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Prayer Focus Wednesday 24th April

As we approach our Annual General Meeting this Sunday, it is an opportunity to look back over the past 12 months in Church life, and to look ahead at what is to come this year. 

Our prayers today reflect this, inviting us to give thanks for what has passed, and to commit to God the things either currently happening or on the horizon.

Let us pray…

Living God, we thank you for the way in which you have been working in our church over the past 12 months. 

We thank you for your faithfulness during the time of pastoral vacancy, and for the way in which many among our congregation stepped up and stepped out in faith to serve and lead. 

We thank you for bringing Peter and his family to Newbury, and for the clear sense of discerning your will and hearing your voice in the process of calling a new minister. 

As we look back, we also give thanks for our sisters and brothers in Christ who have died in the past year, and who are now at rest in your eternal presence. We recognise among them individuals who faithfully served you and this church. Of encouragers and creatives; Of people with hearts for generosity, compassion and justice.

As we look back we recognise it is often easier to see where and how your hand was guiding us, than it was in the moment. 

I pause now and reflect upon the things currently going on in my life where perhaps I cannot see you.

Lord, where I cannot see or hear you, help me to remain faithful and to remember your promises. May the reminder of your faithfulness in the past renew my confidence in your faithfulness in the present. 

Looking ahead, we recognise it is a season of change in the church. The election of new deacons and the proposed building works feature on our Church Meeting agenda this Sunday, but we also see changes in the make-up of our Sunday congregation. We thank you for the new people coming through our doors and joining us online. Help us to ensure there is always space for them to build friendships, use their gifts, and encounter you. 

We commit our church into your hands once again, and ask that you continue to guide, inspire and transform us. That we might ever be more Christlike in our thoughts, words and deeds. 

We pray these things in Jesus’ name, amen.

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