'So, just who is in control?' - Weekly Reflection 17th May 2026

The Titanic continues to fascinate people, and we recently watched the BBC docudrama, The Titanic Sinks Tonight. (BBC Two - Titanic Sinks Tonight, Series 1, The Unsinkable Ship)

In one of the scenes a lifeboat watching as the Titanic slipped beneath the waves. A man stood up and said, we ought to pray, is everyone okay if we say the Lord’s Prayer together.

Given the year, 1912, for the most part this would have been a normal thing to have done, and the Lord’s Prayer would have been familiar if not to everyone, then at least to the majority.

Of course, the Lord’s Prayer has been written about, and sung in a variety of ways, and so there is little I can add by way of reflection.  (I can highly recommend the Bible Project’s teaching on the Lord Prayer - The Meaning of the Lord’s Prayer Explained | Free Guide)

Today (Sunday 17^th May) we are on Day Four of the ‘Thy Kingdom Come' initiative based around praying the Lord’s Prayer allied with a specific prayer for five not yet Christians friends or family.

It is quite remarkable how this initiative has grown and spread across the world. This is from the ‘fronts page’ of the Thy Kingdom Come web page.

Since it began in May 2016, God has grown TKC from a dream of possibility into a movement which unites more than a million Christians in prayer, in nearly 90% of countries worldwide, across 85 different denominations and traditions- so that friends and family, neighbours and colleagues might come to faith in Jesus Christ.

Every person, household and church are encouraged to pray during the 11 days in their own way.

It is our hope & prayer, that those who have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ and His love for the world, will hear it for themselves and respond and follow Him.

Specifically, we again invite each and every Christian across the globe to pray that God’s Spirit might work in the lives of 5 people who have not responded with their ‘Yes’ to God’s call.

I was listening to a podcast the other day ‘Is Politics Dividing the Church? – Tom Wright and Preston Sprinkle.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3r6bvfkEkLwpgVtY1XXMrb?si=b7bff8a483964e24

Tom Wright is one amongst a growing number of Biblical scholars who have said that we have seriously misread the Gospel story, in particular that the ‘Gospel’ is focussed around our going to heaven when we die because we have said a prayer of accepting Jesus into our lives. He doesn’t say that this step is unimportant but focussing on our destiny as being ‘heaven’ needs adjusting and rethinking.

On Thursday last (14^th May) we celebrated 'The Feast of the Ascension’ which amongst other things points us towards the Great Commission of Matthew 28:16-20.

It is here that Jesus declares he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.

Tom Wright asks the question, ‘what does it mean to say that Jesus has all authority and rules on earth?’

This pushes us back to the Lord’s Prayer and what appears to have been missed or perhaps its full implication has remained a tad vague. For in truth there is a danger, rather like this in the lifeboat, the Lord’s Prayer can become a sort of catch all talisman, like it has some power when spoken out.  

‘Your Kingdom come and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

I do hope you are among the many thousands across the world engaging with the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative and praying for five not yet Christian’s to come to a living faith in Jesus.

But more than that can I invite you to really reflect on what it might mean if this prayer was to be realised in your life, in the life of your Church, in the life of your community, at work and across the world.

Those of you who have joined the Rugby Group of the Prison Fellowship for our monthly prayer gathering will know that I change the wording of the Lord’s Prayer.  Praying ‘on earth’ important as that is, can become a tad vague, and so to give it a bite I invite us to pray, ‘Your Kingdom come and your will be done in prisons as in heaven.’  

Can I invite you, nay challenge you, to say the Lord’s Prayer with this ‘bite.’.

‘Your Kingdom come in my life, in the life of my family, in the life of five people for whom I have a particular concern. Your Kingdom come in my local council as it meets this week, in parliament and across the world.

And then allow yourself to dream, to imagine and to reflect on what that might look like to see God’s Kingdom come upon earth and for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And then from praying to action, taking Saint Augustine’s words to heart who said: 'Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.'

And as you kneel in prayer and then rise to action let this song minister deep within your heart and soul...

https://youtu.be/1guKNXwbE2I?si=QXlIzoCmRa81ucCp