A PRAYER FOR BRITAIN'S SECURITY SERVICES

Who doesn’t tend to get prayed for in Anglican churches?

The Middle East certainly gets prayed for frequently in the prayers of intercession, with a slightly anti-Israeli bias, your curate has noticed.

The sick and the bereaved get prayed for; the victims of war, famine and pestilence often in the Third World; the bishop and occasionally the vicar; social workers, health workers and teachers are increasingly getting a look-in; local councillors probably more than national politicians. Occasionally, the police get prayed for.

All these people and situations are right and proper subjects for intercessory prayer in parish churches. But the glaring intercessory omission in the current cultural climate in the United Kingdom is the security and anti-terrorist services in the front-line against Islamic terrorism. When did you last hear them prayed for in an Anglican parish church or indeed in a cathedral?

Cranmer’s Curate would like to suggest two reasons why they are not prayed for in the post-modern, liberal-infested Church of England.

1). A grossly over-optimistic view of human nature. This means that those who are in the front-line of the battle against the dark forces of human evil fall below the spiritual radar of most Anglicans.

2). The ‘inclusive’, multi-faith agenda. This means that those who are having to deal with an Islamic threat to our national security are felt to be a spiritual embarrassment.

What a disgrace.

Do we have no sense of how vulnerable a highly technologically-dependent civilisation is to this particular form of suicidal wickedness?

Do we have no sense of our responsibility as the Church of the nation to pray for those working flat out to secure the temporal safety of all those living in the United Kingdom? That includes atheists, Sikhs, Jedi Knights, Hindus, Jews, the various Christian denominations including Anglicans, and the Muslim community including potential recruits to destructive radicalism. Their work for our temporal safety means we as the Church of the nation, together with other Christian churches, can continue to minister to everyone’s eternal safety by proclaiming Christ’s Gospel in a range of communities.

Ultimately, have we no sense of the worth of our calling to be the Church of the nation?

Cranmer’s Curate offers a prayer for those involved in the fight against Islamic terrorism:

Almighty and eternal God, you have given your Son Jesus Christ the Name that is above every name. Grant to Britain's security and anti-terrorist services success in their efforts to thwart the dark and destructive forces of human evil. May these public servants receive the forgiveness of sins through faith in Christ and may your gracious hand of Providence guide them in all their investigations; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.