God bless Africa
Protect our children
Transform our leaders
And give us peace

God bless Africa
Heal our communities
Restore our dignity
And give us peace

Pew leaflet insert: 17 January 2010 

What, then, is the God I worship?  He can be none but the Lord God himself, for who but the Lord is God?  What other refuge can there be, except our God?  You, my God, are supreme, utmost in goodness, mightiest and all-powerful, most merciful and most just.  You are the most hidden from us and yet the most present amongst us, the most beautiful and yet the most strong, ever enduring and yet we cannot comprehend you.  You are unchangeable and yet you change all things.  You are never new, never old, and yet all things have new life from you.  You are the unseen power that brings decline upon the proud.  You are ever active, yet always at rest.  You gather all things to yourself, though you suffer no need.  You support, you fill, and you protect all things.  You create them, nourish them, and bring them to perfection.  You seek to make them your own, though you lack for nothing.  You love your creatures, but with a gentle love.  You treasure them, but without apprehension.  You grieve for wrong, but suffer no pain.  You can be angry and yet serene.  Your works are varied, but your purpose is one and the same.  You welcome all who come to you, though you never lost them.  You are never in need yet are glad to gain, never covetous yet you exact a return for your gifts.  We give abundantly to you so that we may deserve a reward; yet which of us has anything that does not come from you?  You repay us what we deserve, and yet you owe nothing to any.  You are my God, my Life, my holy Delight, but is this enough to say of you?  Can any man say enough when he speaks of you?  Yet woe betide those who are silent about you!  For even those who are most gifted with speech cannot find words to describe you.

St Augustine

Prayer for a Moral Regeneration of our Society in South Africa

O heavenly Father, Physician of our souls and bodies, heal us all in this troubled but beautiful county of ours - South  Africa.

We understand that all trials of life are under Your care.  We beg that You change our fears into courage, anxieties into serenity, distress into tolerance and hate into love, that we may learn to practice Your "unconditional love".  Protect us in this violent society that we have unwittingly created.

Heal the wounds also of victims who may be destroyed by crime and lawlessness.  Protect us with Your shield that we may be unscathed by the evils that surround us.

Lord we pray for a miraculous transformation of our society, a "moral regeneration" that will bring an end to the crime and violence that is sweeping through our country.  Penetrate the souls of those who are responsible for these evils, help them to repent of the wrong they are doing and turn to You for strength and healing.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

Extracts from Prayers offered to our retired people in 2006.  Please continue to pray them.

Loving Father,

We lift to you those ageing people who are experiencing deterioration of sight, hearing and short-term memory; those who struggle to keep up with modern technology; and those whose families and friends do not realise what support and help is needed by the elderly .

We hold up to you those elderly people who are losing their mobility, and those whose physical ability to do their daily tasks has diminished.

We lift to you all those older people who live in shacks without water and sanitation, those who are unable to provide sufficient food for themselves, and those who watch their children die and who are left to support their grandchildren on too little.

We thank you, Lord, for the blessings of good health that so many senior citizens enjoy; for time for new interests and hobbies, and the challenge of learning new skills.

We thank you, Lord, for the pleasures of reminiscence of happy times long past, for those golden memories of childhood, youth and laughter.

We thank you, Lord, for those older folk who enjoy loving families and good friends.

We thank you, Lord, for the emotional maturity that comes as we grow in you, enabling our senior citizens to be pillars  of understanding and tolerance in our disordered communities.

We thank you, Lord, that for many older folk your church offers them much love and spiritual support.

We thank you, Lord, for the Spiritual gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, which are the fruits of a life lived in you. We pray for an increase of these gifts in us all as we increase in age.

We thank you, Lord, for a slower pace of life for our older folk and that they have time to be still and know that you are God. Increase their wisdom in your ways.

Amen