A Supporting Refugees and Asylum Seekers Gathering will take place via Zoom on Thursday 15 October between 11.00am and 12.30pm. It will be hosted by Ian Rutherford and David Hardman (Manchester and Stockport) and Bala Gnanapragasam (London).
Joining from Rome will be Fiona Kendall, the European and Legal Affairs Advisor with Mediterranean Hope. More information.
To join the Zoom meeting on 15 October please let Ian Rutherford know on ianr7@hotmail.co.uk and he will send you the Zoom link.
All We Can Big Church Sing
Join the Harvest Big Church Sing, this Sunday 4 October at 4.00pm on the Methodist Church Youtube Channel. Featuring Graham Kendrick, the London Community Gospel Choir, Celtic Worship and many more exciting performers, the Harvest Big Church Sing promises to be a joyful and uplifting event for all ages.
CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 4th October 2020
Prayer @ 7pm Print version
As we journey through these days, we will come to occasions of real significance that will mark out its future shape and course. However, we might only come to appreciate the significance of those occasions as we look back and reflect. We are not yet in a place where we can look back and understand all that has happened in these past months. History has yet to be written. However, the events of our times will shape that history in ways that we can only anticipate.
The journey of the people of Israel described in the Book of Exodus takes them to many places and occasions of significance. The journey to Mount Sinai and the significance of receiving the commandments of the Lord is one such. Traditionally, we refer to these as the Ten Commandments and their giving is a moment of profound significance in the Exodus story. This part of the story begins with a recalling of the fact that it is the Lord their God who has delivered them. In turn, the Commandments offered set out the boundaries within which the community of Israel may live and flourish. (Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20) In these difficult times, let us recollect that it is the Lord our God who will deliver us and who offers to us life and the hope that our communities will flourish once more. We pray:
Lord our God,
We recall that you are the One who journeys before us.
As you have journeyed with us in times past,
Journey with us now
In all that we face as the people of God.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Lord our God,
We recall that you are the One who offers life
To all who call upon you.
We call upon you now
And trust that you will answer in your good time.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Lord our God,
We recall that you are the One who speaks to your people
And offers to them the word that brings life.
May your word spoken to us this day
Bring life and the promise of hope once more.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Lord our God,
We recall that you are merciful and gracious
And that you abound in love.
Grant us understanding to speak words of comfort
And wisdom to speak words of hope.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Lord our God,
We recall that your Son invites us to love you
With heart and soul and mind
And to love our neighbour as ourselves.
Grant us grace to do so in these times.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 27th September 2020 Prayer @ 7pm
For the second occasion, in the course of a journey that was now set to be much longer than originally anticipated, the people of Israel complain to Moses. At the heart of the complaint is the question: ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ The first occasion is recorded in Exodus 16 where ‘bread from heaven’ is provided by the Lord in response to that complaint. Now, as the journey is set to continue for a longer period, a complaint is raised again. In response, the Lord calls Moses to go ‘ahead of the people’ and lead them to the place of renewed provision. In response, Moses leads the people of Israel to the place where water is provided in the wilderness. (Exodus 17: 1-7)
For the second occasion, in the course of a journey that is now set to be much longer than originally anticipated, we are being asked as the people of God to share, in the communities of which we are a part, a renewed challenge in relation to the Covid 19 crisis. We are not where we wanted to be on the journey and we cannot go back to where we started. At this time, the question we might well ask is this: ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ As we go forward together, we ask that the Lord will lead us to the place of renewed provision, so that we can say, humbly and with thanksgiving: ‘Yes, the Lord is among us!’ We pray:
Living God,
We journey in hard places today
And in the company of many who are weary and fearful. We journey in hard places
And we confess that we are weary and fearful ourselves.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
As you have heard our cry in times past,
Hear our cry renewed.
As you have provided for your people in times past,Renew your provision today. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You have watched over us
And brought us safe thus far.
You watch over us now
And we trust that you shall lead us to the place of safety renewed.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
In our remembering of the journey past,
We do not forget those who are no longer with us.
In our remembering of the journey past,
We do not forget the depth of the challenges we have faced.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Go before us we ask
And lead us to the place of your presence.
Go before us
And bring us to the place where your presence is renewed.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Lord God,
In our journey onwards,
May we know that you are among us.
At journey’s end,
May we know that you have always been with us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
Recordings of Sessions 2 and 3 of the District Synod held on Zoom on 19th September 2020 are now available to view on the The Methodist Church in Scotland YouTube Channel.
In Session 2, you can hear about the work of Dave Saunders ‘ Pioneer Ministry in Inverness, and Nik Wooller’s work with Churchless Christians.
In Session 3, Trey Hall introduces “God for All’
Action for Children has published a report Childhood during coronavirus, highlighting the needs of the families with whom they have been working, they held they have given, and what they would like governments to do to alleviate child poverty.
CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 20th September 2020
Prayer @ 7pm Print version
At present, we are experiencing an extended exit from Lockdown to which there is no immediate end in sight. Allied to this, there are now increased restrictions on our movement. Taken together with our collective memory of the last six months, there is an uncertainty as to the direction to be taken. The impact of this on our personal and collective well-being is a matter of concern within Church and community.
In the Book of Exodus, the people of Israel, personally and collectively, find themselves in a place of wilderness in which the future direction to be taken is unclear. Their collective memory might well suggest to them that they ought to go backwards instead of forwards. To add to their frustration, they find themselves bereft of sustenance in a place that seems deserted and devoid of hope. It is in this moment that ‘the glory of the Lord’ is revealed and the promise of the ‘bread from heaven’ is fulfilled. (Exodus 16: 2-15) It is in the times of our desert experience that we cry out: ‘Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, Feed me till my want is o’er.’ It is in such times that we wait upon the response of the Lord. We pray:
God who provides,
Hear the cry of your people in their distress
And answer them in the desert places.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God who provides,
Guide your people in barren lands
And hold us safe when we are weak.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God who provides,
May we receive your gracious gifts in the morning
And in the evening discover those gifts renewed.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God who provides,
Give direction to us when we were are lost
And renew our purpose when we are uncertain.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God who provides,
Renew the faith of your people
And equip us to serve you in the place that you have called us to.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God who provides,
On this day, may we receive bread from heaven
And know the glory of the Lord revealed.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 13th September 2020
Prayer @ 7pm Print version
‘Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us’. The language of forgiveness is integral to the Lord’s Prayer and to the rhythm of the Christian life. Forgiveness is integral to our relationship with the God who forgives and grants to us the possibility of a new beginning. In response, we are called to forgive others. Forgiveness speaks to us about the renewal of relationships that have been broken. In so doing, it takes us to a place where pain has been experienced and healing is necessary. The word of forgiveness offers the possibility of healing and renewal.
The Apostle Peter asks a question that many of us have asked: Are there limits on the number of times you have to forgive? The question is a good one to ask because, humanly speaking, forgives is not easy. In response, Jesus tells a parable about mercy and forgiveness and the summary of it is that; we should forgive from the depth of our heart because we have been forgiven from the depths of the heart of God. (Matthew 18: 21-35)
We pray:
God of forgiveness,
We thank you that love abides in the depths of your heart
And that you will to forgive us through Jesus Christ.
Knowing this to be so, we cry out to you.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of forgiveness,
We thank you that you know our hearts
And that you accept us as we are.
We turn to you in the hope of forgiveness.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of forgiveness,
We thank you that your promise is sure
And that there is forgiveness with you.
We embrace you, knowing that you have already embraced us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of forgiveness,
Create in us a pure heart,
That we might love more deeply all who are made in your image.
As we have been embraced by you, we embrace the world of your creation.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of forgiveness,
May love abide in our hearts as it abides in the depths of your heart.
As we have been forgiven through Jesus Christ,
May we celebrate this gift in the company of all your people.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
CALL TO PRAYER: SUNDAY 6th September 2020 Prayer @ 7pm Print version
We live in a time in which we have had to adjust to restrictions in the manner in which we gather as the people of God. The restrictions, for good reasons, have necessarily limited the numbers of those who can gather together for prayer and worship. This has presented many challenges and the challenges are ongoing.
The limitation on the numbers who are able to gather might, at times, give the sense that our gatherings, whether virtual or actual, are in some way diminished. If so, the words of the Gospel of Matthew encourage us to think along a different path. Jesus says: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them’. (Matthew 18: 20) Wherever we gather and however we gather; whether together or in our own company, Jesus is present and he will never leave us or forsake us. We are not alone. We pray:
Living God,
You gather us together
From across the face of the earth,
That we might worship your holy Name Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
We gather together in strange times,
Whether virtually or actually,
And ask that you will accept our worship of your holy Name. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
You gather us together
In the company of those who have gone before us.
Hold us safe in your keeping and watch over us as the people of God.
Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Living God,
We come in the assurance
That, where we gather in the name of Jesus, He is there among us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
Whether we gather in twos or in threes,
Or whether we come to you in our own company, Never leave us or forsake us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Living God,
We come, in the company of all your people,
And together we confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, To the glory of God the Father.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Signed by:
