Kirk members invited to join in prayer this Sunday

This Sunday (10 October), Christians across the country – and further afield – will continue to join together in prayer and reflection at 7pm in response to the pandemic.

As with previous weeks during lockdown, 15 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.

"Let us not forget that behind each death there will be grieving family and friends; behind each hospitalisation there will be a suffering patient, an anxious family and a caring and skilled medical team.

"And behind each vaccination, let us recognise, with thanks, the skill of the scientists' research and those who make distribution and vaccination possible. Let us remember, too, those in countries who still wait anxiously for vaccines to arrive. May our leaders respond imaginatively and generously to that challenge.

"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:

"Where do we find grace to help us in our time of need?

"The Letter to the Hebrews does not quite frame the question in that way. However, the Letter answers the question and points us to ‘Jesus, the Son of God' as the One who acts on our behalf and who will bring us into the gracious presence of God.

"Our time of need is now, and the needs of the world are plenty. In such a time as this, we turn to the great high priest who has faced and endured all that we face and endure. We do so knowing that the One who has endured all will enable us to ‘approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need'.

"In the words of the hymn writer:

‘Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea,
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.'"

We pray:

Living God,
Have mercy on us
And grant to us grace in time of need;
For we are those who struggle
And know our weaknesses all too well.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Have mercy on us
And grant to us grace in time of need;
For we know the struggles of the world
And the pain that so many bear.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Have mercy on us
And grant to us grace in time of need;
For You know us and You love us
And You reach out to us in the place where we are.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Have mercy on us
And grant to us grace in time of need;
For You call us to love our neighbour
And to bear one another's burdens on the way.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Have mercy on us
And grant to us grace in time of need;
For we make bold to approach the throne of grace
And do so in the assurance that You will hear our cry.
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)
• Rev. Ruth Turner, District Superintendent, British Isles North District, Church of the Nazarene
• 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)