In our prayers...

 

Over the coming days and weeks please continue to pray for:

 

The people of Ukraine and those who are trying to help them (special prayer below)

 

The people who are caught up in the fighting between Hamas and Israel, we pray for peace

 

Those who are suffering from the Covid virus, and their loved ones.

Those who are the most vulnerable in our communities.

Our government and their advisors.

The extraordinary people who staff our health services.

Migrants, crossing the Channel for whatever reason, and those who rescue and look after them (special prayer below)

The many businesses under threat as a consequence of these times.

 

Staff and pupils of schools.

 

The family of Laura Nuttall, the 23-year-old who died from a brain tumour at her home in Lancashire on 22 May, but was so inspiring to so many other people.

 

Our church family and the community around us - we give thanks for the new life in our church, and we remember the families of those who have passed away.

 

A prayer for the people in Ukraine

 

 

And a prayer for people whose lives have ended in the English Channel

 

Following the tragic deaths in the English Channel, the Revd Sonia Hicks and Barbara Easton, the President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference, offered the following prayer:

 

Holy God, your Son, Jesus Christ stilled the storm on the Sea of Galilee. 

 

We pray for those whose lives were ended in the English Channel. 

Men, women and children searching for a better life, seeking a better life only to find death in the chilly depths. 

 

We pray for those still determined to make that journey no matter what the risks. 

O God, help us, in the West, to urge our political leaders to find a better solution to the migrant crisis as people try to escape from persecution, war and poverty. 

 

May we campaign for more safe corridors so that the people smugglers cannot continue to prey on the desperation of others. 

 

May we open our hearts to the refugees in our midst remembering that the Holy Family journeyed to Egypt to escape the murderous intentions of the Herod. 

 

We ask these prayers in and through the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen