Sunday 16th January (after the murder of Aisling Murphy)
Heavenly Father we come to our time of prayer today with gratitude in our hearts that you’re a good, loving and caring father. Thank you that as your children we can be free and bold in our prayers. Thank you that you listen not just to the words of our prayers, but also to our hearts – you know us inside out, you know us better than we know ourselves. We thank you that when we don’t always know how to pray, when we are weak, your Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans.
And we ask for the help of your Holy Spirit as we come to pray today in the aftermath of the murder of Aisling Murphy. Father we feel shaken by such an horrendous act of evil. We are angry that someone you made in your image, such a wonderful, bright and caring young lady has been taken from us far too early. We cry out to you Father as Job once cried out to you (Job 21:7)
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
We want to pray for Aisling’s parents Raymond & Kathleen, her brother Cathal and her sister Amy. We pray for the staff and pupils at Durrow National School and the wider community of Tullamore. Be their comfort and peace. Hear their cries and their prayers. Draw near them. Lead them to the rock that is higher than them, that they may find a secure place to grieve. May they find hope in the Lord Jesus who is the resurrection and the life.
As we think of the malicious intent behind the murder we echo the lament of Psalm 10
Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? (vs1)
We are confused and stunned, saddened and angry at what has happened. She went out for a run, and she never came home. This should not have happened, she should have been safe, Lord we feel angry and long for an end to such evil and violence in our world.
And so cry out with the Psalmist
Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless. (vs12)
We thank you, that you are a God who does not forget the helpless but instead, as the Psalmist says you
see the trouble of the afflicted; you consider their grief and take it in hand. (vs14)
O Lord, our hearts cannot comprehend such tragedy, so we entrust ourselves again to you, asking for help, guidance, strength and protection.
We also pray for those who feel especially fearful or vulnerable when they hear of these attacks. Please keep them from being paralysed by fear or anxiety and protect them from harm. May they know you as their rock and refuge in these troubling times. Lord Jesus, the prince of peace and light of the world, please give your light and peace at this dark time.
And we pray for the perpetrator, that he would be found and brought to justice. That he would not be able to harm any other women. But we also pray for his heart, that you would soften it and as he considers his great evil act that you’d bring him to repentance and faith in Jesus. Lord Jesus, you turned the heart of Saul when he set out to harm your people, please would you change the hearts of those who intend to harm others and stop them from causing such devastation.
Father, we think about the wider evil that Aisling Murphy’s murder represents – violence against women. We thank you that this is being described as a watershed moment in our county and for the solidarity this has brought across the country, with a desire to end violence against women. Thank you that many hearts have been stirred by this awful murder.
Lord you made both men and women in your image, both with equal dignity and worth. Each and every woman on earth has been fearfully and wonderfully made by you. You know each of them by name and the number of hairs on their head. You love them.
And we know that in Christ and in your kingdom
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28)
And yet these events remind us of how so often this is not the case, both inside and outside the church. We grieve that women are often objectified, mistreated, demeaned and abused.
As a man Father I confess the ways I have ever contributed to and facilitated this particular aspect of evil and brokenness in your world.
Forgive us Father when as men we have enabled a culture that abuses women, whether by words or actions, or by silence and cowardice. We recognise that there is systemic and institutional sexism in our society, and we ask that Aisling’s death would play a part in bringing greater equality and justice for women in our world.
And we pray for us as a church – make us a place where women feel safe and respected. You said that your church was to be an alternative society on earth, a city on a hill, that displays the good rule and reign of God, so we ask for your help and guidance as a church that we’d be a place where all people are valued equally and treated with dignity and respect, regardless of gender, race or socio-economic status.
Father we remember that an older man Paul counselled a younger man Timothy about conduct in your church and said we should treat
older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity. (1 Timothy 5:1-2)
I pray by your Spirit this would be true in Christ City Church. That we’d live up to your calling of being your family – a family that is united across all earthly divides. I pray that older women in our community would be treated with dignity, care and respect, and that younger women would be treated as sisters, with absolute purity.
And Father it’s moments like these where we long deep in our hearts for a just world where everyone is safe. We look forward to the day when heaven comes to earth fully, when you the righteous judge will return to end all evil and injustice and make earth once again a safe home for all of us;.
We look forward to the world Isaiah prophesied about – a world without any violence where (Isaiah 11:8-9)
The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest
They will neither harm nor destroy for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Lord events like these make us long for that day and for that world. We long for you Jesus to return and make this world such a place of safety, harmony and beauty.
And so we thank you that even though this world is dark, there is hope – hope of a better world, hope for healing, hope of redemption and hope of restoration. And Lord our hope is ultimately in you, the wise, merciful and loving king. And it is in your name we pray.
Amen