If we are to appreciate the gentleness of a lamb, we need to know its opposite. If we are to understand what safety is, we need also to experience the possibility of danger.
Praying Together 9th June 2024
Collect for Trinity 2
Lord, you have taught us that all our doings without love are worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of love, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you. Grant this for your only Son Jesus Christ’s sake.
2 Corinthians 4: 13 – 5: 1
Mark 3: 20 – 35
Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace)
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
When we hear and see the reports of conflict – daily – it would seem that no matter how fervent our prayer, we will see no end to violence – we cannot really imagine that the world, its leaders and its people will ever change. It feels as if evil is winning. The old song – “Last night I had the Strangest Dream” – appears in truth to be exactly that; a dream only. If we just give in and believe that there is nothing we can do to bring about such a change, the dream will never come true. So let’s not.
Whatever we do, how small it may seem, we can abide with St Francis’ prayer. And every time we do, evil is weakened. It can often be hard – to sow love; to pardon; to have faith: to hope; to bring light; to live joyfully; to console, to understand, to give; to pardon; to love.
These actions cost us. They demand us to put ourselves last, not just behind the brothers and sisters we love, but those we don’t love as well. We shall have to reach out to those we would rather not know. We may be ridiculed – we may even be humiliated. We will have to be prepared to forgive, no matter what the hurt. There will be times of disappointment; times when we will even be near to despair. But those are the moments when are at our most powerful – we look at the cross, and trusting in Him alone, we face the battle.
And we prevail, and the Lord wins the war.
Previous Posts
Praying Together 22nd February 2026
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Praying Together 15th February 2026
Perhaps, when we pray, we need to remember it is the Jesus on the Mountain to whom we address our prayers, the one whose face shines like the sun and transfigures our faces as we radiate in His light.
Praying Together February 8th 2026
Is Jesus suggesting, not to eat and drink? And is he saying we should not wear clothes but go naked?
How unrealistic is this, and how depressing – we need to eat and drink, and we need clothing.
Praying Together February 1st 2026
Christ’s words are given to all His people in the face of the difficulties we ourselves face in life. We claim them and are assured of Blessing. And that is all we need.
Praying Together January 25th 2026
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
Praying Together 18th January 2026
In prayer, we ask: Who is God calling to come and use their specific individual gifts to continue to build His Kingdom in the future?
His reply is clear.
“You”, He says.
Praying Together 11 January 2026
Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
Praying Together 21st December 2025
Joseph’s example is one of love, human reaction, vocation and ultimate obedience to his Creator. So we rightly celebrate both Mary and Joseph as the chosen parents of the Christ-child. But we must also remember that they were ordinary people with human emotions who lived extraordinary lives.
Praying Together December 7th 2025
By your grace we have the gift of the Scriptures. With the help your grace, may we listen deeply to what you want to say to each one of us. May we know your gifts of endurance, encouragement and hope, so that not only our lips but also our lives may be a song in praise of your mercy.
Praying Together November 30th November 2025
The significance of the Themes and Candles we light during the Advent Season.
Praying Together 23rd November 2025
We celebrate the beginning of the story in Advent – but before we do, it is equally important to celebrate the final act of Coronation. The Gospel proclaims that Jesus is King.
Praying Together 16th November 2025
In ways, the Christian Journey is like a race – a Marathon, not a sprint. The key is endurance, Jesus says. There will be mountains to climb, tears and heartache in the depths of your soul, and it will sometimes feel like it’s impossible to carry on. But the world will continue, and end only in God’s good time.