I hope when I die I am mourned more by the poor than by the rich.
I hope my coffin is carried by friends and not by soldiers.
I hope the clocks keep chiming for the world only spins forwards.
I hope that money is not wasted on my obsequies which could be better spent on doing good.
I hope that an Easter mass is celebrated not state-sanctioned pomp and pride.
It’s hard to imagine that only a few hours ago I was in your beautiful church in that wonderful city that sometimes I think of as mine. My heart and my prayers go out to all the families of the bereaved and injured tonight.
“Rest eternal Lord, grant unto them and may light perpetual shine upon them”
Amen. And yet again the people of Glasgow showed themsleves at their warm-hearted best, with unsolicited offers of practical help.
Thank you for this prayer Kelvin.
Here in Australia the week before last, a guy dressed as a Muslim (and was in fact one) held a lot of people hostage in a very posh but well-patronised cafe in the business/law precinct the city of Sydney. He had a lot of irrational demands. It was a very well-planned and he held up the people and the city in terror for 12+ hours. He was actually a bully and unhinged mentally. In the end the police broke in and in the ensuing gun battle 2 people were killed by the gunmman then the gunman himself.
We lie quietly here in Australia with relatively little racial violence (but lots of domestic violence -the gunman had heaps of charges)
We understand this incident does not equate with what happened in your city
or to the schhool-children in Pakistan but it stunned us.
So I thank you for your skill to put this simple prayer together.
Tom
Thanks Tom – we were all watching and praying along with those in Sydney last week. These events are world events. Paradoxically they bring us together.
O Lord and Ruler of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the flame of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: come, and redeem us with outstretched arms. Amen. We have lost sight of the fact that ruling is a holy responsibility. For those who have decisions to make…
O Wisdom, who came from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from end to end and ordering all things mightily and sweetly: come, and teach us the way of prudence. O Wisdom, poor Wisdom, what a year you have had. How many times have you been snubbed this year? When prisoners are mistreated by…
1 Bringing an unloved altar from a dank room in Perthshire to Bridge of Allan.2 Photocopying (as though it were an Olympic event).3 Young Church Party.
Helen Percy has won her legal case, gaining the right, as a former Church of Scotland minister to challenge the way she left her post on the grounds of sex discrimination. As it happens I was at college with Helen, when she was famous in those days merely for keeping a pig and wearing the…
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