PRAYERS
A few prayers I wrote.
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Palm Sunday
I was asked by the diocese of Worcester to contribute a prayer for Palm Sunday for a Lent study pack.
Patricia Hollis
A prayer written for a memorial service held in Westminster Abbey for Baroness Patricia Hollis, a brilliant strategic thinker, a passionate worker for social justice, and a thoroughly nice person.
Where is God?
These lines were written after reading “Shadows of Auschwitz: a Christian response to the Holocaust” by Harry James Cargas.
Charcoal
An unfashionable commodity but only too vital for the people of a land with no other fuel.
Politics
Long before I entered parliament, I was asked to write a prayer for those in politics for the annual Prayer Manual of the Methodist Church. It became a prayer for people like me only later!
Gypsies
I had some gypsy friends as a boy and I loved running and playing with them and then sitting by their caravan, with a fire burning, rustic charms and clothes pegs being made, and listening to their lore. I’ve had a soft spot and some concern for them ever since.
Saint David's Day: Gŵyl Dewi
This was a grace I said at the Saint David’s Day gala dinner in the London’s Guildhall. I was instructed to prepare something that was bilingual.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was a dear friend. She invited me to say the grace at the great feast that was organised at the Dorchester Hotel to celebrate her 70 th birthday. I’ve used titles of her books and lines from some of her poems to construct this prayer.
Angola
The civil was in Angola and Mozambique had just finished. I wrote this reflection on my journey home.
Prayer for today
I’ve forgotten where and why I wrote this little prayer. I’ve used it over and over again.
Hebron
Abraham is a key figure for three major world religions and the city where he lies buried must surely help the followers of those faiths to find a focal point for their dialogue. Yet it remains a very troubled city.
A rap by John the Baptist out in the wilderness to a huge crowd of listeners. His Glastonbury moment
I have a young friend who does “raps.” He’s brilliant. He challenged me to write and deliver one myself. This is the result. It needs a backing tape, some heavy rhythms, and people must imagine that this is John the Baptist doing his stuff in the Judean desert.
Creation
We take the planet for granted. Scientists readily remind us that the creation story in Genesis is quite simply wrong. Within their own ways of reasoning their conclusions cannot be denied. But there are truths contained within the story of creation that make their own sense and must form part of the ecological discussion that must now dominate our thinking.
