Prayers for this week from the Prayer Circle

PRAYER FOR THE PRAYER CIRCLE

 

Lord, as we come to you in prayer,

we ask for your blessings on those

who may not be as fortunate as each of us are

For the lonely, the depressed,

For the sick, in body mind or spirit

For those who have lost their way in the world

For those seeking new directions in their life

For the homeless, the down at heart

For the bereaved, those whose life seems pointless

For each of these and for those many others

Who day by day seek guidance & help

Give them hope, direction & nourishment

In all that they do, think or say

In your name we ask this

The giver of all things wise & wonderful

Amen

Written by Adrian Wilkinson

Please will you pray for

The people who were on last weeks prayer list who still need our prayers, and thanks to all of you for remembering them.

Mothering Sunday at Competa

Getting fit and keeping trim

We are now all very familiar with the need to exercise daily (even if we don’t) and to eat that balanced diet which includes five vegetables a day. Over the past years our understanding of what makes a healthy person has increased greatly, and whilst there are still food fashions and fads ( I once worked with a man who insisted on eating three pounds of tomatoes a day!), it does seem that the advice we are being given will help to avoid strokes and heart attacks and the like.

But in the end, we are not immortal, so whilst we may prolong our life we will finally have to account for it. That is why Lent is such an important time. All of us need to think about our spiritual health just as much as about the health of our physical bodies. Lent provides a focus time to enable us to review who we are and what manner of life we are leading. It gives us the opportunity to say “no” to some of the things which do us harm and to find ways of living our lives more in tune with the eternal dimension. The discipline of Lent is not made up of sack cloth and ashes, but made up of a sensible and serious self examination with a view to leading a better life.

Whatever our religious beliefs (and everyone lives by some kind of faith - else we wouldn’t get up in the morning) we can all benefit from a period of reflection and reassessment.

One way of doing just that is to join us for worship in one of our churches, for that way there is the opportunity to turn away from self and look to God. You can, of course, do that anywhere and everywhere, but human nature being what it is, we actually don’t.

We look forward to seeing you.

Peter Wolfenden

Chaplain

Prayers for this week

Prayer for Christian Worship

Steadfastness

The Lord is the same, yesterday, today and forever (Hebr. 13:8)

Therefore let us also be steadfast in our belief, our trust and all our dealings.

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good.  His love endures for ever. (Ps. 136)

O Lord God, we pray to you today, knowing of your love for us – knowing that you hear us and are with us.   We pray that you may strengthen us in your faith – that we will trust you and put ourselves into your hands in all our dealings.  That we will do your will and obey your commands.

Today we pray for those of us who have lost their way – who are stumbling in the dark.

Lord, in your mercy, hear us.

We thank you Lord for your bounteous gifts.

We thank you for being there – without you we are nothing.   We thank you for giving up your life for us – to save us from our sins and to open the gates of heaven for us.   We especially pray for those of us who are in any kind of trouble, pain and sickness.

Lord, in your mercy, hear us.

We pray for our church in Malaga, Tapia, Cómpeta and Puente Don Manuel.   May the numbers increase with faithful believers and may our worship be pleasing in your eyes.

Amen

Say One for Me

 A new web-based service from the Church of England, launched today to mark the beginning of Lent, lets people across the country confidentially share their hopes and concerns anonymously in the form of a prayer – and also have those thoughts offered to God by a bishop.

Prayers received via www.SayOneForMe.org over the next 40 days will be displayed on the site and shared with a number of Church of England bishops, who have agreed to remember the submissions in their own prayers over the season. The website invites visitors to type in their prayers – and then click ‘Amen’ to post them.

The Rt Revd David Walker, Bishop of Dudley, says: “Priests are well used to having people shout at us ‘say one for me’. Whatever the initial intention of that yell in the street, underlying it is the fact that people feel a need to pray – especially during difficult times. Our visits today and the new website are both simple ways for us to harness that desire and engage with people where they are. Of course, nobody needs a dog collar to be heard by God, but for many people, knowing that someone else is praying for us gives us the confidence to make our own prayers, and prayer is often the gateway to hope. The website allows people to share their prayers anonymously via their own home computer or even on the move through a mobile device.”

In addition, to mark Ash Wednesday, a number of bishops are taking to the streets to invite prayers from passers-by, which will then be offered to God at a service later today:

• The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, will be joined by clergy from in and around the city and two sisters (Anglican ‘nuns’) in touring York to collect prayers from locals and tourists throughout the morning. Their words will be offered, anonymously, during brief special services to be held at St Helen’s, Stonegate, on the hour between 10am and 1pm, with the archbishop leading the prayers at 10am and midday.

• In the West Midlands, the Bishop of Dudley will be collecting prayers in Dudley Market between 10am and midday. Bishop David explains: “Prayer matters and prayer makes a difference. Many people who don’t pray regularly deeply appreciate somebody taking the time and interest to say a prayer on their behalf. I’m coming to Dudley to ask people what they want praying for, then I’m going to offer those prayers to God in our cathedral in Worcester tonight at 7.30pm, as part of how we mark Ash Wednesday”.

• In the North West, the Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, will be visiting the Job Centre in Moss Side at lunchtime, while the Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Revd Chris Edmonson, will be chatting to people at Bury Market. The bishops will collect prayers to be read at the 7.30pm services at Manchester Cathedral and Bolton Parish Church respectively.

• The Bishop of Birmingham, Rt Revd David Urquhart, will be in the city’s cathedral churchyard this lunchtime, collecting prayers from shoppers and workers. He will then read the prayers during Choral Evensong at the cathedral at 5.45pm.

• The Rt Revd Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester, will be in the market square outside St Dionysius church, Market Harborough, from 10.15-11.30am today. He will join other clergy in listening to people’s thoughts and concerns and inviting their prayers, which will then be taken to Leicester Cathedral for the Ash Wednesday service at 7.30pm.

For those unable to get to one of these locations, the dedicated website, www.SayOneForMe.org, will be available until Easter Sunday, 4th April. The site is a web version of the public prayer boards popular at many cathedrals and churches. Prayers will be read by a member of Church of England staff before being posted on the website and shared between the participating bishops listed above, who will each decide how best to use the submissions in their own cycle of prayer during Lent.

Surveys conducted in recent years indicate that around two-thirds of UK adults pray*, leading the Church of England’s Head of Research and Statistics, the Revd Lynda Barley, to describe prayer as “one of the best kept secrets in modern Britain”.

Cómpeta Carol Service 2009

Cómpeta Congregation BBQ

On Friday 13th November, the Cómpeta Congregation held a BBQ at the Fabrica de la Luz, Canillas de Albaids and 24 members of the Chaplaincy enjoyed a time of food & fellowship, under sunny Spanish skies.

The slideshow below captures the occasion, and serves of a reminder of - "a good time had by all"