VICAR This time of year, as the days get shorter and the nights draw in, I often think about the importance of community. We live in a world that can feel increasingly isolating, where people are often busy with their own lives and disconnected from those around them. But community is essential to our well-being, providing us with a sense of belonging, support, and shared … Continue reading A Prayer for Community
VICAR This Sunday I am publishing a prayer found in a hotel across the pond. It’s a simple and beautiful prayer which I am sure many guests read and appreciated. I particularly like the line, “We are all travellers”. I wish you and your loved ones a Blessed Sunday. Continue reading A Short Sunday Prayer
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and enjoying the cooler days after the heatwave. This week I would like You to consider Your honesty. Are you a truthful person or a liar? Are You true to Yourself or are You someone who never quite faces up to their weaknesses and dishonesty? The Bible is clear about honesty: ‘Whoever … Continue reading A Prayer for Honesty
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and that You are enjoying the summer so far. This week I would like to consider the unemployed, especially those coming out of the pandemic and off furlough who are now surplus to their companies’ requirements. People who have never been unemployed before. It is easy to look at all the job … Continue reading A Prayer for the Unemployed
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well. I know how hard these months have been for many of You and now hope for an end to lockdown and vaccine success. There is nothing wrong with praying for national prosperity. For example, a wealthy Britain affords her citizens vaccines and hospitals. What can be wrong with that? Proverbs 23:5 says: “Cast … Continue reading A Prayer for Prosperity
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. I trust that You have survived this cold spell intact. At times the weather has been more like Chicago than Suffolk around here. I wonder whether that is the end of it and We can start working on our gardens this week. This week I would like You to consider … Continue reading A Prayer for Our World
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your family are well and ready for Christmas. Today is Gaudete Sunday—a day of rejoicing and gladness in the heart of the Advent journey. Today we light the third, rose-coloured candle on the Advent wreath. Today I’d like to draw your thoughts away from the Sunday newspapers and Brexit, away from the Christmas To … Continue reading Gaudete Sunday
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You and Your family are well. I hope You are not too full of Halloween candy. This week I would like us to pray for the United States, which you may have noticed is on the point of conducting another set of elections. The US is of course a close ally of our country and … Continue reading A Prayer for America
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and not too despondent as we approach yet another period, it seems, of Covid-induced restrictions. I talk to many people and most of them have simply written 2020 off as a dreadful year. Some I talk to have used the time locked down to write books or do things they never had … Continue reading A Prayer for Our Readers
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I wish You all the very best this last Sunday in August. I trust that You and Your families are well and burgeoning. That the children are ready for a return to school. That the young adults are ready for university or a new job. Whatever Your need, I am praying for You. This week I’d like to draw Your … Continue reading A Prayer for Assistance
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that my weekly article finds You well and healthy. I hope that Your families are fine and that You are not too badly hit by recent events. I know of families who have lost everything over the Covid lock-down and others who have thrived. Life is not fair but God is good. This week I would … Continue reading A Prayer for Justice
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I wish You and Your loved ones well. I trust that You have had a good week since my last message. Whether it is the passing of a beloved family cat, news that an old friend has a serious bout of cancer, or a child in tears because his parents cannot patch up their marriage, I get bombarded every week with … Continue reading A Prayer For Survival
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine I trust that You are well and that Your families are happy and healthy. This week I would like to focus on stress, which is a condition We all experience at one time or another, some more than others. This week let us remember those who are returning home in a rush to dying loved ones, parents standing … Continue reading A Prayer to Heal Stress
VICAR I trust that You are well, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine. This is a bank holiday weekend and I insist that You find time to put Your feet up and have a quiet think. How is Your faith? The reality is that should a loved one be in danger or an event confront You that is totally beyond Your control, You will likely … Continue reading A Prayer for the Faithless
VICAR With Typhoon Mangkhut bearing down on the Philippines and further catastrophic flooding expected from Florence, which has affected 10 million in the Carolinas, this week, Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I offer You a prayer to the victims of natural catastrophes. I am often asked why does God allow earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, cyclones, mudslides, wildfires, and other natural disasters? Tragedies cause … Continue reading A Prayer for Victims
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I trust that You are well and healthy. That your families are likewise booming and burgeoning. Today I want to draw Your attention to those in our communities who have recently been diagnosed with a terminal illness. I am minded of the scene in The Theory of Everything where the late Stephen Hawking is hunched in a seat … Continue reading A Prayer for the Recently Diagnosed
VICAR Dear Readers of Country Squire Magazine, I wish You all a pleasant and peaceful Sunday and a great week ahead. This week I would like to draw to your attention those who are permanently nervous. This must be an awful condition to have. Below is a prayer for these poor folks. That they may be becalmed and enjoy life more. Blessings to You and … Continue reading A Prayer for Peace of Mind
