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This week exams and tests seem to be looming on the horizon for a lot of people in the Parish. Year 9 have had their SATs this week and in our primary school Year 2 and Year 6 have their SATs next week. The Year 11 pupils have begun their GCSE exams and ten of us are getting a bit close to having to put our training to the test in the 10km run. So it seems a particularly good time to pray!
The question is: what should we pray at times like this? I have been giving this some thought in preparing a prayer for the Year 6 pupils to say before their SATs. It seems to me that we should pray to do our best so we that we use the gifts and talents that we have been given by God. If things go well we should remember to thank God after the results as well as pray like mad before the exams. At the same time if things do not go well it is important that we remember that Christ is very definitely with us: this is the message of the incarnation.
We should pray for a sense of perspective and recognize that each person has been given different gifts and talents for the service of others and that we are all loved by God and called to share that love with one another. With that in mind I wrote the following prayer, primarily for our Year 6 pupils, but it might be of use to anyone else who has to face an exam in the near future. I know I will be saying something similar at the start line of the 10k run next week!
Oh, dear Jesus, here I am, just before my next exam.
Help me, Lord, to do my best and not to worry about the rest.
To thank you, Lord, if I do well
and if I struggle, know and tell:
That you are with me here today
and will be with me all the way.
For each of us matters to you
and no one loves us quite like you.
And so as it is time to start
be in my head and in my heart.
That when this time has come
and gone we will be friends and all be one.
For we will all have done our best
and up to you we'll leave the rest.
Amen.
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Holy Saviour RC Church - Nelson