Rick is one of St Luke’s Church Wardens – and he leads both Morning and Evening Prayer this week, in the season of Lent (marking the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert). Morning Prayer – Rick reads a passage from John, Chapter 5, verse 30 to the end. In this scripture John describes how the Pharisees’ highly critical view of Jesus led to this passage – which clearly uses witnesses to prove Jesus’ relationship with God and therefore his authority; “‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

We pray for the people of Ukraine and Russia, for world peace, for wise decision-making and the moral integrity of all world leaders in the face of evil – most especially this morning. Rick prays; Lord Jesus Christ, when scorn and shame besiege us and hope is veiled in grief, hold us in your wounded hands and make your face shine on us again, for you are our Lord and God. Amen.

Photographs this week are from St Peter’s Church, Blackpool, where Judith C from our congregation now worships http://www.stpeterschurchblackpool.co.uk/ founded in 1910.