Prayer Blog 28th June – 4^th July 2015

Lord Have Mercy

Last week I was on the road again. Or should I say the rail tracks as I travelled to Stirling. This time it was to attend a series of ministry workshops arranged by the Baptist Union of Scotland. They were very good covering a range of subjects such as marriage, bereavement, counselling and conflict resolution. I don’t think the fact that they were arranged in that order is of any significance but you never know!

In the evenings there was time to kill and one night at the hotel I found myself in the company of an American couple. The conversation was mainly around Scotland as they asked my opinion on subjects such as the Jacobite uprising, the Highland clearances and emigration right up to modern day topics such as the independence referendum and land reforms. There is a connection, I believe, in all of that but it’s too big for this blog. However, in attempt to get the conversation on to something about America and away from Scotland I mentioned the recent shooting incident in Charleston and how once again the easy availabity access to guns seemed to be a contributing factor. In fact President Obama has said that America has to face up to the fact that they have a problem with gun crime unequal to any other advanced nation in the world. My friends were actually quick to agree and the woman told me how once she had bought a gun and how easy it was.

Whatever our political views there seems to be a correlation between the availability of firearms and gun crime. It’s a fact that needs to be lived up to and acted upon. Some nations have acted more appropriately than others.

As a Christian I support moves toward the abolition of weapons of all sorts. I know that it sounds an overly simplistic argument with the complication that governments have to protect their citizens but I believe the argument is supported in scriptures such as Isaiah 2:4:-

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.

God’s ultimate plan is that swords should be beaten into plough shares. This strikes me as a good manifesto for us to work towards peaceful resolution and the laying down of arms, guns included, even today. How we can turn weapons into ploughshares should always be the question. This Friday, at 7.30pm, in the aftermath of another horrendous gun massacre in Tunisia, we meet in Dingwall Baptist Church for a service of reflection on peace since the end of the war in 1945 and of looking forward in anticipation of that great day which Isaiah saw. Please join us if you can.

Kyrie eleison – Lord Have Mercy

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

As we come before You

With the needs of our world,

We confess our failures and our sin,

For our words are many

Yet our deeds have been few;

Fan the fire of compassion

Once again.

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

When the cries of victims

Go unheard in the land,

And the scars of war refuse to heal,

Will we stand for justice

To empower the weak

Til their bonds of oppression

Are no more?

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

If we love our God with all our

Heart, mind, and strength,

And we love our Neighbours as ourselves,

Then this law of love

Will heal the nations of earth,

And the glory of Christ will be revealed.

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Lord, renew our vision

To be Christ where we live,

To reach out in mercy to the lost;

For each cup of kindness

To the least in our midst

Is an offering of worship

To the throne.

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy. 

Kyrie eleison; have mercy. 

Christe eleison; have mercy.