"The return of hope after a period of despair" - praying together, with hope in our hearts, during Prisons Week

“Respair” is an Old English word which fell out of use many centuries ago but means “the return of hope after a period of despair”.

The prayer tradition of lament helps us to make that journey from a dark place of pain, suffering, fear or sorrow to somewhere that the light can get in. Maybe only through a tiny crack to begin with but bringing a gradual dawning of hope and sense of God’s promise, that we are loved and will never be abandoned or alone. No matter how messy and difficult life becomes, God is never distant and longs for us to let him in.

Please pray with us each day during Prisons Week, these prayers offered by chaplains, serving prisoners, police officers, victims of crime, prison leavers, family members and communities – crying out to God, asking for help, responding in faith, giving thanks for his unending love, grace and mercy. Let us walk together through the week in prayer and grow in our understanding of the value God places on each one of his children, so that like the ravens we may soar, free at last, trusting in the knowledge of his provision and love for us.

The Prisons Week Prayer:

Lord, you offer freedom to all people. We pray for those in prison. Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist. Support with your love prisoners and their families and friends, prison staff and all who care. Heal those who have been wounded by the actions of others, especially the victims of crime. Help us to forgive one another, to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ in his strength and in his Spirit, now and every day. Amen.

(cover photo by Claire Kelly at Unsplash)

Join together, spend an hour praying during a wave of prayer for Prisons Week - for justice, compassion and restoration - Friday 15th October 7pm

An opportunity during Prisons Week to spend an hour in prayer with others, praying for justice, compassion and restoration with friends and colleagues from across our Free Churches Group network!

Revd Bob Wilson, Secretary for Prison Chaplaincy and Free Churches Faith Adviser invites you to join in a wave of prayer for our prisons… on Friday 15th October at 7pm - all are welcome, registration is required.

“If prayer truly works, if our weak human rambling to God actually changes things, then we must call believing people to pray, and together we must pray for change where change is needed most.”

(cover photo from Prisons Week website)

Peace...

Today is International Day of Peace… we pray for peace in our homes and families, throughout our nation and across the world… May we be channels of peace, in the name of Jesus; sustained by God’s grace and upheld through God’s mercy.

We are invited too by our friends in Prison Fellowship to pray for peace…

Loving God, we pray for peace in our prisons.

May God use us as peacemakers, bringing reconciliation in times of conflict.

God, in your mercy, hear our prayers, in the name of Jesus, Prince of Peace. Amen

“Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.”

— Matthew 5:9 NIV

(cover photo courtesy of Wesley Eland at Unsplash)

A month until Prisons Week - Revd Bob Wilson invites us to join together in prayer

There’s a month to go until the start of a week of prayer for Prisons Week.

You are invited by Revd Bob Wilson, Secretary for Prisons Chaplaincy and Free Churches Faith Adviser, to join with churches and groups across the country, for a week of prayer for prisons.

This year the theme is Consider the Ravens, inspired by Jesus’s words in Luke’s Gospel.

You can access the prayers and other thought-provoking resources HERE.

Join us to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and their communities, those working in the criminal justice system and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime on the inside and outside of our prisons.

(cover photo courtesy of I.am_nah at Unsplash)

The power and vital ministry of writing to a penpal in prison

We all know how wonderful it is to receive a letter from a friend or to write to a friend, so they have the joy of reading a letter from us. Prison Fellowship host a letter writing project for volunteers to have penpals who are in prison. The letters have such a positive and uplifting impact on those who both send and receive them. On International Literacy Day, we are invited by Prison Fellowship to pray alongside them for their Letter Link work.

Let us pray

Living God, we pray for all our volunteer letter writers and their penpals in prison.

We remember that literacy levels are below the national average for those in prison. So, we pray for encouragement, persistence, and a real sense of friendship as they write.

God, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen

“My volunteer has been there for me through some tough times. When I was down and thought of taking my own life, it was the letters of encouragement that kept me strong. There needs to be more people like this in the world.”

— Letter Link participant

(cover photo from the Letter Link section of the Prison Fellowship website)