This week's prayers are written by Gideon Heugh, a poet and environmentalist. He’s the author of numerous poetry and devotional books and creator of The Green Chapel newsletter.
Easter is the greatest story of transformation: the story of darkness to light, death to life. Yet it is not just a story of ‘then’, but of now. Around the world, local churches are putting the transformative love of Christ into action –changing the lives of the most vulnerable.
Sunday 13 April
Lord Jesus, as Easter draws near, help us re-focus on your story of redemption, re-centre our hearts on your transformational love and re-commit to serving your kingdom. Amen. Take a few moments of quiet to listen to what the Holy Spirit might be saying in response.
Monday 14 April
What does ‘hope’ really mean? It means that change is possible – that things don’t have to remain the way they are. It means that hearts can be transformed, that circumstances can be turned around, that darkness does not have the final say. Think of a situation where you find it hard to believe that change is possible. Re-commit it to the God of transformation.
Tuesday 15 April
Where we begin is not where we have to end. Meseret’s story in Ethiopia started in poverty. ‘We were in a miserable condition,’ she says. But thanks to the church, her story changed. Pray for places around the world still unreached by the church. Pray for God’s kingdom to come.
Wednesday 16 April
Meseret’s life was transformed after joining a church self-help group. She received business training, and took a loan to start her own shop. ‘I have things to do,’ she says confidently. ‘I believe God will help me.’ Pray for this hope to spread among those who feel their lives cannot change.
Thursday 17 April
Seke, a widow in southern Ethiopia, lost all her cattle to a three-year drought. ‘Our hands are empty,’ she says. ‘We are suffering from hunger.’ The climate crisis is making tragedies like this far more common. Pray that governments will do more to address it.
Friday 18 April
This is the day we acknowledge the weight of grief. We live in a world of broken relationships –with ourselves, each other, creation and God. This brokenness causes deep harm: poverty, pain and injustice. We lament this darkness, but trusting, deep in our wounded hearts, that it can be transformed.
Saturday 19 April
‘Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’ (John 12:24) Lord Jesus, so many things around us seem hopeless. So many hopes and dreams seem dead and buried. We offer them to you. We thank you that transformation is possible – that what seems dead can come to life. Amen.
