Scottish Christians join in prayer in response to the Covid-19 pandemic

This Sunday (14 November), as we mark Remembrance Sunday, 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:

"In a time of Remembrance, we turn to the One who offers ‘refuge and strength' in time of trouble and whose presence stills the storm and calms our fears. (Psalm 46: 1)

"Our faith is rooted in the remembrance of the Christ who laid ‘down His life for His friends'. (John 15: 13) In turn, it is rooted in our receiving the Good News of the Christ who ‘was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures'. (1 Corinthian 15: 4)

"In turn again, we come by faith to understand the death of Christ in the light of the resurrection and so comprehend that it was for us and for our salvation that He gave His life.

"In a time of loss, we find no human words adequate to express the depth of that loss and we often find ourselves seemingly detached from the onward rush of time.

"In silence, and as memory casts its eye across the span of time, we hear the voice of the One who calls to us: ‘Be still, and know that I am God'."

We pray:

Living God,
Our refuge and our strength,
Hear our cry in time of remembrance.
Hear our cry as memory, and stories told,
Carry us to places of loss and sorrow.
Meet us in this time,
To still the storm and calm our fears.
Lord, in Your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Our refuge and our strength,
Hear our cry in time of loss.
Hear our cry, though it seems long lost,
In the cruel winds that blow.
May the measure of our loss
Be the measure of Your grace.
Lord, in Your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Our refuge and our strength,
Hear our cry in time of sorrow.
Hear our cry, and the cry of all who mourn,
As it gives voice to hidden grief.
May it rise from the depths of the earth
And be embraced in the heights of heaven.
Lord, in Your mercy
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Our refuge and our strength,
Hear our cry in time of remembrance.
Hear our cry,
And still our hearts,
That we may we hear the voice that speaks:
Be still, and know that I am God.
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)