God bless Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
The Duchess of Cambridge had an 8lbs 3 oz baby girl at 8.34 am last Saturday. Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge is the fourth in line to the throne. Her great-grandmother has held, and her grandfather, father and brother will all in turn hold, the title of, 'Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England.' The Church of England website has published the following prayer for the new royal arrival: ‘Lord of all, we offer our deep thanksgiving for the gift of new life, and especially for the daughter born to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, sister to Prince George. Pour your blessing upon the whole family, and be their light and guide in all that they are called to be and do in life. Enfold them in your love and hope, now and always, we pray, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord. Amen.’
Praying for the next government
To those of us within the UK: we have the responsibility of standing guard in prayer over the whole process that will now roll out on this Election Day and beyond - what a privilege! Use 1 Timothy 2: 1-3 and Ephesians 3: 10-12. Let’s continue to worship Jesus as Lord; thank Him for His goodness; seek His forgiveness; release the blessing of Father, Son and Holy Spirit into the whole process and pray for His Kingdom to come and His will be done. Pray for: 1. God’s mercy on the UK - we have done much to grieve God’s heart. | 2. God’s plans and purposes for the UK to be fulfilled. | 3. Safety from terrorism – up to and beyond the election. | 5. God to call new Christians into our assemblies, parliaments & in local government. | 6. Wise & unbiased reporting by the media. | 7. Many people to turn out and use their votes wisely - in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland (James 1:5). | 8. Wisdom in the formation of a new government in Westminster and in the start of the next season in the Assemblies in Northern Ireland and Wales and Parliament in Scotland (Prov. 14:34; Prov. 11:14).
Muslim and Gay prayer services in churches
A leading liberal clergyman (Rev Giles Goddard, vicar of St John's Waterloo) who had defended his right to offer services of thanksgiving for gay weddings and hold a full Muslim prayer service in his church has now apologised for the ‘great consternation’ and offence caused by his comments. When the Bishop of Southwark issued a statement expressing his sorrow at the infringement of Church of England guidelines, it was thought that was the end of the matter. However on Saturday the Dean of Westminster defended the choice of a prayer in which the prophet Muhammad was described as 'The Chosen One' at the Abbey as ‘within orthodox Christian worship’. See also the statement from THE MILL GATHERING in January 2015 (http://wpc.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Mill-Statement-Apr-2015.pdf).
Methodist, CofE, Catholics and Quakers - energy and climate justice
The Methodist Church has deep roots in UK mining and manages £1.1bn of investments for charities and pension funds. Under a new climate policy announced this week, those funds could exclude investment in coal used for power generation, tar sands and companies whose business model is dedicated to finding and exploiting new fossil fuel reserves. The Church of England has announced it will end investments in heavily polluting tar sands oil and thermal coal. A third of Catholics say they will make their lifestyle greener if Pope Francis makes an official statement on climate change, ahead of a significant publication from the Vatican on the environment. (See article 1 in this week’s Europe section) The Quakers in the UK are disinvesting their money from fossil fuels and want an end to unconventional fracking and tar sands oil. See: http://www.quaker.org.uk/sites/default/files/Fracking-briefing-for-Friends-web-April-2015.pdf
