OUR PRAYERS

This page is for our prayers. We will regularly be posting topics that we think we should be praying about and we invite you to include them in your own prayers at home or in your place of worship. But the main reason for this facility is for you to add your own prayers, for yourself, for people you know and for the world. You can do this by leaving a comment on the forum below or you can email Jonathan privately by CLICKING HERE. Please do not use surnames of people in your requests. You may also use the forum to acknowledge that you are joining us in our prayers. There is an opportunity below to light a virtual candle as a public sign of your concern. 

****************************************************************************************************************************************************

THURSDAY 24TH. MAY 2012 

My mother's friend, Mary, has a son, Henry, who has recently moved from England to Australia for work reasons. Sadly, soon after arriving he was diagnosed as having three brain tumours and the prognosis is not hopeful. Please pray fro Henry and for his mother as she flies out, on her own, to be with him. Please also pray for the staff of the Royal Melbourne Hospital as they seek to heal Henry.

A longstanding, blogging friend of mine, Sherry, over at A FEATHER ADRIFT, is living in limbo at the moment. To be more exact she is living in a motel room as she waits to take possession of a new house. The waiting is becoming very wearing so please pray that everything will get sorted out as quickly as possible.

Tracey is being received into the Episcopal Church on Sunday after a long spiritual journey which will, I am sure, continue. Please pray that it will be a wonderful day for our friend and that she will find the home she has been looking for so long.

FROM THE NEWS:

Iranian negotiators on Thursday rejected proposals by six world powers to curb Tehran's nuclear program, and demanded answers to their own counteroffer meant to alleviate concerns about Iran's ability to build atomic weapons.

TUESDAY 22ND. MAY 2012 

We pray for our good friend, JimB, who is having a knee replaced at the moment. May he suffer no pain and no complications and may his recovery be quick and complete.

From Ellie: I'll ask all who are reading this, of your charity, to pray for the repose of the soul of Paula, faithful priest of the church and my good friend from a long time ago. I still miss her. 

From Andee (via Facebook): RIP "Occupy Doorstep" aka Jeli, Jeli-cat, Frangelico. For the first time in all my years of adopting rescue cats, after months of courting and taming, I was able to get him in a carrier and take him to the vet - only to have him test positive for FIV (feline AIDS). There was no way to keep him without further endangering all the other cats in the neighborhood.

From Lindy: Ms. Coco Channel, Elizabeth Kaeton's little doggy, is very sick.  It just breaks my heart.  Please add Ms. Coco to the prayer list along with Elizabeth and Ms. Conroy.

Please pray for Dennis who is attending two interviews this week and really wants one of them to result in a new and better job.

From Tim (via Facebook): UPDATE ON MY FATHER: He continues to heal after surgery and eating and sugar levels are improving. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

From Penny (via Facebook): bleeding and some collaboration among doctors about meds that may be at cross-purposes. Still in ICU just for close monitoring purposes; she's stable and alert and appreciative of her care and of your prayers.

FROM THE NEWS:

We pray for the people of Bulgaria who have been experiencing violent earthquakes recently and will have to put up with further tremors for months to come.

An Italian man who was depressed after losing his job killed his two young children by throwing them from a sixth-floor balcony before hurling himself to his death yesterday.

MONDAY 21ST. MAY 2012

From Red: I have posted a few times about our lovely friend Nix who is battling cancer. Can I ask again, for any of you who pray, to please include her and her family in your prayers. Things are desperate, she needs a miracle and she just cannot wait. We are believing in our heavenly father for this miracle and standing with Nix and her family in it.

David asks us to pray for "a way forward for those of us in discernment."

FROM THE NEWS:

At least 20 people have been killed and 60 wounded in Sana'a after a suicide bomber in military uniform targeted soldiers rehearsing for a military parade in the Yemeni capital.

One person was killed and 10 injured in overnight clashes in Beirut between Sunni Muslim groups that support and oppose the Syrian regime.

We pray for the safety of the people of Italy affected by recent earthquakes in their land.

United Nations nuclear chief Yukiya Amano started talks with senior Iranian officials on Monday. We pray for an end to this terryfying warmongering and suicidal game of oneupmanship.

Syrian forces ambushed and killed nine army deserters near a north Damascus suburb as fighting between armed rebels and troops raged around the capital during the night.

An official investigating a bomb blast in front of a vocational school here that killed a 16-year-old student and injured five others said on Sunday that investigators suspected the explosion was an “individual act.

We pray for the families and friends of the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. May they find peace.

FRIDAY 18TH. MAY 2012 

Your prayers, please, for our good friend, Tim (Gurdur). He's having problems coming off some of his meds and getting the right meds. He also writes: In better news, as of yesterday I now have (after an almost full-on brawl) an operation date. The big op is now planned for 01 June, meaning I go into hospital on 31 May, and if all goes well I emerge roughly 8 days later, in much better shape. So wish me luck, me hearties.

Spare a thought and a prayer for JCF who has "messed up his foot somehow."

FROM THE NEWS:

The brother of Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has told reporters how he was chained to a chair and beaten for three days to make him reveal how his sibling escaped from house arrest in the Shandong countryside.

A crowded night bus has plunged off a bridge into a river in central Vietnam, killing 34 passengers and injuring 21 others in one of the country's deadliest road accidents.

WEDNESDAY 16TH. MAY 2012 

First some really great news. Mark's chest x-rays are "normal." So there is no reason to fear the worst anymore, although he would like to get to the bottom of the persistant cough that he is still suffering from.

And more good news. Penelopepiscopal writes: I am very happy to report that I took my mom home from the hospital today and she is sleeping in her own bed, which she found to be very comforting even though she's been in a bed for a week! Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for her and for me.

Now some really bad news, I'm afraid. Maggie writes: Susie passed away peacefully this morning after Darin read her the comments and prayers of her many friends and family on her CarePages site. Please pray for the repose of her soul, and for comfort for those she leaves behind, most especially including her husband, Darin, her mother Joan, and her children Axel and Ana. Thank you.

From Jim: Sue-Z the love of my life has been limping and crying for several days. Finally got to the doctor yesterday: gout! Turns out that while some fat foods, like fatty meat can trigger a gout attack, it is not caused by the food. The best evidence is that it is genetic. Sue-z apparently has the gene. My surgery is a week from today. I will be largely immobile even if I do well enough to come home and avoid the rehab center. So for the next 5 or weeks, we need to have her drive everywhere. Without using her foot? The doctor is confident he can clear it up quickly, I hope he is correct.

JCF writes: Kathy, is my new neighbour and she needs our prayers. She is on a waiting list to receive a new kidney. Please pray that her health holds up until one is available.

FROM THE NEWS:

Please pray for the people of Europe as their governments seek to find a way out of the financial mess the rich have gotten us all into. Please pray that those with wealth will be given a sense of responsibility for those without wealth and will play their part in restoring the fortunes of their countries rather than running away, taking their, mostly untaxed, money with them.

Please pray for the people of the Occupy Movement in Moscow who are under attack from state security forces. We thanked God when the Iron Curtain came down; now we ask him to stop Eastern Europe's decent into corruption and criminality and that God protects those in those lands who are risking everything in their pursuit of justice and freedom from oppression.

A bomb targeting a hardline Colombian former interior minister has killed two of his bodyguards and injured at least 39 people in Bogota.

MONDAY 14TH. MAY 2012 

From Maggie (an update on Susie): God bothering in a big way! Susie's situation is getting much worse. She may not survive much more than a few days. Here is what Darin writes this afternoon: "We are in an excruciating situation. Her breathing is labored and difficult, she's uncomfortable and struggling, and there is so little we can do. We've been told that at any moment in the coming days, her oxygen needs will exceed the equipment and she'll pass peacefully. She has only a semi-awareness of her situation. She's been present at every conversation with the doctors, but she is medicated and not fully cognizant of all the details. "Once again we refuse to give up hope. God's love and grace is greater than cancer and Susie's connection to God is an inspiration to us all. Please pray for Susie. Please pray for Axel and Ana and please pray for Joan and myself. We need a miracle."

Maggie has also asked for prayers for herself: On another front, I have finished my student teaching gig (from Hell-- I was assigned to what could best be described as a highly dysfunctional charter school), and am now actively looking for paying employment. I think I would best enjoy a position as a writer/editor, and am concentrating on a position like that, but really almost anything is better than nothing, and since I will be experiencing another major drop in amount of maintenance (alimony) in September, I really need to find something before then. Therefore, I would also like to ask for prayers for a short and successful job hunt! Thank you so much for your care and your prayers.

From Jay: The grandson of a Masonic friend was injured in Afghanistan. He lost his legs one arm and the other hand. His story is HERE and he could certainly use all the prayers he could get.

FROM THE NEWS:

Posted by Leonardo Ricardo at ERUPTIONS AT THE FOOT OF THE VOLCANO: Rochester, Minnesota – A 17-year-old openly gay teen succumbed to overwhelming bullying, taking his own life this past Sunday. Jay’Cory Jones jumped to his death into traffic from a pedestrian bridge near Century High School, according to police reports. According to his father, Jones was beaten down by the incessant school bullying he endured for being open and vocal about his sexual orientation. His father, JayBocka Strader, told the the Post Bulletin, “He said all of his life they always picked on him. He’d still try to keep his head up at school, but then he’d come home and be really sad about it.” Mr. Strader went on to say that his son was depressed because other boys wouldn’t accept him for who he was. Jones knew of his sexual orientation since he was a little boy. He took pride in who he was, and declared on his Facebook page that he was “Gay & Proud.” A member of the Century Gay Straight Alliance, he sought help with his feelings from the Gay and Lesbian Youth Services in Rochester where he attended weekly meetings. In the end, the pressure on him from his peers was just too much to bear.

A 13-year-old boy has died in hospital after a house fire claimed the lives of five of his brothers and sisters after his parents agreed to switch off his life support machine. Duwayne Philpott, 13, had been fighting for his life at Birmingham Children’s Hospital since Friday when a fire swept through his family home in Derby. The fire claimed the lives of Duwayne's four brothers, John, 9, Jack, 7, Jessie, 6, and Jayden, 5, as well as his 10-year-old sister Jade.

A small plane crashed near a treacherous high-altitude airport in northern Nepal Monday, killing 15 people while six others miraculously survived.

Mexican investigators on Monday searched for perpetrators of a heinous drug-war massacre in which 49 people were killed, decapitated, dismembered and left in plastic bags on the side of a rural highway. The mutilated corpses, whose hands had been cut off to prevent fingerprint identification, were discovered close to the northern city of Monterrey.

Moulavi Arsala Rahmani, an Afghan official involved in setting up peace talks with the Taliban, was gunned down in Kabul on Sunday.