back to you, to discover a new kind of freedom – the freedom of life in you, life in all its fullness.
Amen.
Liz Stuart
Tuesday 24th March 2020
Hymn: Father, hear the prayer we offer (StF 518;H&P 436)
Prayer:
Loving heavenly Father, life isn’t always easy – in fact it’s often a bit of a struggle – and when we’re going through a difficult patch sometimes we hardly know how to pray, or how to put into words our deepest anxieties. Thank you that you know us through and through, and that you are alongside us in your Holy Spirit, giving us the courage, the strength and the guidance we need.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Monday 23rd March 2020
Hymn: O love that will not let me go (StF 636;H&P 685)
Prayer:
Dear Lord, the reality is beginning to bite even harder now. Everything seems to be closing down, putting up the shutters. It’s like going into hibernation, except that we have to live, not sleep, through these difficult days and weeks. But, Lord, you are still there, holding us, loving us, reaching out to us, filling us with hope for the future through your rainbow promise. Thank you that you will never let us go, and that we can rest secure in you.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Sunday 22nd March 2020
Hymn: How shall I sing that majesty? (StF 53;H&P 334)
Prayer:
Dear Lord, ‘how’ seems to be the ‘in’ word at the moment! How shall I do my shopping? How am I going to manage without my usual routine, getting together with friends, how am I going to cope with twelve weeks isolation? More important, how can I truly praise you when I can’t uplift my voice with others in worship? And then I remember the choirs around your throne, and I join in the prayers and praises of that heavenly chorus – thank you!
Amen
Liz Stuart
Saturday 21st March 2020
Hymn: I sing the almighty power of God (StF 107;H&P 334)
Prayer:
Thank you, Lord for the beauty of the world around us, for the orderliness of the seasons, the increasing daylight, and the growing warmth of the sun. In the midst of confusion, uncertainty and anxiety help us to remember that you are ever-present, surrounding us, enfolding us, in your love.
Amen
Liz Stuart
Friday 20th March, 2020
Hymn: Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father (StF 51; H&P 66)
Prayer:
Living, loving God, thank you that your faithfulness exceeds all our expectations. That you will never let us down. As we travel through these difficult and challenging times, may we know your strength to be sufficient for all our needs, and plant deep within us your peace and that ‘bright hope for tomorrow’, which is your promise for all who put their trust in you.
Amen
Liz Stuart
