God our Father,
We close our eyes in sleep in the knowledge that Your Spirit fills the Universe; that your Spirit sustains the witness of Your Church; that Your Spirit is working in the lives of Your people to comfort, to strengthen, to establish Your Word.
We move into a new day with the prospect of being drawn deeper into Your Love, of extending our understanding of Your ways, of responding to the call to serve.
So draw us closer to Yourself and enable us to sing songs of joy, the praise of a grateful people who know God through Jesus Christ, who have been touched by His sacrifice, renewed by His resurrection and inspired by His promises.
Forgive us that so often we cut off the sources of joy.
Neglecting the Word that keeps us close to You.
Ignoring the promptings of Your Spirit to forgive others.
Setting aside opportunities to support others in time of need.
Father, if You held on to our failure where would be our hope?
But You have assured us in Jesus that sin is not victorious over us, that calling to mind our failure is not a mark of despair but the beginning of renewed aspiration.
So help us to believe that You are on our side as we now go forward to face the challenges of the days ahead.
Heavenly father once again we find ourselves in your presence this morning and we are safe in the knowledge that you are with us. As we celebrate Pentecost we know that your spirit moves amongst us and because of that we get to know you just that bit better. We know that you find joy among us as we see your absolute power, your incredible knowledge and your everlasting love.
We pray this morning for those in our congregations who need you: a healing spirit, a loving father and a consoling friend.
We pray for our brothers and sisters touched by illness, affected by a bereavement and isolated by loneliness .
We pray for those who feel that they have no need of your love, those who stand in the boundaries between belief and disbelief and we ask that you enable us to draw them closer to you and closer to understanding.
We pray especially for this year's General Assembly.
The year past has been a different year and a different Assembly and we pray for the outgoing Moderator Martin Fair.
We pray for the new Moderator Jim Wallace and ask that you be with him and all who are making decisions about the church this year.
Go with Jim Wallace as he travels through this country and abroad representing our national church , give him wisdom and strength for the job ahead.
Father we pray today for those in every church in the land, give us a vision that will take some out of their comfort zone and lead us into new ways of serving you, to be beacons of hope in world that has changed
We pray for those we recognise as key workers. Those who selflessly administer care, who enable life to go on and allow families to continue to exist.
We pray for those who work for peace abroad in war zones and even at home where there is conflict.
We especially pray for those who work for peace where there seems to be no peace possible like Syria, Pakistan and places where the church is our concern.
We pray for Israel and for calm, we pray for India and for healing and
Father this prayer for others this morning is heavy and encumbered but we know you are a God who cares and a God who is bigger than anything else in this world.
Thanks to Alex McEwan who provided the prayers for others.
