From The Editor

Follow the Editor on Twitter @LifeWorkEditor

WHAT will you pray for in 2021?

This is the simple question we posed to those who have taken part in this month’s cover piece.

Top of most people’s prayer lists this year will likely be an end to Covid-19 - either through vaccine or mutation to a less severe illness.

But what will feature on your personal prayer list for the year?

I personally would pray for global justice, world peace and healing in particular in the midst of particularly divisive elections in the US and for peace and understanding in increasingly divided communities across the UK. In Church terms, I would pray for plans for restructuring and change to begin to bear fruit - for our Church to become a simpler and more accessible place for more people to encounter and discover God.

On a personal note, (aside from praying for family health and wellbeing) I would pray for more people to buy this magazine, either in print or digital form (see page 8). It would be lovely if one of the positive outcomes of the pandemic would be an increased circulation for Life and Work. We know people value and appreciate our work every month and it would be hugely positive for the team if this translated into an increased uptake of the magazine, particularly as we continue to work remotely in to 2021.

Change lies ahead for everyone involved in the Church. The global pandemic has concentrated minds and offered tantalising possibilities of what may lie ahead in the future and this has undoubtedly accelerated the speed of change.

But probably most of all, I would pray for kindness. The value of kindness cannot be underestimated. In these difficult times it is easy to judge on everything: behaviour, attitude, decisions. It is more difficult to be kind and to try to understand what may lie behind decisions and behaviour

“The value of kindness cannot be underestimated. In these difficult times it is easy to judge on everything: behaviour, attitude, decisions. It is more difficult to be kind and to try to understand what may lie behind decisions and behaviour.

The importance of kindness has been highlighted in recent research conducted by the Carnegie UK Trust. This long-term research project seeks to promote the value of kindness and its importance amid a desire for it to become embedded in public policy.

As we move forward into the light and promise of a new year, striving for a kinder and better world after the chaos of 2020 and amid the challenges which lie ahead for our Church, it is worth remembering the words of Ephesians 4:32: ‘Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you’.

This article appears in the January 2021 Issue of Life and Work

Click here to view the article in the magazine.

To view other articles in this issue Click here.

If you would like to view other issues of Life and Work, you can see the full archive here.