Aidan gave the Prayer of Intercession in church today. It was the Dedication service for the Brigades and other youth organisations. Here is the prayer he wrote and read out:

Prayer of Intercession

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank-you that you that you are our ever-faithful God, and that you always respond to our prayers – even if in a different way to what we expect. Lord, we pray for the refugee crisis in Europe, and for all those poor refugees who are traumatised or have lost family members on their perilous journey. We pray for those brave Christians who are out there, taking risks to serve you and to serve the refugees through charities like Christian Aid.

We pray especially for those fellow Christians who are fleeing for their lives from the Islamic State who have destroyed their town and cities. We pray that they would know your peace, and that you would be with them no matter what. We too pray for those Christians who couldn’t escape, and for all those around the world who are suffering or imprisoned for your precious name: we pray you would give them comfort, and security in your love for them – and that they would receive your awesome strength.

We too, Lord, have issues, even in our local area. We pray for everyone in Falkirk who is without food or a decent house, and for the committed volunteers giving up their time to serve you. We pray for the work of the Foodbank, who are helping get food to thousands in Falkirk, something that so many of us take for-granted. We also pray for other charities in our local area, like Home Start, who support parents with young children who are struggling to cope; we pray that the volunteers would know how to help the families they support.

Lord, we pray for those in this building today. We pray that you would comfort all those who grieve or mourn – we pray that you would fill the emptiness of their broken-heartedness with your eternal love. We pray as well for those who are sick, disabled or in pain, we pray that your loving kindness would rest with them also.

And finally, we pray for all the youth workers in the church, for your presence to be with them, and for you to show them the way to lead those children under their care. We also pray that they would know that their amazing work is both appreciated and crucial to our church family and to the children’s lives.

We ask all these things in the name of your Son, Jesus,

Amen.