Intercession Prayer

For Sunday 14th April 2024

Heavenly Father, Source of strength and creator, lead us and guide us as we continue our journey through this Easter season. As we travel the path you have laid out for us, we offer this prayer in the name of Your Son who died for us at Calvary and rose again.

As we look around the world you created, we are saddened by the conflict we see. We pray for Ukraine and Russia, Israel, Palestine and Gaza and for all the places where violence is no longer considered newsworthy as the wider conflicts rage. Give our politicians and leaders the courage and wisdom to find ways to end these conflicts and so to save lives.

We think also of domestic conflicts and abuse, sometimes violent, sometimes mentally controlling, often hidden inside the closed doors of a home. Usually committed by a man against a woman, sometimes children.

Heavenly Father, help victims to find a way out of their situation and to find a safe place to live. Make the perpetrators aware of the damage their behaviour causes, not just to the victims but to themselves. Help and support those chellenging such behaviour, like the Mothers’ Union RISE UP campaign, and organisations offering safe spaces to help victims rebuild lives.

Healer God, we pray for the unwell and the injured in body, mind or spirit. Give strength to sustain them through illness and recovery. Give medical personnel Your wisdom to treat their patients. Give compassion and support to those caring for someone at home, especially if they do so alone, and we offer You the cares and concerns of our own hearts.

We place into your gentle hands those that have passed from this earthly world and have now risen to rest in peace with You, our God. Comfort those who in their grief mourn the loss of a friend or partner, brother or sister, or someone from their family.

Whist we see the conflict around us, reported or hidden, yet amongst the fear and worry we look for signs of hope. We see new life as plants and flowers bloom in the new spring season. As the flowers turn their heads towards the sun, let us each look toward the future with hope, reaching into the light, almighty Father.

Merciful Father, accept these prayers for the sake of your son our saviour Jesus Christ.

Amen.

To download and print this prayer click here

RISE UP

A Poem for the RISE UP campaign.

The RISE UP campaign by the Mothers’ Union aims to keep awareness of domestic abuse in the public eye 365 days a year. It is particularly relevant now as we prepare for the 16 Days of Activism campaign during November and December.

In 2023 the campaign will start on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It will run until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

The campaign against gender based violence was started by members of the Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and is supported by the United Nations (UN) and by the Mothers’ Union.

Respond don’t ignore abuse, you can’t let it pass,
Inform someone who can help them at last,
Support those who suffer often in silence,
Empower them to leave and find a safe house,
Unite those who’ve suffered with aid to be safe,
Pray for them always for help by God’s Grace.

RISE UP

The flight of a Dove.

If you read my musings occasionally, so are familiar with topics I write about, you might have wondered if the title RISE UP had something to do with the resurrection of Jesus. Not this time.

RISE UP is an international campaign against Gender-Based Violence. The 2023 campaign is supported by the Mothers’ Union , which will join in the 16 Days of Activism, more about that later in this article.

Once again, regular readers might remember that although not a mother, not female, nor for that matter even a father (not by choice), I am a man in the Mothers’ Union. Yesterday (14th October) I found myself one of only 2 men in a room full of, I estimate, about 80 women. “Women” perhaps is doing them a disservice. I should probably say Ladies. Every one of them that I know, I wouldn’t describe otherwise. The MU is the only organisation I have been a part of to which I don’t just belong, as a member, but feel a sense of belonging.

Anyway back to RISE UP, which is not just a name. It is also an acronym:

Respond
Inform
Support
Empower

Unite
Pray

The symbol of the campaign is an origami dove, in the preferred colours purple and white. I was in that room full of Ladies, the Bristol MU Autumn Gathering, because I had been offered the privilege to demonstrate how to fold a dove. Not because I am an expert at origami, but the Bristol MU president happened to spot a picture I posted on social media of a couple of doves that I folded from the instructions from the MU’s UK website. By the date I was to demonstrate making the dove I had quite a lot ready made, by practicing to ensure that whilst showing the ladies what to do, I could make a dove without referring to instructions.

Whilst the RISE UP campaign is intended to keep awareness of domestic violence in the public eye 365 days a year, it is particularly relevant as we prepare for the 16 Days of Activism campaign during November and December. In 2023 the campaign will start on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It will run until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

The campaign against gender based violence was started by members of the Women’s Global Leadership institute in 1991 and is supported by the United Nations (UN).

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