Cycle of Prayer Sunday, 6 December 2020 to Saturday, 2 January 2021 Sunday, 6 December 2020 Advent 2 (Prompted by Isaiah 40.1-11) Isn’t motorway driving tedious? Three lanes and the hard shoulder stretch out before you − relentlessly the same. Roadworks can almost be an excitement, at least something changes. I know a driver who regularly crosses his legs, well almost, on long motorway journeys − after all, your right foot gets so tired on the accelerator doesn’t it? When I found a brick in his car, underneath the driver’s seat, I had an inkling of why it was there! Is that what the prophet Isaiah means when he talks about a highway for our God? Mountains and hills are to be made low; the uneven made level; the rough places, a plain. That all applies to motorways. They iron the landscape out to speed the traffic, at least when congestion or accident doesn’t interfere. But am I alone in finding the idea of God’s coming amongst us along a macadamized superhighway a rather disturbing thought? Like the proverbial “bat out of hell” will God zoom up behind us, flashing his lights, menacingly demanding that we move to the inside lane. Yes, says the prophet, he will, “the Lord God comes with might,” blazing up the fast lane in his supercharged Porsche. What a thought! It’s as if the prophet is saying, if you want to see God coming, look for the juggernaut, horns screaming, not the bumblebee grazing the sunflower. Years ago I led a an open air service on a hill overlooking part of the West Midlands conurbation near Walsall (not far from our dreaded M6), in the prayers I spoke of the power pylons, the railway lines, and the road intersections, displayed before us as symbols of God’s involvement in all the complexities of life. Numerous people came up to me afterwards to say they could see nothing of God in a line of electricity pylons. Nothing? Isn’t Isaiah asking us to think again? To think of God in the breadth of life and death, in all its complexities, not just in the nice bits? To find comfort in God who is tender, nursing and reassuring, yes. But also, to know that the noisy, relentless, determinedly righteous God is also our God, and we must not forget it. Bishop Carlos López-Lozano, The Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain (Extra-Provincial to the Archbishop of Canterbury). Monday, 7 December 2020 1517 Sutton St James C: John Harries, Steph Morris. LM: Judith Harries. Give thanks for completion of our new extension. Please pray for more opportunities to support our community, especially through online services. Bishop Samuel M Mugisha, Shyira (Rwanda). Bishop Jane Alexander, Edmonton (Canada). Tuesday, 8 December 2020 1518 Upton Priory C: Vacant, Avril Ravenscroft. Bishop Jered Kalimba, Shyogwe (Rwanda). Bishop Emmanuel Adekunle, Egba; Bishop Godwin A Robinson, Lafia (Nigeria). Wednesday, 9 December 2020 1519 Wildboarclough C: John Harries, Steph Morris. LM: Judith Harries. Give thanks for all those supporting each other. Please pray for all those, especially in rural communities, who feel isolated and are struggling in many different ways at this time. Bishop Alwin John Samuel, Sialkot (Pakistan). Bishop Samuel Oludele Ogundeji, Egba West (Nigeria). Thursday ,10 December 2020 1520 Wincle C: John Harries, Steph Morris. LM: Judith Harries. Give thanks for all the teaching and staff at Wincle school, for supporting the children through these very difficult times. Pray for protection, strength and safety for the whole community. Wincle C of E School. Bishop Titus Chun Kiam Boon, Singapore (South East Asia) Bishop Geoffrey Okoroafor, Egbu (Nigeria). Archbishop Mouneer Hanna Anis, Archbishop of Alexandria and Bishop of Egypt (The Episcopal / Anglican Province of Alexandria). Friday, 11 December 2020 1521 Macclesfield St Peter (Macclesfield Team Ministry) C: Martin Stephens, Andy Williams. LM: Judith Gibson, Pete Marshall, Catherine Stephens. St Peter’s building has been used to prepare cooked meals for homeless and vulnerable people during the pandemic. Thank God for Emily and her team, and pray for God's blessing on them and the people they’ve served. Give thanks for the small team which has steered our worship during the pandemic, both weekly on Zoom and Monday to Saturday on Facebook. Pray for God's encouragement and refreshment. Seeking to celebrate Christmas with our wider community, thank God for creativity and ‘can-do’ attitudes! May the God of peace, comfort and joy be worshipped, and the peace, comfort and joy of God be known. Bishop James Min Dein, Sittwe (Myanmar). Bishop Daniel Olinya, Eha - Amufu (Nigeria). Saturday, 12 December 2020 1522 Macclesfield All Saints (Macclesfield Team Ministry) C: Andy Williams, Martin Stephens. LM: Chris Gleaves, Peter Marshall, Robert Marschall, Catherine Stephens, Liz Varney. Pray that we will remain faithful in these difficult times and ensure we can still minister effectively in our community and that the plans we have for new mission opportunities will bear fruit in 2021. Bishop Christopher Tayo Omotunde, Ekiti; Bishop Andrew Ajayi, Ekiti Kwara; Bishop Isaac Olubowale, Ekiti Oke; Bishop Rufus V A Adepoju, Ekiti West (Nigeria). Sunday, 13 December 2020 Advent 3 (Prompted by John 1.6-8, 19-28) Whatever was said about John when he first came to public attention, something in his militancy touched a sore spot and as vexing and strange as he seemed, people came to think that there was something of the prophet about him. In a world of dire poverty where many died before their time, simply worn out by the system, John’s fierceness met a response. Domination by a foreign power and too many wealthy people in cahoots with that power – absentee landlords, high rents, exploitation of labour and lives that were crippled and taxed to the hilt to keep the whole oppressive system working. Who shouldn’t be angry at that? Things need straightening out. Let the prophet shout the fact loud and clear. The king and his henchmen will hate it, the Romans will hate it, but the common people long to hear: that the words of the ancient prophet aren’t the dead letters of another age, they apply to them: good news to the oppressed, gladness instead of mourning, the raising up of the devastated, the promise of liberty. The Spirit of God seen in the work of the prophet of long ago is rekindled in the work of John – and is about to be rekindled in a way even brighter. I am neither the prophet, Elijah reborn, nor the Messiah, says John. And the Gospel writer underlines the character of John’s ministry: ‘He came as a witness to testify to the light.’ Here is part of John’s impatience with the enquiries about who he was and what he was about. ‘I am not the Messiah,’ ‘I am not the prophet,’ ‘I am the voice.’ John’s crucial ministry is what he said – what he said of the one who came after him: listen to me when I speak to you of the Christ, the one who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. It may come as shock to think of ‘wild Johnny’ as our exemplar, but he is. We’re not called to a diet of locusts and wild honey (though Heston Blumenthal might persuade us to try it). But we are called to give voice to Jesus as the Christ. Like John, shouldn’t we speak and act in ways that startle, challenge and inspire others to look to Christ? Pray for the Falkland Islands (Extra-Provincial to Canterbury). Bishop Timothy Thornton - Bishop to the Forces and Bishop to the Falkland Islands. Monday, 14 December 2020 1523 Macclesfield St Barnabas (Macclesfield Team Ministry) C: Andy Williams, Martin Stephens. LM: Glenys Hibbert, Fran Hiles, Peter Marshall, Catherine Stephens. Pray that we keep the good news of Jesus alive in our church and wider community; that we may find new ways of blessing and reaching our community. Bishop Peter Eagles, Sodor & Man (England). Bishop Lucinda Beth Ashby, El Camino Real (The Episcopal Church, USA). Tuesday, 15 December 2020 Macclesfield Bollinbrook C of E School Bishop Augustine Omole, Sokoto (Nigeria). Bishop Juan David Alvarado Melgar, El Salvador (Central America). Wednesday, 16 December 2020 Wallasey Deanery Bishop Nathan Ahimbisibwe, South Ankole (Uganda). Bishop Christopher Ruto, Eldoret (Kenya). Thursday, 17 December 2020 0702 Leasowe C: Derek Marshall. LM: Diana Jones. Leasowe The Holy Spirit RC / C of E School. Bishop Jonathan Folts, South Dakota (The Episcopal Church, USA). Bishop Ismail Gabriel Abudigin , El-Obeid (Sudan). Friday, 18 December 2020 0703 Liscard the Resurrection C: Peter Cooper, Elaine White, Christine Turner. LM: Graham Mitchell. Archbishop Dharmaraj Rasalam (Primate), South Kerala (South India). Bishop Stephen David Conway,Ely (England). Bishop David Muriithi Ireri, Embu (Kenya). Saturday, 19 December 2020 0704 Liscard St Thomas C: Robert Nelson. Bishop Jackson Nzerebende, South Rwenzori (Uganda). Archbishop Emmanuel Chukwuma, Enugu (Nigeria). Bishop Sosthenes Eze, Enugu North (Nigeria). Sunday, 20 December 2020 Advent 4 (Prompted by 2 Samuel 7.1-16) David has come a long way: shepherd boy to King. And he's seen the cost of it: the deaths, the fear, the conflict. The House of King Saul ascendant and then broken. How will it go now for the House of David? Surely a great name can only last through something great and lasting − a temple of cedar and stone say? From such a great edifice, future generations would look up and say, if you want to see what David did, look around you. A Stonehenge to signify God's honouring − of course! But a little bit of everlasting kudos for David wouldn't go amiss, to preserve his name when he's long gone.