Pray

There are prayer suggestions at the top of the page: specific prayers are further down.

Please pray

For yourself. Prayerfully put on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6), so that you can stand firm in your belief.
Lord Jesus, I thank you for my salvation, which was won through your sacrifice of death on the cross and God’s powerful act of resurrection.  Forgive me, I ask; in the knowledge that sin and death are destroyed. Thank you for the confidence you give me to approach God: please will you, Lord Jesus, present me, pure, to God. Abba, Father, may I live a life that reflects your Kingdom each day: thy Kingdom come.
May I make righteousness and truth – God’s truth – a way of life.
In my hourly business may I always seek and promote peace.
Increase, I ask, my faith. I believe, but help my unbelief; and I trust – teach me to trust more.
May the Word of God dwell in me and guide me, and may it work through me in my daily life.
Amen.

For us, members of the church. Pray for the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For the fruit of the Spirit to grow in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Give thanks for the appointment of Rev Sam to be our vicar. Also thanks for the team of willing retired clergy who continue to help. Pray for their spiritual insight and guidance in their ministry with us and with the town.

Sue Kelly, Jo Hepper are admitted as churchwarden’s at St Chad’s for 2022-3; also John Clark and Liz Raven at St Alkmund’s. Please pray for them: for wisdom, strength and leadership. My we all be part of the team of helpers.

Pray that the name of Jesus is apparent in all that we do.

For our town. For the peace of God which passes understanding. For the re-emergence of community. For the work of providing for those without. Further prayers for the Wider Ministry in Shrewsbury are here.

For World Peace; particularly in the light of the current world instability.

There are many other things we could pray for: ask God to show you.

A prayer from a recent service in St Chad’s.

God our Father, we come before you in prayer with reverence, with joy, and with holy fear, confident in your love for us.
Jesus our Saviour, you have redeemed us and made us clean; we adore you.
Spirit, you inspire us and direct us; please fill us now and show us more ways in which we can serve.

As we think of the International conflict we pray that, even in the middle of it, small acts of kindness between neighbours, between strangers, may reflect God’s love, and that each act of love may shine like a light in the darkness. Strengthen and inspire, Lord God we pray, the spirits of those who find themselves in a conflict not of their making.

Give wisdom we pray to our church leaders, and the retired clergy who help us in this interregnum. We thank you for their continued service on our behalf. Together with the congregations of all other churches in Shrewsbury, pour out on us all your spirit. We pray for a renewal and re-invigoration of our spiritual awareness. May we all keep a right sense of priorities as we seek both to announce the Good News of Jesus and his saving grace, and to steward this lovely building for future generations, to the Glory of God.

May God’s presence fill us and fill every nook and cranny of our buildings with his peace, the peace that passes understanding. Like the burning bush that was not consumed, may we and our buildings be enveloped in the refining fire of God’s presence through Jesus, so that we may become beacons of hope, lights in the darkness, as we go about our daily lives. Show us, we pray, more ways in which we can serve.

This prayer we offer in Jesus name, Amen.

A prayer for these times.         Sam Wells , the vicar of St Martin in the Fields

O God of peace, your prophet Isaiah promised

Swords would be turned into ploughshares,

And your son’s mother proclaimed

The mighty would be put down, and the humble exalted.

Visit the people of Ukraine, deliver them from fear, violence,

Attack, injury, destruction, death,

And give them courage, solidarity and allies

In their hour of vulnerability and sorrow.

Turn the hearts of those bent on war and invasion.

Strengthen the hands of all seeking to halt conflict,

Restore order, pursue justice,

And make this moment of peril an occasion for your Holy Spirit to

To show your world the cost of conflict and our dependence on one another

In Christ our Lord, who went to his death because of our hatred and rose

Because our hatred is never stronger than your indomitable love  Amen

Here is a prayer written by Pope John Paul when he was still a Bishop in Poland under the communist regime: