Here’s some suggested prayer topics to help you in praying for London throughout 2013. With the scandals over the past few years that have hit our bankers, politicians and journalists, here’s my suggestion of key things to be praying for these London spheres in 2013:
- Media: The Leveson report only came out 6 weeks ago, but already it seems like light years away. The media were given responsibility for creating their own new system of self regulation. They promised to create something within a week. So far nothing has been released. The media has been remarkably silent, over this failure of the media to come up with anything… Suggested prayer in 2013… that the newspaper owners and editors quickly come up with a replacement to the Press Complaints Commission, that gives us responsible journalism without violations of privacy.
- Bankers: The inquiries into LIBOR-fixing continue. And the fines to different banks will also no doubt continue. Suggested prayer in 2013… that our banking sector, based in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf, will be led and staffed by people of integrity, who remain unscrupulously honest at all times, and who use banking to further long term investment and development, rather than simply for short term profit.
- Politicians: The expenses scandal hit Westminster hard, and led to a huge raft of resignations at the 2010 General Election. Since then parliament has worked on improving the system, but there are still huge opportunities for corruption for MPs. David Cameron has repeatedly said the lobbying system at Westminster needs to be reformed, before it becomes the next scandal to engulf our leaders. The word Lobbying comes from the term for individuals meeting their MPs in the lobby of the House of Commons, to try and persuade them to take up certain causes on their behalf. Now lobbying is more likely to be done by big businesses rather than individuals, and those same businesses often contribute huge amounts to funding political parties. It’s a system open to abuse, and to allegations of buying political power through spending money. Suggested prayer in 2013… that the political party funding system in the UK is reformed, and that big corporations have no more power when persuading MPs or PMs than the smallest of individuals.
Those are suggested prayers for the spheres previously hit by scandals. But here are also a couple of suggested prayers for the legal sphere:
- Delayed justice: In September 2012 Lord Justice Judge, the aptly named most senior judge in England & Wales, commented after the Abu Hamza extradition that 8 years was too long a time for any case to take up. “Any case that takes eight years through a whole series of judicial processes to come to a conclusion – and you’ve made the point that it hasn’t yet come to a conclusion – is a source of real fury to me.” If people start to demand faster justice, the lawyers may come under pressure to speed up the process, and make sure justice costs less time and less money. Suggested prayer in 2013… for a legal sphere that works swiftly and not costly in bringing justice for all.
- Christian freedoms: Just this week the cases of four Christians claiming discrimination in the workplace have been heard in Strasbourg. One won their case, the other three lost them. The message seems to be that Christians can claim discrimination at work, but only when health and safety or other discrimination issues are not at stake (especially over sexuality). Suggested prayer in 2013… for judges to protect Christian freedoms whilst also standing up against discrimination.
Pray for all these. And also pray for the work of the Church, and for Christians around the capital. Pray that they can boldly testify about Jesus in word and deed, and pray that many come to know Him as a result.
Mark Williamson also blogs regularly at One Rock International, a training organisation resourcing missionary leaders across the globe. He’s passionate about good films, good food, getting into deep conversations, and going for long walks with his wife Joanna.