CRIEFF
PARISH
CHURCH
Helping people follow Jesus

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Prayer

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Monday evenings from 7.30pm to 8pm

Members of the Congregation are encouraged to come together to pray every Monday evening between 7.30pm and 8pm. We meet on Zoom and you can join silently if you wish, or you can share aloud in prayer. A leader will facilitate the prayer time each week.

To take part you will need to have Zoom onyour pc, laptop, tablet or phone - or you can join by mobile phone or landline telephone.

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Meeting ID: 843 1308 7053
Passcode: prayer

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Number: 0131 460 1196
Meeting ID: 843 1308 7053
Passcode: 382111

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Regular prayer updates are posted here:

28 February 2020

There are times in the Gospels when it is clear that the disciples of Jesus have real difficulty in understanding his teaching.

As we’ve seen today, sometimes it was because he was so controversial. But always at these times, advancing the claim regarding his unique identity.

Or in the story we read last week, Jesus spoke openly about what lay before him and afterwards Peter ‘took him aside and began to rebuke him’. (Mark 8: 31-32) Peter is clear that death and resurrection are not part of that future and, as he speaks, it is equally clear that he has not yet understood the way that Jesus must take – what was to be won for us on the cross.

There are times in the past months when all of us have had real difficulty in understanding the challenges faced within our society and across the globe. We have been unclear as to what the future holds and the path to be taken. In all of this, we have not been alone.

As the Gospel account unfolds, Jesus gathers the crowd around him and invites them to ‘take up their cross and follow me’. (Mark 8: 34)

As we journey into the future and follow the path taken by Jesus, we know that we are not alone. We journey in the way of the cross and – as we have seen today exemplified in the healing miracles – in the hope of the resurrection.

We pray:

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
Be with us through your Son
who has journeyed in the way of the Cross.
Grant to us grace and faith that we might follow him.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
In all we face,
be near to us, and all whom we love,
and guard us safe in your presence.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
Be with those who fear this day
and who struggle to see the future.
Lead us from the darkness into your light.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
Be with those who grieve this day
and who feel bereft of comfort.
In your compassion, be near to them.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
In all that is faced by our society today,
grant wisdom, insight and understanding
to those who are called to govern our nation
and act on our behalf.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God of hope,
be with us as we journey into the future that lies before us.
Be with us through your Son
whose journey in the way of the Cross
yields the hope of the Resurrection.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

21 February 2020

The beginning of the public ministry of Jesus is recorded in direct and immediate terms in the Gospel of Mark. We begin in Nazareth in Galilee and are then transported to the River Jordan. We see Jesus baptised and then driven out into the wilderness for forty days. The ministry of Jesus then begins as he proclaims: ‘The time has come…The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news.’ (Mark 1: 9-15) It is as if the account compresses time in order to capture and express the significance of the moment.

Our experience of the passing of time over recent months is perhaps unlike anything we have ever collectively known. On the one hand, the experience of lockdown and restriction, and the absence of the rhythms of life, has almost dislocated us from the normal experience of the passing of time. On the other hand, the relocation of worship, work and social interaction to digital platforms has rapidly transformed the times in which we live.

These two things, alongside many others, are happening at one and the same time and we cannot yet tell how they will finally shape future times.

Although we cannot tell how the future will unfold, what we can do is recognise that the kingdom of God is at hand and, in the light of this, resolve to journey with Jesus towards the place of the Cross. The gift of time, in the light of God’s Kingdom, is an opportunity to live out our response to the Good News of Jesus.

We pray:

God whose kingdom is near
And who knows the times in which we live,
May we hear the call of Your Son
And turn once more to embrace the Good News He proclaims.
In the times in which we live,
Grant us grace to do so.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God whose kingdom is near
And who knows the times in which we live,
Your Son has embraced time
And became truly human for us and for our salvation.
As we face the hard challenges of these days
May we know that we are embraced by Your Son.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God whose kingdom is near
And who knows the times in which we live,
Be with those for whom this day is hard
And who long for respite.
Be with those who seek to bring healing and comfort
And grant them wisdom and compassion to do so.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God whose kingdom is near
And who knows the times in which we live,
Be with us as we resolve to journey with Your Son
In the days that lie before us.
Whether in the wilderness, or by the living waters,
May we know Your presence ever renewed.
Lord, in Your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

14 February 2020

From the sermon on the mount we return to that other mountain on which the disciples of Jesus experienced something which they struggled to comprehend and express. This same Jesus with whom they had spent so much time listening to and learning from, was transfigured before their eyes, in the company of Elijah and Moses.

Peter, as ever, makes an attempt to respond but truly he ‘did not know what to say, for they were terrified’. (Mark 9: 2-9)

In the midst of all we face at this time, we are confronted by that for which nothing has truly prepared us as a society. As the experience of Lockdown continues, we are learning a great deal about the strengths and weaknesses of our society and the foundations on which lives are built.

As we do so, we are coming to understand that the future will not simply be a reversion to the ‘normal’ of the past – not in society – not in the church.

As the disciples struggle to comprehend what they see before their eyes, they are overshadowed by the presence of God and hear the words of affirmation: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, listen to him!’ Then, in an instant, ‘when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus’.

As we journey from Christmas to the Cross – and if God spares us, further into the future, we do so in the company of the One who transforms our present and who invites us to share in the promise of the coming Kingdom of God.

We pray:

Living God,
Speak to us in the place where we are today
And make your presence known.
Speak to us the words of affirmation
That we may know that we are loved by you.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Speak to us in the place where we are today
And bring hope for days to come.
Speak words of comfort and of healing
And words of compassion for those who mourn.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Speak to us in the place where we are today,
That we might speak a word for our times.
Speak into the future that lies before us
And grant us grace as we seek to live out that future.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Living God,
Speak to us in the place where we are today,
That we might hear again your voice.
Speak to us on the highest heights, and in the deepest depths,
And may we know, and be known by, the One whom you love.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

7 February 2020

At this time, we are those who wait. In common with every member of our community and our nation, we are those who wait for the renewal of life within the families and communities of which we are a part. The time of waiting has now exceeded anything we might have imagined as we began the first lockdown, and as we wait many have grown weary.

The prophet Isaiah speaks to a people who have waited and whose time of waiting has exceeded anything they might have imagined. (Isaiah 40: 21-31) During the time of waiting, the people of Israel have grown weary. To those people, the word of the Lord comes through the prophet and they are given a vision of ‘the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth’ who ‘does not faint or grow weary’.

Even in the longest times, the word of the Lord speaks to those who have come to the end of their strength with the assurance that: ‘those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint’. (Isaiah 40: 31)

“We are those who wait and our waiting is not in vain.”

We pray:

Everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
We are those who wait
And we confess that we have grown weary.
Speak to us we ask and hear our cry.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
We are those who wait
And who have come to the end of our own strength.
Lift up the weary and strengthen the powerless.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
We are those who wait
And who have heard your Word echo in our hearts.
Grant us grace for this time and faith to believe your promise.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
We are those who wait
And who ask that your promise will be fulfilled.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

Everlasting God,
Creator of the ends of the earth,
We are those who wait
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

31 January 2020

The remembering of the past is an integral part of what it is to be human. In our remembering, we recall the persons and the events that have shaped us and made us who we are. In the act of remembering, we often seek to make sense of and come to terms with the past. In the depths of our remembering, we acknowledge and lament loss. At this particular time, we are profoundly conscious of the depth of loss within the communities and nation of which we are a part.

In the Book of Psalms, the Psalmist affirms that God ‘remembers’ and that, in particular, God remembers the covenant made with the people of God. The One who forges a relationship with the people of God, is the One who remembers the covenant forever. (Psalm 111: 5) In our remembering, we recall the One who remembers us and does not forget all that we endure in these hard times.”

God who remembers,
Be with us in our remembering this day.
Be with us on the journey
That takes us from the past
And into the future that lies before us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God who remembers,
Be with us in our remembering this day.
Be with as we recall those who have shaped us
And the events that have made us.
Grant to us grace and healing in all we recall.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God who remembers,
Be with us in our remembering this day.
Be with us in sorrow and in loss
And come beside all who mourn this day.
Come beside us and do not leave us.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God who remembers,
Be with us in our remembering this day.
Be with those who serve in hospitals and in homes
And who, by their medical and nursing skills,
Provide comfort and hope to those who suffer.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

God who remembers,
Be with us in our remembering this day.
Be with us as community and nation
And strengthen us in all we endure.
Even in the darkness, may we find your light renewed through Jesus Christ.
Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.

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Crieff Parish Church
Strathearn Terrace, CRIEFF PH7 3AQ
Scottish Registered Charity SC004304

A congregation of the Church of Scotland
within the Presbytery of Perth