Advent 2021

Today we pray for all the MPs who have served in the last Parliament. Some of them (such as Ken Clarke, who was “Father of the House”, the longest serving MP) have now retired. Others (such as Kate Hoey and the ex-Speaker John Bercow) have decided to leave Parliament after sterling service over many years, but who will be seeking to find new work outside of Westminster. Many more will be seeking to be re-elected in December.

• Give thanks that these people have made often great sacrifices in order to be able to serve as MPs. Many have had to travel hundreds of miles each week, sitting in Parliament Monday to Friday and travelling to far flung constituencies to then meet with local people and attend functions over the weekend.
• Pray for their families who also make sacrifices in order to support the MP.
• Pray for constituency party officers who will take care of appointments and diaries and work ‘on the ground’ during the week.
• Even though Parliament is now pro-rogued, this is not a holiday but a time of extreme effort and activity for those seeking re-election. Pray for stamina and energy.
• For those leaving parliament, pray that they may quickly find jobs that bring them joy and satisfaction, or find ways to enjoy a rich and long retirement.

What is Proroguing? According to the legal dictionary at freedictionary.com the Royal Prerogative is “in the constitutional law of the UK, the powers of the Crown exercised under the common law. New prerogatives cannot be assumed and old ones can be legislated away. Recognized instances are the rule that the king never dies, there is no interregnum, the king is never an infant and the king can do no wrong, albeit this particular prerogative has been severely curtailed by the Crown Proceedings Act. The more important prerogatives relate to domestic affairs and foreign affairs.”
It is a Royal Prerogative, delegated to the Prime Minister or (since the Fixed Term Parliament Act) Parliament, to stop Parliament from sitting for a period. This happens before a State Opening of Parliament and before a General Election, it also happens during Party Conference season in September. The argument about the September prorogation this year was the joining together of the “Party Conference” session with the “Pre-State Opening” session to make a longer than usual prorogation.

Bible Reading: 1 Timothy 2:1-4

CARE have launched a website devoted to information about, and prayer for, the Election. It is www.engaGE19.org.uk and their suggested prayer for today is included above.
  Each week we will be focussing our prayer as below:

• THIS WEEK: Those who have served
• NEXT WEEK: Spiritual needs of the nation
• W/c 17th November: Election Candidates
• W/c 24th November: The Media and Election Communication
• W/c 1st December: Policies and Manifestos
• W/c 8th December: Election Week

Early in the morning of Tuesday, November 5th 1605 Government forces, alerted to the plans to murder King James I (VI of Scotland) and Members of Parliament, discovered Guy Fawkes and a stash of gunpowder below the Palace of Westminster. Ring leader Robert Catesby and other conspirators were later arrested as well. The reason for the plot was the break from Europe of England as it adopted the Protestant faith and turned its back on the Catholic religion and the overlordship of the Pope. The plotters wanted to open the way for the restoration of the Catholic creed and the rule of papal law.

Today, Tuesday November 5th 2019 Parliament is being brought to an end in an altogether more peaceful manner, and the UK is about to start a General Election period. The reason for this is primarily the struggle between those who want to remove the UK from the EU and those who have been trying to stop this. An impasse in the present parliament has made progress of either cause impossible.

On this blog, each day until the election is over, there will be prompts on how to pray for the nation and the election.

As we begin this together, today we pray for Parliament itself and the institution it is. In recent months and even years it has fallen into disrespect amongst the people for a variety of reasons from the way MPs are paid and claim expenses to the inability to bring Britain’s leaving of the E.U. to a conclusion.

Today then we pray for Parliament to be restored to a place of trust and respect.

We pray for MPs and members of the House of Lords, as well as members of devolved assemblies and Governments across the UK, to be respected and treated well.

We repent that many MPs have in recent months received abuse and even death threats, and that one MP – Jo Cox – was murdered this decade. Pray for the Cox family and also the MPs (and their loved ones) who have been traumatised by ill-treatment by the public in recent months.

We pray for a restoration of respect for authority generally in our land.

Reading

Read and reflect on Psalm 2

CARE have launched a website devoted to information about, and prayer for, the Election. It is www.engaGE19.org.uk and their suggested prayer for today is included above.
  Each week we will be focussing our prayer as below:

• THIS WEEK: Those who have served
• NEXT WEEK: Spiritual needs of the nation
• W/c 17th November: Election Candidates
• W/c 24th November: The Media and Election Communication
• W/c 1st December: Policies and Manifestos
• W/c 8th December: Election Week