A Prayer of Thanksgiving for the Freedom to Worship

Gracious and eternal God, we thank you for the precious freedom to gather openly in worship, to pray, sing, read your Word and proclaim the name of Jesus without fear. Forgive us when we take this gift for granted and help us use every favourable opportunity to worship you, serve our neighbours and share the good news of your love. Today we remember our Christian sisters and brothers who worship at great cost: those in Nigeria and Burkina Faso, Iran and Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and North Korea, and in many other places where churches are attacked, believers are threatened, and faith must sometimes be practised in secret. Protect them, strengthen their courage and assure them that they are not forgotten by you or by the worldwide Church.

We pray also for those who possess the freedom to worship but choose not to do so. May they encounter your amazing grace and discover that life in Christ is not imprisonment but true freedom, freedom from guilt, fear and despair, and freedom to love, forgive and begin again. We thank you for the faithful witness of your Church throughout the ages: for apostles, martyrs, saints and ordinary believers who kept the faith when doing so brought rejection, suffering or death. May their courage inspire us to be faithful in our own time, so that whether in freedom or adversity, your Church may continue to bear witness to Jesus Christ, our hope, our liberator and our Lord. Amen.