Thursday 1 April (Maundy Thursday)
Give thanks today for all the many congregations which have enriched this Holy Week by offering services and meditations online, or by Zoom or on the telephone all week. Pray that these may have been a blessing and an encouragement to all who have shared in them, enabling them truly to enter in to the significance of this very special week in the Christian calendar.
Friday 2 April (Good Friday)
“When I survey the wondrous cross……”As we do this we may like to use this prayer from the April;2021issue of Life and Work :
We are Good Friday people. shocked and stunned by the death of One who loved us with a love we had never dared to expect Amazed that you have given Heaven’s Son to die for us and before us. God who has navigated death , the place we’ve never been and so much dread, cancel our fear, remind us of our hope, the freedom and “It is finished” You have won for us. Let Your grace fill us to overflowing with the unique refreshment of total forgiveness.
Saturday 3 April (Holy Saturday)
We are Holy Saturday people, waiting and in limbo, with doors locked for fear, we weary disciples wonder what to say, how to pray, as day bleeds into empty day. God we are disoriented, we are less than our full selves. See us in our depletion and please be patient with our addled minds and tongues that can’t quite find the words. (Life & Work April 2021)
Sunday 4 April (Easter Day)
We are Easter Sunday people, astonished and delighted by the news, we declare it, announce it, herald it: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” God, let this truth ring out for eternal change, let a weary world hear it, receive it, process it, believe it, let this nation know that God is bigger than any virus. Life wins, Christ wins, God wins! God, may Easter joy revive a jaded world, let defiant jubilation resound from your people! Let death be mocked and life take off! May the words of the risen Christ permeate every disciple’s heart and mind and spill out in every corner of the land : “Peace be with you!”(Life & Work April 2021)
Monday 5 April (Easter Monday)
Give thanks for the welcome break from routine that this day offers,, rejoicing in time to be out in the open air, marvelling at the wonders of the earth renewing its life in spring blossoms, flowers, birdsong and the animal kingdom in field and farm. Pray that our care and concern for the planet may be revitalised as we look around us, inspiring us to do more to protect and save its resources for life and health.
Tuesday 6 April
Last week we remembered how Jesus washed His disciples’ feet…and some of His first disciples were ashamed. In our day we are shamed by the squabbles about the provision of vaccines, forgetting the needs of the many, like those in Zambia and Malawi, who have, as yet, no, or little access to them. We pray for change in our nation’s priorities so that there will be help for all.
Wednesday 7 April
Pray today about the continuing brutal violence in Myanmar and other places in our suffering world, remembering those countries where Christians do not have the freedom to speak openly of the gospel of the Risen Christ.