Cottesbrooke. 18 March 2007
Prayer may not alter things. But prayer certainly alters people and people alter things. 
Today being Mothering Sunday we remember all the Mothers of the world and thank God for what they do.  
Proverbs Ch. 31:
Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies. 
The heart of her husband doth safely trust her, .
She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands.
She is like the merchants’ ships; she bringeth food from afar.
She considereth a field and buyeth it; with the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her clothing is silk and purple.
She openeth her mouth with wisdom and her tongue is the law of kindness.
Her children arise and call her blessed, her husband also and he praiseth her. 
Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord: she shall be praised.
Amen .

An adaptation of Psalm 51.
Open my lips O Lord and my mouth shall proclaim your praise
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence and take not your holy spirit from me.
Give me the joy of your saving help again 
And sustain me with your bountiful spirit
Amen.
Lord, we simply desire that my life should reflect your love; our feet walk in your footprints; our lips speak of your praise.
We only desire that our strength should come from the cross; and above all else that our will should be in alignment with your will always. 
Amen.
A poem by Robert Herrick
If I have played the truant, or have here
Failed in my part;  oh! Thou that art my dear,
My mild, my loving Tutor, Lord and God!
Correct my errors gently with Thy rod.
I know that faults will many here be found,
But where sin dwells, there let thy grace abound. 
Lord Jesus Christ, alive and at large in the world,
Help us to follow and find you in the world to-day, in the places where we work, meet people, spend money and make plans. 
Take us, as disciples of your kingdom, to see through your eyes, and hear the questions you are asking, to welcome all men with your trust and truth and to change the things that contradict God’s love , by the power of the cross and the freedom of your spirit.
Amen 

Dear Lord, we bring to you our friends and neighbours Dennis & Dorothy Storer and ask you to sustain them in their time of trial.  We thank you for the contribution that they have made in so short a time to the life of this village and for the happiness and comfort that they have spread to very many people around them in past years.  May you, Lord, be their refuge and strength a very present help in all their troubles.  We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. 
Finally, a poem by William Cowper:
My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled,
Were but the feeble efforts of a child;
Howe’er performed, it was their brightest part,
That they proceeded from a grateful heart.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore Amen. 
