Praying through the darkness: 
prayers of faith for 2022

We’ve been here before – seeing in the New Year in the midst of a global pandemic. But even in the most difficult times, we know we have a God who never leaves us nor forsakes us (Deuteronomy 31:6). In the biblical story of Ruth, we can find fresh encouragement for how we can look to 2022 as a year of hope.

The book of Judges tells us about the challenges that Ruth would have faced. It was a dark time, filled with famine, war and poverty. The book of Ruth begins with Ruth being widowed.

But hope is found in a friendship – in a bond between two women who felt broken and alone after experiencing deep loss. And that is where the love of God shone brightly and transformed everything. And it’s that same love that radiates throughout the world today.

Faith

It’s not always clear what the path ahead looks like. Ruth could have stayed in Moab and gone to live with her family after her husband’s death. Instead, she decided to travel with Naomi, her mother-in-law, to Bethlehem to start her life afresh.

‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.’ (Ruth 1:16)

It was a decision made in faith – Ruth put her trust in the God Naomi worshipped, not knowing how it would turn out.

Today, for many of us, the path ahead also looks uncertain. What do we see before us? Plans put on hold. A pandemic with seemingly no end in sight. And that is before the individual challenges many of us are going through.

The book of Ruth can encourage us to take a leap of faith and put our trust in God to make a way for us. Jesus tells us we only need faith as small as a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20). So let us begin.

Pray with us

• Write down some of the things you are struggling with at the moment.
   

• Find verses in the Bible that celebrate God’s faithfulness towards us and the love he has for us. For example: Deuteronomy 7:9, Psalm 46:1, Zephaniah 3:17, Romans 8:38. Write these down next to your struggles.
   

• Lift your list up to God in prayer and ask God to make a way for you through these struggles and disappointments. The Psalms show us we do not have to hide our feelings from God, so open up and let your emotions flow free to a God who listens and cares for you.

A longer version of this reflection is available on Tearfund website – including more prayer activities to help you connect deeper with the God of love and the plans he has to heal our broken world.

A Season of Prayer - Tuesdays at 7.30pm

OCTOBER was

Revd Sonia Hicks, President of the Methodist Conference, wrote the following prayer:

Merciful God, thank you that you have created us to reflect the diversity in the world.

Thank you that as we begin Black History Month we are given opportunities to see the rich contributions of black people. Contributions which have often been ignored or denied.

Forgive us, O God, our unwillingness to see beyond the colour of a person’s skin.

Forgive us that we allow ourselves to be distracted by unfamiliar accents.

We thank you for black people who have contributed to the growth of the Methodist Church in Britain. For those who have come from Asia, Africa and the Americas, to share their insights of what it means to be a child of God. May we celebrate their presence among us today and always.

For we ask this prayer through the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Spirit.

 Amen

                                                                                         You can listen to the prayer here  

Prayers for weeks 22^nd, 29^th August and 5^th September

As we move towards our Back to Church Sunday Covenant Service with Communion on Sunday 5^th September we thought it would be good to share the Covenant Prayer and also a couple of other prayers, in preparation. 

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, You are always with us, guiding us and loving us. Thank you.

Loving God, help us to find ways to share Your
love with others.

Lord, during this time as we prepare for the first
service of the new Methodist year, help us serve others
as Your light shines through us.

Help us pay attention to how other people show us Your love.

Help us learn how to trust You, love You, and share Your love with others.

Thank you for being with us and our families and our wider church family as we have journeyed through the Covid-19 pandemic together. Prepare our hearts and minds now to renew our Covenant with you.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen.

And a reminder that

Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

                                  Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

Prayers for weeks beginning 8th & 15th August

Last Sunday at S Chad was a communion service, something that was impossible throughout the pandemic. 
There are many who have not been able to share in communion for such a long time or felt able to return church yet, 
so below is a prayer reminding us that Jesus is the Bread of Life.

Jesus Christ, our brother and our friend,
You are the Bread of Life.

When God’s people hungered in the wilderness, bread rained from heaven, sustaining them in their need.
When God’s people hungered in Israel under the rule of Rome, You came with words of love and mercy, sustaining humanity in its need.
Bread from heaven feeding us miraculously when we least expect it, but when we most need it.

You are the Bread of Life.
When the prophet hid in the cave from danger, tired and too terrified to continue to speak Your truth, You sent ravens with bread to give strength to continue.

You are the Bread of Life, to strengthen us to speak out and challenge injustice.

You were the Bread of Life, bread shared in a meal remembering God’s saving those in slavery, shared among your friends, its meaning forever changed.

You are the Bread of Life, Your body given for us.

You are the Bread of Life. The Bread of Life broken and shared, feeding Your people, resourcing us to share in Your mission; the body of Christ, broken and shared out.

You are the Bread of Life, satisfaction and nourishment for the world.
You are God revealed to humanity and revealed to us in fellowship and friendship each time we break bread together. Satisfaction for the souls of the world revealed in the braking of bread.

Jesus is the bread that sustains us.

Let us no longer chase after that which does not satisfy.
Let us stop storing that which tarnishes and decays.

Let us hold fast to the words of Christ which will outlast this world.

In His name we pray.

Amen

From https://www.facebook.com/EglwysHebFuriau - The Church without Walls

            You can listen to this prayer at by clicking on the image above