Prayers for exams, budgets, and credit card debt

Church of England surveys indicate that two-thirds of UK adults sometimes pray.   You may notice today's Timesonline report about the Anglican church's offering of prayers to be used in the exam season, by teachers and pupils alike.  Some odd elements -  we are told that "Prayers within the Celtic tradition are particularly valuable during examination season because of the way in which strength, guidance, blessing and God's presence are sought in all the ordinary situations of life".  And I found the primary school prayer a bit poignant - anyone young enough to need such simple language is, in my view, too young to know they are sitting a formal exam.  We were told that SATs for young pupils were just a tool to check schools' progress,  not something for children to face like  "storms and massive waves"  which need calming by Jesus.
    Actually, carry on down the same page and you find prayers for family budgets and  a psalm for those struggling with debt - "Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound fast in misery and iron.Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress and broke their bonds asunder...."     Can they mean bankruptcy?

Comments

[Stuart Hartill]

You'd think an organisation which claims to be a source of moral authority, and which doesn't have to go through the inconvenience of election or public approval to interfere in the education of children, would have the common decency to help improve schools rather than shamelessly creating another'niche market'.
It would no longer suprise me if, just like soft drinks manufacturers, churches started installing vending machines in schools where kids whose worries they helped cause could waste their lunch money on prayer cards.