Dear friends at All Saints’,

I’m very conscious, as I’m sure you are, that there are a number of people who need our prayers at the moment and a number of events coming up which require us to pray steadfastly. I’d like to suggest that Jesus’ instruction to pray “Your Kingdom come” will help us to focus our prayers in each situation.

          The kingdom is about the fact that God is the King, the sovereign ruler of all the world. He is King now - Jesus has come, although not everyone recognises his kingship at the moment. He will be King then - Jesus will come again and all people will recognise the truth of his claims.

          As we prepare for Chesterfest we pray that the people of Hoole and of Chester will see the kingdom demonstrated through the lives of those involved in the CAKE projects and through all our lives as we get involved in Funday on a Sunday. Through Chesterfest the local community should be able to see that the kingdom of God means joy, restores the beauty of creation and brings justice. Many of the CAKE projects are about exactly that.

          As we pray for those who are seriously ill, we pray for the kingdom to break in afresh in healing and restoration. We pray for a healing now which is a sign of the perfect healing which will come to all at the End. We also pray for those who are experiencing great personal difficulty in their relationships at the moment. We long to see reconciliation and the renewal of relationships which characterises life in God’s Kingdom.

          We pray for Alpha – on Sunday 20^th July we hold our Alpha Thanksgiving Service with Hoole Baptist Church and representatives of other local churches which run Alpha courses. The Alpha Beacon Supper is being held at the Queen Hotel in City Road on Thursday 25^th September and we want to invite people to a good meal, live music and an opportunity to hear Paul Cowley, the Director of Alpha in Prison. Alpha is about declaring that Jesus is King and being there for people as they explore a life-changing relationship with him today.

          And we pray the same prayer for the Anglican Bishops as they meet at Lambeth at the end of the month. The Anglican Communion is in much confusion at present, but we want the church to bear witness to the nature of the kingdom of God. The church needs to do that in the face of human poverty, AIDS, the resurgence of other world religions and the growth of secularism in the West. But it needs to do it by demonstrating that the way of the kingdom, revealed through Jesus and the apostles, is the best way for human beings to live and the way of true humanness.

          “Lord, your Kingdom come.”

John Kirkland