THE Moderator of the Presbyterian Church has called on congregations across the district to prayer at the end of this week as the coronavirus continues to take lives and have a major impact on the economy and the way of life.
Describing the situation as “times of deep challenge and crisis for the whole of our society”, the Rt Rev Dr David Bruce is urging people to pray.
As the Presbyterian church’s senior office bearer and principal public representative, he can call the Church to prayer at any time over any issue.
On this occasion, he has written to ministers across the district calling the Presbyterian family to pray over this weekend, which includes the first Sunday in Advent.
Dr Bruce has also recorded a special call to prayer message for the church before the most recent lockdown restrictions were announced.
He begins with the stark words ‘we need to pray’, encouraging members to pray, not only for Ireland in these days of pandemic and for the church’s partners overseas who have been devastated by Covid-19, but also the ‘big decisions facing us as Brexit approaches at the end of December’.
Dr Bruce continues: “This is an important message for the whole church. We need to pray. These are times of deep challenge and crisis for the whole of our society – and we in the churches are facing our share of demands as we have had to reinvent almost everything we have been doing.
“As I’ve said, many of our congregations can’t meet in the normal way and I also know that many others are using Zoom or other online conferencing apps to help them get together. “
Encouraging congregations to pray this weekend, the Moderator asked people to remember their “commitment as the people of God to be faithful to his calling and command to be his witnesses in the world, come what may. Let us call out to God as a people united in this purpose.”
Speaking about prayer in particular, Dr Bruce said it is the ultimate expression of helplessness.
“We pray because we desperately need to and in the firm belief that prayer materially affects the course of human events,” the Moderator added.
“Prayer changes things. When we pray we are invited by God to tell him what we think and to align ourselves with his will. He hears our passion and pain.
“Paul teaches in Ephesians that we need to ‘pray always, on all occasions and with all kinds of prayers and requests’. In issuing this call to pray to the whole church, I am simply doing what God’s Word clearly tells us to do.”
As part of his call, Dr Bruce acknowledged that the church’s congregations in the Republic of Ireland were still closed for face-to-face worship, while in Northern Ireland, the restrictions on the Church’s activities were constantly under review.
He said that as a result, the call to prayer was one of a group of initiatives, along with resources, that the church is launching in the run up to Christmas for congregational use under the broad title ‘At home for Christmas?’ which can be found at www.presbyterianireland.org.
Dr Bruce will also be announcing a Moderator’s Christmas Appeal to support the Presbyterian Church’s relief and development partners and partner churches in a number of countries around the world in the battle against Covid.