In last week’s Church Times, I received a copy of a small booklet entitled ‘Daily Prayers for the Coronation of King Charles III’. It provides four weeks of prayers for the King and focuses on aspects of service and kingship. The prayers start on Easter Day, 9th April, and finish on Coronation Day, 6th May – each has a short Bible text, a reflection, and a prayer. I make no apology that my Thought for this week is the first of these – intended for Easter Day, but applicable to us all on any day.
‘Called to pray
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.’ John 15.16
To pray is to respond to the God who reached out to us in Jesus Christ. Praying is one of the ways we let God into our daily live. Into all that we think, say and do. That’s why prayer involves us in awareness of the whole human family, its aspirations and needs, and its God given potential.
Why the call to pray in these days leading up to the coronation? It’s a way of accompanying King Charles as he responds to his calling. And it offers us a chance to pray with him that we may become more the people God is calling us to be, that all our lives may bear fruit that will last.
Eternal God and Father,
you create and redeem us by the power of your love:
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves in love and service
to one another and to you:
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen’
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I pray for myself and for all of us that we may become more the people God is calling us to be and that our lives will bear fruit that will last.
NB If you are interested in having your own booklet, they are available through Church House Publishing – www.chpublishing.co.uk price £1.50. If bought in multiples of ten, they are slightly cheaper; I am prepared to place an order if anyone is interested. Contact me at jo-spray@sky.com
A digital version is available online.
[Jo Spray]