Diocese joins Prayer for the Nation

The Diocese will be sharing a prayer at 6pm each evening in the first week of February, as part of a national call to Prayer for the Nation.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued a call to the nation to pause and reflect to remember the more than 100,000 people across the UK who have died after contracting Covid-19 and all those who know and love them.

In an open letter, Archbishops Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell invite everyone across England – whether they have faith or not – to pause, reflect on the “enormity of this pandemic” and to pray.

Death, they insist, does not have “the last word”, and the Christian faith promises that one day “every tear will be wiped away”.

God, they write, knows grief and suffering and “shares in the weight of our sadness”.

Acknowledging the wider impact of the pandemic on the whole of society through loneliness, anxiety and economic hardship, they invite people to “cast their fears on God”.

Read their letter in full here

Here's how you can get involved:

• Find the set daily prayer materials at: www.churchofengland.org/resources/prayer-nation
• Join the diocesan social media channels  at 6pm from 1 to 7 February, as members of the diocesan family lead us in prayer. Following weeks will see contributions shared from the national church and Rochester Cathedral.
• Visit the Rochester Cathedral website and Facebook page as they share a prayer each evening for the whole month of February - read more here