Prayers, readings, poems and reflections for the events of this past week

The following prayer was published by the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity this morning:

God of all,

So much has happened this week that it's hard to take it all in. Our hearts have leaped for joy and ached with pain. Amid the turmoil, help us to know your peace – which surpasses all understanding.

Thank you for Bob Geldof, and for Live 8. Please don't let the passion and creativity of such a beautiful event be lost, but let its chords of hope continue to reverberate throughout the world.

Thank you for the 220,000 souls who took part in the biggest peaceful demonstration ever seen before a G8 summit. We pray that their presence on Saturday in Edinburgh will help to persuade the leaders of the G8 that we all want to Make Poverty History.

Thank you, too, for the privilege this country has in leading the G8 at this time, and for the conviction of the Prime Minister and Chancellor to put climate change and poverty at the top of the agenda. We pray that all the planning, diplomacy and effort will not go to waste, despite the events in London. May good, yet, come out of evil.

Thank you for the joy and surprise of London's Olympic victory. So much effort, again, which has the potential to change so many lives, especially in the east end. Thank you for the power of sport - to unite, to uplift, and simply to help us smile through harder times. It's a gift from you.

And thank you that you do not leave us when the world seems to come crashing down around us. We pray, within the sadness, confusion and horror of yesterday's bombings, that your spirit will comfort those who mourn, heal those who are hurt, and strengthen those who feel weak.

Help us, somehow, to love our enemies, and in so doing, to bring heaven a little closer to our broken earth.

And as Bono, who has helped to challenge and encourage the G8 this week, sang in London recently:

Take this city -
A city should be shining on a hill.
Take this city,
If it be your will.
What no man can own, no man can take.
Take this heart -
London's heart –
Take this city, and keep it safe.

Amen.

From the Muslim Council of Britain website:

During the Friday jumu’ah prayers today, British Muslims in mosques throughout the United Kingdom will offer prayers for the victims and families of yesterday’s series of atrocities in London.

“Our faith of Islam calls upon us to be upholders of justice. The day after London was bloodied by terrorists finds us determined to help secure this justice for the innocent victims of yesterday’s carnage. The terrorists may have thought they could divide us and make us panic. It is our hope that we will all prove them conclusively wrong”, said Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain.

The Muslim Council urges Muslims in Britain to go about their daily routines and not be intimated or cowered by fear. This would be the wrong response to the tragic events of yesterday morning.

Irrespective of who may be behind the bombings in the capital, The Muslim Council condemns all acts of terror vehemently.

Footprints

One night a man had a dream, and in his dream he reviewed the footsteps he had taken in his life. He looked and noticed that all over the mountains and difficult places that he had traveled there was one set of footprints; but over the plains and down the hills, there were two set of footprints, as if someone had walked by his side

He turned to Christ and said, "There is something I don't understand. Why is it that down the hills and over the tough and difficult places I have walked alone, for I see in those areas there is just one set of footprints."

Christ turned to the man and sid, "It is that while your life was easy I walked along your side; but here, where the walking was hard and paths were difficult, was the time you needed Me most, and that is why I carried you"

Author unknown

John 14, 1-3 & 27

1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Psalm 139, 7-16

7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. 12 Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee.

13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

There is a place

There is a place when all the lost potential
Yeilds its full promise, finds its tru intetn;
Silence no more, young voices echo freely
As they were meant.

There is a place where God wil hear our questions;
Suffer our anger, share our speechless grief,
Gently repair the innocence of loving
And of belief.

Verses 3 and 4, There is a Place, from 'When Grief is Raw',
Iona Community

I'm free

Don't grieve for me for now I'm free.
I'm following the path God has for me.
I took God's hand when I heard the call.
I turned my back and left it all.

I could not stay another day.
To laugh, to love, to work, or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I found that peace at the break of day.

If my parting has left a void.
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss.
Ah yes, these things I, too, will miss.

Be not burdened with times of sorrow.
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full, I savored much
Good friends, good times.
A loved one's touch.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me.
God wanted me now. He set me free.

Author unknown.