whether they be of illness, unemployment, financial anxiety, damaged relationships, or even global insecurity.
In troubled times men and women have always taken these problems to God, and they have not done so in vain. Through prayer they have found the resources to cope, to handle or even to overcome those problems.
Sometimes our prayers are too deep for words, and it is then that the Holy Spirit will be interceding for us when we can’t do it for ourselves (Romans 8.26). Sometimes, however, it helps to have the prayers of other people as we struggle to articulate what we feel or need.
That is what this book is for. The prayers may not exactly echo what is going on within us, but they may come close to doing so and enable us to pray more easily for ourselves. Moreover, it may be good to remember that it’s all right not to know what to say and that quiet listening, and attending to our ‘deep thoughts’, is as important as speaking. Some people even think of prayer as simply ‘thinking in the direction of God’.
A specific resource for praying in troubled times is the book of Psalms in the Old Testament. All human life is here, including a rich vein of prayer in distress. Psalms such as 6, 51, 55 and 69 all speak with fierce honesty from dark places. Those of a nervous disposition may want to brace themselves before trying Psalm 58! When we think we’re alone in our desert experiences, we may well find that the psalmist is a good companion.
One thing we can be sure of is that no prayer goes unanswered, inasmuch as God will take and use every prayer to bring as much good as possible out of our situation. The bottom line is that Jesus has promised: ‘I will be with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matthew 28.20, TEV).
Trust him.
+John Pritchard
Bishop of Oxford
WORK, UNEMPLOYMENT AND MONEY
Work is a mixed blessing for some, but unemployment is invariably a curse. A job of work gives value to our lives and a framework to our days. It also gives us the financial security to enjoy our leisure time and to share our relative good fortune with others, as well as to know we can afford housing, holidays and hospitality.
Unemployment, on the other hand, is a dispiriting and often demeaning experience which undermines morale and can set off a spiral of decline. Life becomes difficult for everyone. We can become scratchy and irritable. Bills mount up and motivation sinks. We are poor company and may suffer low-level depression. Unemployment is bad news for the economy, for communities, for families and for individuals.
Even for those in work, the reality can be stressful and the grind of work can be enervating. The sense of being under pressure pervades society.
Prayer is no quick fix. Prayer does, however, introduce a new dimension to the unwelcome, lumpy experience of stressful work and unemployment. It provides a different back-lighting to the unpredictability of working life, a different screen-saver to our thinking. Prayer is essentially an attitude, a comprehensive way of looking at life in the light of God.
And its most common fruit is hope.
HARD TIMES
Sometimes we find ourselves caught up in major economic and financial readjustments – even global recession – and the price is paid by the employee and the homeowner, the young person looking for a first job and the middle-aged people who find they are too old to be wanted. How, then, shall we pray?
O Lord, you have searched me out and known me;
you know my sitting down and my rising up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
You mark out my journeys and my resting place
and are acquainted with all my ways . . .
Where can I go then from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence? . . .
If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
your right hand hold me fast.
Psalm 139.1–3,7,9–10
Lord God, we live in disturbing days:
across the world
prices rise, debts increase,
banks collapse, jobs are taken away,
and fragile security is under threat.
Loving God, meet us in our fear and hear our prayer:
be a tower of strength amidst the shifting sands,
and a light in the darkness;
help us receive your gift of peace,
and fix our hearts where true joys are to be found,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Church of England
You Lord are in this place,
your presence fills it,
your presence is peace.
You Lord are in my life,
your presence fills it,
your presence is peace.
You Lord are in the storm,
your presence fills it,
your presence is peace.
David Adam
‘Redundant’ – the word says it all –
‘Useless, unnecessary,
without purpose, surplus to requirements.’
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that in the middle of
the sadness, the anger,
the uncertainty, the pain,
I can talk to you.
Hear me as I cry out in confusion,
help me to think clearly,
and calm my soul.
As life carries on,
may I know your presence with me
each and every day.
And as I look to the future,
help me to look for fresh opportunities, for new
directions.
Guide me by your Spirit,
and show me your path,
through Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.
Church of England
God of the world, Guide of the nations,
we lay down before you the sorrows and inadequacies
of our economic and social systems.
We have trusted in credit and financial fairy tales;
we have set the markets free and watched them fail;
we have built our house on sand.
Teach us, we pray, the ancient wisdom of our faith,
that love of money for its own sake is fatal,
that debt is a snare and a delusion,
that where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.
So