The Most Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness, Acting Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway, and Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church calls for prayers for Sri Lanka.
Following the horrific attacks in Sri Lanka and the immediate responses that many of us made both on social media and during our Easter sermons and intercessions, I have continued to listen as the death toll has risen and the fear of the local people has been reported.
The authorities are still not able to say the attacks are over and as people begin to bury their dead the fear of simply attending the church is palpable. I ask that as many of our church congregations as possible gather to say prayers for the people of Sri Lanka, for the families around the world affected by this attack and for those attempting to bring peace and security.
I suggest that where possible people in our churches could gather around our paschal candles, symbols of the resurrection, on Sunday at the end of worship and offer the prayers of all our people for the people of Sri Lanka and for the many others who lost loved ones on Easter Day.
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
