Many countries deserve our thoughtful prayers from week to week and we are certainly mindful of the dramatic events affecting millions of people in Egypt right now. Focused attention on troubled and changing regions does not deplete a disciplined and planned approach to prayer, however.

Ireland and the  United Kingdom comprising England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales are the countries featured on the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle this week.

The Church of Christ at Wembley Downs participates by featuring the week’s countries in newsletter, feature wall and Sunday morning intercessions. Groups and individuals are encouraged to pray for these countries through the coming week. The following prayers are from the featured web page.

Intercessions

Give thanks for:

The witness of saints and missionaries, who faithfully proclaimed the gospel to these and other lands.
Ecumenical initiatives to bring Christians closer together.
The work for justice and peace in which Christians join with others to imagine a better world.
Centres of Christian renewal.
Tartans, bagpipes and boys’ choirs singing in ancient cathedrals.
Poetry and song.

Pray for:

Immigrants and asylum seekers who seek a better life in these countries.
Reconciliation and an end to enmity between peoples.
Strength for those who combat racism.
Churches which try to be faithful to Christ in the midst of secularization and change.
Those who feel they have been left behind: the homeless and unemployed, those whose education seems inadequate or their skills out of date, and those who are long-term patients in mental hospitals.
Those whose industry has been ravaged: the coal miners and slate workers who know of pit and quarry closures and who suffer emphysema and pneumoconiosis, the farm and land workers who have lost their livelihoods and have seen their communities changed dramatically, the factory workers who have lost their jobs, the young who cannot find work, and the elderly who depend on support in residential homes.
Prayer

Lord, you made the world and everything in it;
you created the human race of one stock
and gave us the earth for our possession.
Break down the walls that separate us and unite us in a single body.

Lord, we have been divisive in our thinking,
in our speech, in our actions;
we have classified and imprisoned one another;
we have fenced each other out by hatred and prejudice.
Break down the walls that separate us and unite us in a single body.

Lord, you mean us to be a single people,
ruled by peace, feasting in freedom, freed from injustice,
truly human, men and women,
responsible and responsive
in the life we lead,
the love we share,
the relationships we create.
Break down the walls that separate us and unite us in a single body.

Lord, we shall need ever new insights into the truth,
awareness of your will for all humanity,
courage to do what is right even when it is not allowed,
persistence in undermining unjust structures until they crumble into dust,
grace to exercise a ministry of reconciliation.
Break down the walls that separate us and unite us in a single body.
Lord, share out among us the tongues of your Spirit
that we may each burn with compassion for all
who hunger for freedom and human dignity;
that we may be doers of the word and so speak with credibility about the
wonderful things you have done.
Lord, direct us in ways we do not yet discern and equip us for the service of reconciliation and liberation in your world.