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“Restore us, Lord God Almighty; make Your face shine on us, that we may be saved.”
~ Psalm 80

This refrain is repeated three times in this psalm. It is a great prayer for us to pray today.
The psalmist remembers what God has done in the past, who God is, and laments what is happening to God’s people. He then; on the basis of history and the character and Word of God, pleads with the Lord to restore and renew. We do the same. We cannot do it. Only the Lord can mend the broken walls, revive His people and bring renewal to the world.

“Surely we shall never be finally and fully forsaken, because Christ was forsaken for us.”
~ Sibbes

Petition: Please join with us in praying for:

1. The World — The number of confirmed cases is 72,126,085 (up 5,062,657 from last week).
The number of deaths of people with Covid-19 is 1,610,810 (up 74,787).
Italy now has the largest number of Covid-19 related deaths in Europe.
Turkey has seen a massive rise in cases. Germany has gone into lockdown.
South Korea is now seeing its highest number of cases — although still relatively low compared with Europe, the US and South America.

2. Australia — There have been 28,031 cases in total (up 66 compared with 72 the week before, with 0 being community transmission – 2 last week).

There are 37 people in hospital (+7), with 0 in intensive care (0).
10, 376,952 tests have been carried out, with 0.3% positive.
25,473 people have recovered. There are 56 active cases (+12).
There is no community transmission in Australia. Taiwan, New Zealand and Australia are now considered to be the best countries in the world for dealing with Covid-19.

3. Vaccine and Cures — The Queensland vaccination will no longer be purchased by the Australian government as it failed some basic tests. The UK has started its vaccination programme with the Pfizer vaccination — and the US will start this week with the same programme.

4. Church — I don’t know what your experience was yesterday — but I had the joy of singing in church. It was wonderful — the Korean Presbyterians sang like they had been released from prison!

5. Personal and Family — Forgive another personal reference. My daughter got married in Scotland last weekend and sadly we were not able to be present. It gave me a further sense of the pain of separation that many of you have experienced because of Covid-19. We look forward to the day when there will be no more separation.

A Prayer of Repentance:
Lord Jesus — You are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Yet we confess that we so often make ourselves the centre of the universe and the Lord of our own lives.
Teach us to depend not on ourselves but on You. Amen.

Song: This week’s song is to do with singing! Leonard Cohen sometimes expressed biblical truth — none more so than in this song —

“You’ve got me singing, even though it all looks grim…
You’ve got me singing that Hallelujah hymn.
You’ve got me singing like a prisoner in the jail,
You got me singing like my pardon’s in the mail!”

A Prayer of Thanksgiving:
O Lord God Almighty, restore us, make Your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.
Amen.