Pray with us

Please pray for the participants in all Places of Welcome, who actively offer their neighbourhoods places where people feel safe to connect, belong and contribute, and for those who inspire and support their commitment.

Please pray for the 16 core member and 15 associate member organisations of the Together Network of diocese-based social action agencies, as they equip and support churches and community groups in their local areas, all around the country. Please pray for renewed energy and wisdom for staff and for serendipitous connections to be made with the right individuals and organisations, so that even more amazing, transformative things can happen in local neighbourhoods.

Please pray for churches using CUF’s Growing Good course this autumn. Pray that it would help them identify new ways to connect with their community and make a difference together. Pray for the Growing Good webinars, that they would be effective at equipping churches with practical ideas and resources for social action.

Loving Father,

Whose Son became a refugee and had no place to call his own,

Keep safe all who are leaving behind conflict or persecution in search of peace.

Thank you that no matter how far from home they are, you are with them to guide them, your right hand will hold them fast.

Help us as churches to be ready with open arms for the people you send our way. Thank you for the perspectives, cultures and experiences they bring.

Give us compassion and generosity to welcome them as you have welcomed us.

And guide those in authority to work for a nation and a world that helps people in trouble and supports people in need.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen.

The themes of Growing Good: Presence, Perseverance, Hospitality, Participation and Adaptability are not just found in our resources – they can be found throughout the Scriptures and in the seasons of the liturgical year.

These short, seasonal acts of worship can be used by congregations, small groups, families or individuals. We hope that they will be a blessing to you and your communities as we journey through the liturgical year together, and celebrate the unfolding of God’s salvation which is a gift for all the world.

Loving God, help me to know Your peace

and receive Your comfort.

Help me to live with Hope in my heart.

Help me to share that Hope with all I meet.

May Your Hope give me peace in all things.

Amen

Over the years helping out with kids work at Church Pentecost has been one of my favourite Sundays. There is something about making fire crowns with gold card, glitter, tissue paper and glue and running around fuelled by biscuits and squash that brings real fun to those mornings.

“Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.” (Acts 2:2-3)

The arrival of the Holy Spirit is dramatic, noticeable and quite literally uncontainable (all attributes that the kids quite like). As we read on the disciples are drawn outside, a crowd gathers in bewilderment as they hear their own languages being spoken.

In the immediacy after receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, given by God as the Advocate and Comforter for us on Earth (John 14:26), there is opportunity to connect with others. A crowd gathers, different languages are spoken and questions are asked.

God does not create us to be in isolation. Community is central to his work and environments where people find belonging during good and bad times.

As we celebrate Pentecost this year and thank God for the gift of the Holy Spirit I pray that we are mindful of opportunities to connect. That we have the confidence to act on prompts to speak with family, neighbours, friends and people down the shops.

In our world where we can see increasing division and polarisation may we have the courage and confidence to reach out.

This year, Ascension day falls just two weeks after the coronation King Charles III. Thousands of people will have witnessed the coronation procession and ceremony as they were broadcast around the world.

At the ascension, the 11 disciples witnessed the awe inspiring, and maybe confusing, spectacle of Jesus disappearing into the clouds and being lifted up into heaven.

‘as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.’ Acts 1

The bible suggests that they were also witnessing a coronation. Later on in the book of Revelation, Jesus is depicted as sitting on the throne in heaven, ruling over even the kings of the earth.

So today, as Christians recall how Jesus ascended to heaven to rule over all dominions and powers, we pray for our earthly rulers and leaders.

Lord God, we pray for all in positions of power and leadership.

Give then the wisdom and courage to make decisions that build a society that better reflects your kingdom values of compassion, justice and peace.

And may we, with them, work towards a society without poverty and inequality, where everyone is treated with dignity and has the resources to thrive and participate.

Amen

Over Holy Week, we journeyed through the cheering crowds on Palm Sunday; the betrayal, arrest and denial of Maundy Thursday; the trial, scourging and crucifixion of Good Friday and the emptiness and waiting of Holy Saturday. And now, we arrive at Easter. The emotion, despair and grief of the past few days can be seen on the face of Mary Magdalene as John’s Gospel records her weeping outside the tomb on that Easter morning, finding that the tomb was empty and presumably the body of Jesus had been stolen.

This despair and grief was still etched into the hearts of the disciples when Jesus returned to them. They had barely had chance to get to grips with what had happened on Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, seemingly taking away all of their hopes for the future, and now everything had changed again.

It is through these tears that Mary encounters the Risen Jesus. It is through these tears that Mary sees the new life and hope that Jesus offers.

The Resurrection of Jesus offers us joy and hope.

When we look at the world around us, with warfare, poverty, loneliness, grief and hurt – we may find our faces wet with tears, and yet Jesus calls each one of us by name this Easter and encourages us to look at him, and find in him hope and joy; and that in him and the promise of the Resurrection we will have the promise of the hope of heaven, where every tear will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4).

God of glory,

by the raising of your Son

you have broken the chains of death and hell:

fill your Church with faith and hope;

for a new day has dawned

and the way to life stands open

in our Saviour Jesus Christ.

In 2019, I vividly recall the Easter. I was in Australia for the memorial service for my father when my stepmother also died. Her funeral was to be the week after. I went to Christchurch St Lawrence in the centre of Sydney.

The loss of a parent is something only understood by those who have experienced what happens to us all. Grief, not to mention coming face to face with our own mortality, is all consuming. The preceding weeks had taken their toll.

There was an inevitability to Jesus’s fate. Yet, by Easter Sunday, all would be calm again. A sense of hopefulness would reign; a hopefulness that would turn to unabated joy as the organ struck up the introit to the familiar hymn This Joyful Eastertide. It gives us confidence in death just as Jesus’s resurrection on the cross confirms his ultimate love for us mortals: that he should lay down his own life so that we could live.

And for those who have stumbled, those whom I have spent much of my professional and personal life looking out for – people with poor mental health, an addiction, those who experience stigma for whatever reason and whom the state so often fails – the Easter message offers hope. It is one of renewal. It shows how we can reconcile the different, complex and sometimes troubling parts of what makes us human. It promises not just a second chance but a third or fourth. It’s an acknowledgement that any of us can mess up.

The sacrifices Jesus made give us all hope. I end with last verse of that other well-known Passiontide hymn, is a Green Hill Faraway:

O dearly, dearly has he loved,
And we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming Blood,
And try his works to do.

I pray that through His example, we may learn to love and serve each other.

On behalf of the Church Urban Fund, I would like to wish you a very happy and blessed Easter.

Holy Saturday – the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday - is a day of waiting, of vigil.

The disciples didn’t know what was going to happen, but they had Jesus’s promises.

“The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of his enemies. He will be killed, but three days later he will rise from the dead.” ( Mark 9:31)

On Holy Saturday many churches hold silent vigils to reflect on the story of redemption, to wait, to hope, to prepare.

This year I will be thinking about those waiting - for someone to come out of hospital, someone to come out of prison, or those who are watching, and waiting, with those who are dying.

Heavenly Father, be near those who are waiting and watching, hoping and praying, weeping and grieving.

May we be able to wait with them, hope with them, weep with them; and also to rejoice and be thankful, in the fulfilment of the promise of your Son, to be with us always, to the end of time.

Amen.

I was baptised during Holy Week. On Good Friday our group was invited to meet together at the foot of the cross and pray. As the darkness of the cross hung over us, I felt reborn into a church family built on faith, love, and acceptance.

Years later, as I reflect on Good Friday, I’m reminded of John’s gospel when Jesus’ followers stand firm at the foot of the cross, so close that Jesus can speak to them: “When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman behold your Son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home.” (John, 19:26-27).

From the cross, Jesus gathers together a new family bound by love and faith. We can see this new family symbolised in Jesus’ words and as the beloved disciple takes Jesus’ mother ‘to his own home’. And we can feel this new family surrounding us when we gather together at church.

This Good Friday, I pray that we continue to stand firm in faith, together, like the followers at the foot of the cross in John’s gospel. Even in times of darkness, may our eyes be inspired with a divine light, that we may see Christ in each other and love as He did.

Maundy Thursday is a day that is rich in symbolism and tradition, it is the day when we celebrate Jesus’ last supper with his disciples, and the institution of the Eucharist. We also remember his betrayal by Judas, his arrest and the desertion by his closest friends and followers.

Many churches will celebrate a Eucharist this evening and in some places there will also be the washing of feet of the congregation, symbolising what Jesus himself did and also reminding us that we are called to be a Church that serves others. The word Maundy comes from the Latin mandatum or commandment, and on this day we remember Jesus’ new commandment to love one another, just as he has loved us.

Jesus’ act of washing feet, a task typically reserved for slaves, shows a far more significant act than a simple show of kindness. It shows us that God embraces us despite our weaknesses and imperfections. God meets our frailty with love, and without judgement. This is a love that has the power to touch and strengthen our hearts, and calls for us to do the same. Let us ask for God’s grace to respond to Jesus’ command and love one another.

God of love, as we remember the events of this powerful night, open our eyes to see the beauty of Jesus’ self-giving love, and by your Spirit work in our heart’s a desire and commitment to serve each other and our hurting world.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In Matthew 21:8-9, we learn about Jesus entering Jerusalem as King: ‘A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”’

This passage brings back vivid memories of my childhood in Ghana when we would spend days in the run up to Easter preparing our palm fronds at school and Sunday school, in joyful anticipation of the Palm Sunday processions which would take place in the streets around our churches.

Just like on that first Palm Sunday, we would sing and shout like the children in the temple courts where Jesus responded to the indignant chief priests in Matthew 21:16 that “from the lips of children and infants, you Lord, have called forth your praise”.

This Easter, I pray that the Lord Jesus rides triumphantly into our lives and that we, like innocent and curious infants, will praise Him and rejoice in His resurrection after His death on the cross for our sins.

Amen.