Prayer For Change

The Prayer for Change is printed simultaneously in the magazines of Lidgett Park, St Andrew's and St Edmund's

"He (Jesus) descended into hell ......."

This quotation from the Apostles' Creed often causes deep puzzlement but in a recent sermon it was used to remind us of the hells people still endure: the hells which come from natural causes, earthquakes and tornadoes; the hells which result from human greed and lack of love. In all these hells we find Jesus working through the power of love, and so we ask for strength to persevere in our own small efforts to further that love in the hells known to us.

HELL (from 'Gleanings' by Jennifer Hashmi)

You who mock at Hell,
The burning fires of Hell,
Think again.
'God is love,' you say? Ha!
*Some in flames
Of just one human love
Preferred to perish than endure!
They knew!
Others, set alight by love,
As living beacons live,
Like martyrs did of old.
They can tell.
The choice is yours.
For God is a consuming fire
Or burning bush.
Take off your shoes for this is holy ground
And learn to live in hell.

*If these next four lines prove a little puzzling think of Romeo and Juliet.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay