Across the country people have answered the call to pray at the same time each week in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rt Rev Colin Sinclair, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, said: “When so much is not normal how lovely it can be to come together at 7pm each Sunday and have a few moments in which we can pray together.

“Let me encourage you to keep hope alive and join with us in prayer.”

This week’s letter accompanying the prayer states: “Today’s gospel reading from John Chapter 14, tells of a traumatic time in the life of the disciples and Jesus.

“After three years travelling together around Galilee, they arrive in Jerusalem amidst an atmosphere heavy with threat.

“Gathering behind a closed door, in the hour of his own need, Jesus sought to offer comfort and guidance to his followers and friends, telling them of a place in God’s house, and that he was going ahead to prepare a place for them.

“Thomas, bless him, asked the question which is on the hearts of so many, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? To which Jesus replied: “I am the way, the truth and the life.’

“Today, in these times, we pray that we may sense Christ’s guiding presence:

Come, Jesus Christ, come my way;
showing me your way, through these disorientating days,
and opening my eyes to your accompanying presence.

Come, Jesus Christ, come my way;
teaching me your truth, through these confounding days
and opening my mind to your living Word.

Come Jesus Christ, come my way;
revealing to me your life, through these bewildering days,
and opening my heart to the fulness of your being. Amen.