We’ve written and published a special prayer – Anchor us Lord – for the UK in the midst of continuing speculations over how Brexit will happen, and particularly with the added uncertainty of the approaching snap election:
Anchor us Lord,
for we can feel our islands drifting
and many are hopeless,
uncertain or afraid.
We are tossed this way and that
looking all around for some help in the waves…
Europe? America? Other nations? Ourselves?
Which party? Which leader?
Who can save us now?
Anchor us Lord,
for we often choose to float
on the dreams of a misremembered,
misleading nostalgia
that celebrates a once ‘great’ past
when we ‘ruled the seas’ at the cost of others;
rather than pursuing an honest, diligent present
that humbly builds a future on the priceless value
of each and every one in seven billion.
Anchor us Lord,
for we can feel the pull of old scars,
competing alliances
and rival identities
straining our connections,
stretching our unity
and causing us to seek to stand
as a divided people
half-way determined on more division still.
Anchor us Lord,
for you alone can hold us fast and true.
Steady our course
and give us the courage our hearts
– and our nation –
so desperately need
to weather the seas of change
and reclaim the memory of our truly ‘great’ times –
times when we were anchored in hope; trusting in you.