PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE:

God of mercy and grace,

Peter reminds us of suffering for our faith;

Through your gifted Spirit,

guide our thought and prayers towards those of your people

who because of their steadfast loyalty to Jesus

suffer hardships unknown to us here:

we think of our brothers and sisters in Christ in far-away places,

where being a minority makes them vulnerable to attack

on their businesses, housing and person,

such as in Iraq, Syria, parts of Indonesia, India…

where being disdained by government,

they suffer similar losses and grief,

such as in certain provinces of China and states in India…

where surrounded by aggressive militants of other faiths

they are kidnapped or killed, places of worship destroyed,

such as in several African nations, including areas of Nigeria…

Grant them the assurance of your care

and an awareness of your presence

which echoes the Psalmist’s experience of you:

Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me.

Show us ways in which we may act on our love for them

which will bring a change to their situation…

Lord hear us LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

We pray for those folk dear to us

who suffer in different ways,

with ill health and debilitating afflictions of body and mind…

• name these aloud or within our minds… –

may they also experience such support from you

that they can echo the Psalmist, and exclaim:

Bless our God, O peoples,
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept us among the living,
    and has not let our feet slip.

Lord hear us, LORD HEAR OUR PRAYER

in the name of Jesus, who suffered beyond our imaginings,  

AMEN