In April there will be no online lunchtime FWW prayer meeting – the next will be May 3rd 1 – 1.30pm.
The month starts with Holy Week and Easter Day, a time to travel with Christ to the Cross, and beyond. It is a season of contrasts – death and resurrection; despair and hope; endings and beginnings. We see contrast also when we come to pray about the economy, money and work. Inequality continues to grow; those on low wages or benefits facing a constant struggle to make ends meet, whilst for others higher bills are hardly noticed.
Easter Life comes after the horror of Good Friday, and so our prayers always need to reach for the hope of resurrection even as we acknowledge the injustice, suffering and despair around us.
Almighty God, whose Son suffered and died to set us free and bring New Life,
help us to pray for those most disadvantaged and afflicted
by the way our economy is ordered.
May the Resurrection be revealed to those most in need
of new life and new beginnings. And may our prayers, and your Love,
lead us to work for justice, hope and life for all,
which is the mark of your Kingdom that we see in Jesus Christ,
in whose name we pray.
Amen
Especially we pray for:
- Those unable to pay bills – rent, mortgage, energy, food – and for a fairer sharing that none may have more than they need, whilst others have not enough.
- Fairness in wages and working conditions, and a just use of power in our economy.
- Refugees from war, conflict and poverty risking all for a better life for their families.
- Those unable to participate in the economy through prejudice, illness or exclusion.
- Those we know – families, friends, neighbours and in our churches – for whom work is difficult, stressful, and undervalued.
- FWW chaplains as they visit people at work – for grace, discernment and insights as people share their experience of work and the economy.
- Planning for the future of FWW as we seek to provide more chaplaincy when money is scarce, and for the Spring Seminar on June 8th at Pershore Baptist Church as we celebrate the work of chaplaincy and the hope, compassion and care it brings to many.
- In our cycle of prayer this month for:
- Chaplains in Pershore – Stuart Sandys (Team Leader), Carol Sandys, Christine Dodd, Cathy Jones, Angela Gerrard, John Podd, David Oldham, Alma Organ and Emily Miller.
- FWW Trustees, representing the Methodist Church across Worcestershire, Mary Austin and Peter Levitt.