‘By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.’ (Hebs 11: 8)
Father, we stand with Abraham as he faced an unknown future and we aspire to that trust he had in the God who called him to step out in faith.
A God whose voice conveyed authority and grace;
A God who shared a vision of all that He would achieve;
A God who promised to be with Abraham to the end.
We long to embrace this God as our lives unfold in the midst of global pandemic and the challenges we face as individuals.
As words come to us from all directions written and spoken we want the Word of God to dominate.
As appeals come us to trust leaders and experts we want our highest trust to be in God.
As images and stories of suffering and loss confront us daily we want the love of God to be stirred up within us.
Father, these strange and bewildering days have taught us much about our limitations,
So come to us today,
Refresh us with a vision of your kingdom on earth.
Renew us with forgiveness for all our shortcomings.
Revive our willingness to faithfully follow into the unknown future.
God our Father,
We thank you that as part of your people we have known a coming together where encouragement, support, understanding and inspiration have been our experiences.
We thank you for blessings received in worship as we have sung and prayed together, as the Word read and preached has touched us, as we have been fed with spiritual food at the Lord’s Table.
We thank you for all those who have been an example to us in their love for Jesus and their commitment to His ways and in particular we remember those who have fought the good fight, who have run the race and are now complete in Christ.
We look beyond ourselves to the Church worldwide, some of us privileged, some of us poverty-stricken, some of us comfortable, some of us persecuted, but all of us in need of the Spirit’s power to take us forward in faith.
We look beyond ourselves to the nations, each one aware of their limitations in these days of pandemic and in need of resources that go deeper than wealth and medicine.
We look beyond ourselves to our own nation’s leaders in their daily struggle to stay on top of new developments, statistics, setbacks, and turn them all towards the source of all strength and peace.
We look beyond ourselves to those with particular anxieties: expectant mothers, those awaiting surgery or in the midst of treatment, carers on the frontline, those who are isolated and lonely.
31/1/21
