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Prayers And Letters For The Quarter from the Superintendent Rev. David Jenkins
Dear Friends,
Does the Church have a holiday in August?
You might think so with many less activities than usual.
Holidays, (at their best, when the sun shines!), are about finding renewal-fresh energy, deeper insights, greater relaxation, more time with people we love.
So maybe the Church does need a holiday.
We are so often task-driven, meeting-driven, and while all of that can be immensely productive and worthwhile, we need the times just to be, to receive, to look at life afresh, to rest before the surge of new activities begin again in September.
I’m writing this in May before the Circuit Holiday takes place.
I’ve not been on an actual Circuit Holiday before and am looking forward very much to sharing in this one.
The Circuit Holiday has been well established in the former Thame and Watlington Circuit and I am delighted that, not only will those churches be well represented, but also people from other churches too.
The experience offers plenty of opportunities for meeting each other and getting to know one another, which is very important for the health of the entire Circuit’s life.
Renewal in the life of the Church is frequently associated with new life through God’s Spirit, with dynamic spiritual growth and with life-changing outreach.
Whatever form the renewal of the Church’s life may take, these times of resting, reflecting, laughing and learning and loving will make a significant contribution.
With loving care,
David
A PRAYER FOR OUR CIRCUIT THIS QUARTER
Renewing God,
Re-energise our lives,
Re-focus our vision,
Remind us of your love.
Guide our thinking,
Guard our speaking,
Generate our enthusiasm,
Give us your Spirit.
Turn us towards you,
Teach us new truth,
Take our talents,
Transform us into your likeness
In Jesus, Amen.
CIRCUIT PRAYER DIARYON THE FOLLOWING DAY EACH MONTH PLEASE PRAY FOR:-
1 Aylesbury Church and the community it serves
2 Cheddington Church and the community it serves
3 Chinnor Church and the community it serves
4 Cuddington Church and the community it serves
5 Fairford Leys Church and the community it serves
6 Haddenham Church and the community it serves
7 North Marston Church and the community it serves
8 Princes Risborough Church and the community it serves
9 Stewkley Church and the community it serves
10 Stoke Hammond Church and the community it serves
11 Stoke Mandeville Church and the community it serves
12 Stone Church and the community it serves
13 Swanbourne Church and the community it serves
14 Christchurch, Thame and the community it serves
15 Waddesdon Church and the community it serves
16 Weedon & Hardwich Churches and the communities
17 Whitchurch Church and the community it serves
18 Wingrave Church and the community it serves
19 Our Circuit Leadership Team
20 Our Ministerial Team and their families
21 Those involved in Hospital and Prison Ministry
22 Our Local Preachers and Worship Leaders
23 Youth work around the Circuit
24 Relations with local Christians
25 Those who have been bereaved
26 People who are ill
27 People caught up in natural disasters
28 People living in conflict situations
29 The life of our nation and those who lead
30 Action to protect the global environment
31 Relations with people of other faiths
Some Previous Prayers
We pray for the challenges faced by our world, our country and our church.
Among the problems of :
climate change,
drastic poverty,
war and terrorism,
economic crisis,
unemployment,
cut backs of public services,
shortage of ministers,
grant wisdom to those in leadership, creative thinking, imagination,
understanding, and disciplined resolve to all who work towards a fairer world, and an adequately resourced nation.
For our Circuit we pray for the ability to adapt, to concentrate on priorities, to see and take opportunities for mission, to pull together in strongly mutual commitment, through Jesus Christ, our Leader and Lord, Amen.
During the winter’s darkness and cold,
During the Lenten journey to conflict and death,
Inspire us with the hope of new life,
Enthuse us with experience of resurrection.
Amen
As we prepare for the future, help us to be deeply grateful for the past and to live fully in the present.
May we cherish the sacrament of the present moment, thankful for the gift of each new day, eager to serve you within it, enthusiastic to discover more of the wonder of your love.
Amen
We pray for the wider Methodist Church-
· For Alison Tomlin as she moves from being the Chair of District
· For Peter Hancock as he becomes the new District Chair
· For our neighbours in the Thame and Watlington Circuit and for the Circuits around them in considering their future.
We pray for our Circuit
· In decisions we make regarding a possible merger with churches in the Thame and Watlington Circuit
· For the people of Aylesbury in the use of their newly refurbished Church and Community Centre
· For the people of Wingrave, celebrating 150 years of witness and reflecting on future directions
May the wisdom of God guide us and the strength of God sustain us,
Amen.
Help us to build with care
· Buildings for people to meet with God
· Relationships with one another and our neighbours
· A pattern of life in which we encounter you
· An attitude towards life which enables us to be the people you call us to be
Amen
I thank you, Lord, for the food I enjoy each day, for its plentiful ness and variety. I pray for all who are hungry and malnourished because food is scarce and only of one kind.
Thank you for all I possess, for the usefulness, pleasure and enjoyment they each bring to me. I pray for those who struggle to make ends meet, whose homes are impoverished and whose choices are limited.
Thank you for my home, for its sturdiness and space, its warmth and attractiveness. I pray for those with no home of their own, no private space, no pleasant surroundings, those exposed to the decisions of others as to the permanency of where they are now.
Thank you for my friends, my family and all the love with which I have been surrounded from my first days. I pray for the lonely, the friendless, those with no caring relatives, those who do not know the meaning of love.
May my gratitude not make me feel guilty for what I have, but may I become more determined to see that others have the choice to enjoy all that I could so easily take for granted. May that determination lead to action on their behalf.
Amen.
Living God, there is far more about you and your activity than we will ever know; far more to thank you for than we will ever realise. Your love and your purposes are far greater than we can observe: sometimes we may see the plant pushing up through the soil, but we do not see what has gone before that. For all you do which is beyond our observation or experience, as well as for that which we can see and do know, we give you grateful praise.
Amen.
I praise you for continually working in our lives to transform us, even though it means never leaving us alone, never letting us rest content, because you are always refining us, chiselling away at unwanted stone, challenging our attitudes and helping us to move on. May I more willingly co-operate with your process of transformation, that I may become much more fully the person you intend me to be.
Amen.
Lord, I thank you for the great adventure of life and all its opportunities. I would learn that the future is not mine to manipulate, although you do give me freedom to make my own decisions. I would also learn that the most perfect will of God does not always proceed in predictable straight lines, but through many twists and turns. Help me to be both a learner, listening to the experiences of other people and a catalyst, raising the questions which people need to answer and enabling action to take place. When one door opens help me to keep knocking at the next one, following through where each avenue may lead. Use me as someone who takes things forward, sees things through and contributes towards developments being made. May I play my part in working alongside others in a team and may I keep learning what it means to work alongside you.
Amen.
Sometimes in conversations with other people, Lord, we become aware of some weakness in ourselves. Help us to learn from this awareness, and, in your strength, to move out of that particular rut. Help me to learn today, from the signals others give out, what in my behaviour is constructive and helpful towards them, and what is off-putting; what I say that people may misconstrue; where I fail to think things through sufficiently; where I am hurtful in flippant remarks I may make. May my speech contribute towards the well being of others and be part of your purpose for their lives and mine.
Amen.
I long to share the adventures of this day with you; and to discover the joy and wonder that you bring to life. I commit to your gracious care each one of the people who have primary claim on my affection. May today see an exploration of spiritual truth and an experiment in new methods of living. Help me to use the gifts, interests and skills you have given me for the benefit of others. Help me to be alive and sensitive to the promptings of your Spirit and to the feelings of other people. Each day may I love, trust and serve you more.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for other people-for those whose company I enjoy and with whom I can relax; and those whom I find difficult to live with, who challenge me into a broader way of loving. For those who remember me in acts of thoughtful kindness and prayer; those whose love for me is an essential part of their lives, and my love for them an essential part of mine. For those, even people I have never met, whose writings and thinking interest and stimulate me. Remind me today of how my own work is being done for the benefit of other people; and help me to produce my best for them, to take their feelings and thoughts into account. Above all thank you for your presence at the heart of my life.
Amen.
Yours, Lord, is the standard by which our lives are to be judged. Yours is the strength upon which we depend. Yours is the inspiration we need to guide our lives. We thank you for every opportunity to return to you, to reassess life by your values and to be restored to the sanity of your ways. Guide all who have the responsibility of leadership and those who act as their main advisors. Help us to exercise our own responsibilities faithfully and well, submitting to the discipline which makes us truly free. We pray for those who are without power-refugees with no home; children with no parents; the poor with no land; the hungry with no food; the war-torn with no peace; the anxious with no rest. Use us in readjusting the balance, righting the wrongs and bringing reconciliation.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for other people - for those whose company I enjoy and with whom I can relax; those who remember me in acts of kindness and prayer; those whose love for me is an essential part of their lives, and my love for them an essential part of mine; those whose ideas interest, stimulate and challenge me; those to whom I am growing in closer bonds of affection and understanding; even those I have never seen, but from whose skills and work I benefit each day. Thank you for the rich world of relationships, of which I am a part. Remind me today of how my own work is being done for the benefit of other people. Help me, therefore, to produce my best for them, to take into account their feelings and thoughts and to treat each person as one who matters.
Amen.
Thank you, Lord God, for the refreshment of sleep and strength for the new day. Thank you for this opportunity to catch breath, and to begin the day with a sane outlook and a balanced perspective. You are the source of all health-physical, mental and spiritual. Throughout this d me even beyond my death. Every new beginning I have made has been attempted through strength and inspiration you have given. Because my life is not wholly what it should be, help me to begin again this day with you.
Amen.