Prayer

Picture and Prayer St AndrewStained glass panelSt Mary?s Church, ArbroathThe gospels tell us that St Andrew was a Galilean fisherman, and in St John?s Gospel it is Andrew who introduced his brother Peter to Jesus.He is reputed to have spread Christianity through Asia Minor and Greece, hence his being the patron saint to Greece, Romania and Russia as well as Scotland. Legend has it that he was martyred in Greece at Patras and that he dies by crucifixion on a diagonal cross hence the shape of ?St Andrew?s Cross.St Andrew never visited Scotland during his life. The story is that an angel told Greek monk St Rule (Regulus) through a dream that Saint Andrew?s bones should be moved from their resting place and moved to ?the ends of the Earth?. At that time Scotland was about as far away as it was possible to get, and St Rule landed, or more accurately was shipwrecked, together with St Andrew?s relics, on the east coast of Scotland. St Andrews? relics were placed in a chapel which was later incorporated into St Andrew?s Cathedral. Let us Pray in thanksgiving for the life and witness of St Andrew and the other disciples who were first called to follow Jesus.Let us Pray for a renewal of faith and following in our own day; that the power of Jesus? Gospel message may stir people?s hearts to love and care. Let us Pray for the Church and its leaders who carry the light of the Gospel; that through their preaching and discipleship they may convince people in this age of the relevance of the Gospel for their lives.