EDINBURGH NORTHWEST KIRK
OCTOBER PRAYER DIARY
I lift up my eyes to the mountains
- where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
maker of heaven and earth.
(Psalm 121 : 1 - 2)
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Prayer topics are set out by day throughout the week
Monday Continue to pray for the British couple, Lindsay and Craig Foreman, and for their release from
prison in Iran.
Tuesday Pray for Emma McMillan in her studies. Pray for the ministry of the Moderator, Rev. Gordon Kennedy.
Wednesday Pray for the CrossReach ministry in Eskmills, Edinburgh providing supported accommodation for adults with learning difficulties.
Thursday Pray for the ministries of Fresh Start and Bethany Trust in Edinburgh
Friday Pray for members of our congregations dealing with serious illness.
Saturday Pray for the ministry of Edinburgh Hospital Chaplains
Sunday Pray for our services today and for Julia and her ministry in Bible teaching. Pray for the ministry to young people in church today.
Reflection
A reflection on Paul’s letter to the Philippians 4 : 1 - 9
Ryan Schellenberg
Professor of New Testament
Methodist Theological School in Delaware, Ohio
The remainder of the passage focuses on what might best be called practices of attention. “Think about these things” (4:8), Paul writes, inviting the Philippians to set their minds on what is true, what is honourable, and what is excellent. As the headlines remind us every day, we live in a world reeling from multiple and overlapping crises: political, cultural, and ecological. In this context, the notion of fixing one’s attention on what is pleasing and praiseworthy might sound like mere escapism, a wilful retreat to blissful ignorance. Do we not have a moral duty to face our troubling reality head-on? “Have the courage to be frightened, and to frighten others too,” urged Günther Anders in 1962 as humanity stared down the prospect of nuclear annihilation. “Frighten thy neighbour as thyself.” This is no time for blithe optimism, he insisted.
A few generations later, however, we seem to have exhausted our capacity for productive fear. Doomscrolling, we now call it—an algorithmically curated tour of our landscape of despair. Meanwhile, so-called social media companies monetize our collective anxiety and our impotent outrage, competing for our attention and selling it to the highest bidder. “Convert eyeballs into cash”—this, as Chris Hayes notes, is the defining transaction of the digital age.
In this context, choosing where we give our attention is both a vitally important spiritual practice and a profoundly political act. As Philippians 4 : 4 – 9 suggests, our most basic feelings and dispositions—joy, gentleness, peace—are shaped by our habits of attention. To fix our eyes on the goodness of God’s creation is not an attempt to escape the suffering of the world or evade responsibility for it. It is rather a way to resist the paralysis of despair, to nurture the dispositions of heart and mind that can keep us focused and fruitful even in hostile territory—in other words, as Paul puts it, to “stand firm” (4:1). One way to do so is to cultivate a habit of prayer (4 : 6 – 7). Prayer is an intentional practice of holding in one’s attention the objects of one’s deepest care. Of course, from an economic perspective, the act of prayer is utterly worthless. And for this very reason it is revolutionary. Prayer offers a way to opt out of the commodification of our attention and to offer our hearts freely to God.
If you have a prayer request or a favourite prayer which you would care to share in a future Prayer Diary, please e-mail office@cramondkirk.org.uk