Prayer for our schools

Our friends at Spinnaker (www.spinnaker.org.uk) are holding their Prayer fortnight at the moment encouraging churches across the south east to pray for their local schools. Martin Sweet one of the founders of Spinnaker has adapted the Lords Prayer to pray specifically for churches. Please use this in your prayers for Homewood

You are
Our Father in heaven.
You are so great that we cry
hallowed be your name.
We long to see
Your Kingdom come
in our schools.
We ask that
your will be done, on earth
in classrooms and school halls, just
as in heaven.

We ask for your resources - please
give us today our daily bread.
Equip us to feed the hearts and minds of this
generation.

Forgive us our sins,
for the times we have looked away and not seen the need. May we teach children about Your forgiveness
as we forgive those who sin against us

We ask that you would
lead us not into temptation
of complacency, where we ignore the opportunities we have to engage with this generation.

We understand it is too easy to show a poor example
but deliver us from evil
so that we will show them Your grace,

and share hope for the future.

Because our vision is
for the kingdom
and we ask that they might see that
the power and the
glory are Yours.

We ask that in our lifetime, a revival amongst this generation will be a reality, both for
now and for ever. Amen

Whats in a name?

I am enjoying leading 3 primary school assemblies this week at Sandhurst, High Halden and Rolvenden. The first 2 schools I regularly go into and I know the staff, students and ways of doing things well. Tomorrow will be my first visit to Rolvenden.

I have been doing an assembly on The Names of God. After the birth of the new Princess of Cambridge on Saturday and the accompanying media circus that ensued, much has been made of the names that she was given. I suspect there are many people throughout the UK who made and lost money on the event as well as many others who are telling their friends ‘I told you so!’.

The names each one of us are given are special and unique, some have a meaning that was special to our parents, others may have some symbolism within the family, one lad told me this morning he was named George after the footballer George Best!

There are many names for God. In Psalm 23 David cries out to ‘The Lord my Shepherd’ and Jesus refers to himself several times, in John 10, as the Good Shepherd.

A shepherd, while an alien thing to many children and young people, was a vital role in Jesus day. Whilst it may not have been a respected profession or one that had prospects and was thought of highly it was a profession that couldn't be done without. It was also a dangerous profession one which may involve giving your life for the protection of the sheep. Jesus says that ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep’ (John 10:11).

I prayed with the children this morning that as they discovered what their names meant they would remember that Jesus, the good shepherd, laid down his life for them.