Prayer Sheet April/May 2007 - St Cuthbert's / St Mary's

If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Rom 6:6

St Cuthbert's

• Special Services at Easter & Pentecost
• Alpha Courses and the Alpha Away Day at St James', Didsbury
• ACORNS, Sunday School, Adventurers, Covies, Bag of Chips, LOST?, After School Club, AllStars and Friday Club, particularly for more leaders and helpers
• Social action including Church Cafe and NHS Expert patients
• That our income may be sufficient to support our work and that we are able to pay off the building deficit.
• New initiatives in developing the support systems needed to cope with both our extended building and growing range of activities that it supports.
• Provision of the right worker(s) for next year

St Mary's

• The success of the Upper Room project

People

• Those preparing for their or their children's baptisms or planning to marry in the near future.
• The bereaved, ill and housebound and our Pastoral Team as they care for them.
• New (and old!) parents.

Gracious Lord, we commit to you every aspect of our church life, that all may be done for your glory.

St Andrew's Teacher Training College
St Andrews is a fee-paying school which aims to give a high standard of Christian education to at least International GCSE level. Lessons are half in Spanish and half in English, so pupils are pretty well bilingual from an early age. Each day includes Bible study and prayer and all the teachers are Christian.

Students needed Every year we pray in the students and so far we have 10 signed up to start the diploma course in March, but we need a minimum of 20 in order to run the course. Please pray for the provision of the right students for both the diploma and the degree course, due to start in April.

Indigenous education: In 2006 the college ran a project in the indigenous community of Yatnata, training the teachers and parents to improve pre-school education. It was a huge success and as a result, this year there are four more projects due to start. Please pray for the coordination of these projects, a huge and complicated task and for the task of taking the gospel to the indigenous peoples.

The Toy Library is taken round to different locations wherever the children will benefit; for deprived children toys are often a rarity and when faced with even a jigsaw puzzle they are often at a loss to know what to do with it and have to be shown. Pray for the children, who have so little, that they may respond to the love and affection that is shown to them through the local churches.

Pray particularly for the children of the town of Zeballos Cue where over 400 people recently died in a fire and many were orphaned.

Being blessed by God
God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Pray for:
Those who are poor
The merciful
Those who mourn
The pure in heart
The meek
The peacmakers
Those who seek justice
The persecuted

In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us model for discipleship - a list of characteristics that people should see in our lives. Let's pray that our lives will more closely fit this pattern for living.

Pray that:
We won't be preoccupied with wealth and worldy things
That we are quick to forgive and slow to condemn
We won't complain about our own burdens - or ignore other people's burdens
We will keep our eyes fixed on you
We will not be ruthless in our actions
We will seek peace in our families, our country and our world
We will act justly at all times
We will suffer for the sake of right rather than behave unjustly

1807-2007 - Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, kindle in your Church the never-failing gift of love, that, following the example of your servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the children of the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, your Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

The slave trade may have been abolished in 1807, but that was not the end of slavery, slavery in the USA did not end until the civil war in 1865, and continues to the present day in various forms. Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their 'employers'. Women from eastern Europe are sold into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.

What can we do?

• Consider the issues of Fairtrade -our cheap purchases may well help to keep others in modern slavery.
• Pray that governments around the world would enact and enforce legislation that guarantees human freedom.
• Support Antislavery International - http://www.antislavery.org and Set All Free - http://www.setallfree.net