Goth Devotions

This page serves two purposes, first of all it is intended as a help in your own private devotions and concerns, secondly it is a place to share your own spiritual thoughts, from whatever perspective. If you have any personal favourite prayers, meditations, readings, or simple quotes which you think would help other people please do send them to us through the CONTACT US on the website. This may be stuff you have written yourself or which you have drawn inspiration from the work of someone else. Some of the material which appears on this page will be used during future Goth Eucharist services. We look forward to hearing from you.

• Some Prayers during times of depression or abandonment
• Some Prayers during times of Confusion
• Some Prayers for Confidence and Courage
• Some Readings which may be helpful

Some Prayers during times of depression or abandonment

Lord Jesus Christ, I feel so alone
Words cannot express the emptiness of my feelings
But my desire to be with you fills all of my being.
Be with me Lord in my loneliness
and make your presence known to me.
Grant to my heart that peace which the world cannot give
But which can only be found in my life with you.
So, strengthen my faith and my trust in your promises.
I know that you will never abandon me,
Sustain me with your grace that I will never abandon you.
Merciful Lord, help me in my time of need.

Grant to me father, integrity of heart and mind
That my soul may be truly open to your Holy Spirit.
Guide me in my calling to serve you and your people.
Help me to love my neighbour as myself and to love you above all else.
Take from me my thoughts of self that I might grow in my love for you.
My selfishness is ever before me,
my sins are greater than my pride will permit my knowing.
Father, hear the prayer of your child, forgive me and cleanse me with your grace

Lord Jesus Christ
Remember those who work in vain, who see no reward from their labours
Whose days seem empty and whose perseverance runs dry.
For all who suffer from disillusionment and disenchantment with their lives.
For those who seek work but who are unable to find it, For those who crave a release from the dreariness and drudgery of their daylight hours.
Teach us all to remember that our greatest work is in loving and strengthening our brothers and sisters in Christ, that by our very existence in their lives we may bring comfort, hope and strength to many and so enrich our world by your love made manifest through us.
In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Lord Jesus Christ, help me in my grief
My heart is rent asunder, my soul in pain
And tears cloud each morning.
Open my heart to receive your comfort and help me gain eternal life
In the paradise of your kingdom
Where there is no pain, no heartache, no grief or sorrow
Where every tear is wiped away from every eye
And where all that is precious to us in our lives will not simply remain, but, by the twinkling of your eye will be transformed into something finer still
Where my soul will be stripped from every imperfection and cured from every blemish, through Jesus Christ, my Lord and my Friend. Amen.

Dear Lord,
Sometimes my fears get the better of me,
my anger and my pain destroy me,
Father, I don't want this to happen, so please help me,
When my anxieties mingle with moments in my life, will you remain with me?
I crave your peace, your stillness, and, above all else, your re-assurance.
Be with me Lord, take from me my fears.
Give me peace in my heart, and strength to overcome every setback,
so I might sit in your presence.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Our Risen Lord and Master. Amen.

Some Prayers during times of Confusion

God has created me to Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission - I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it - if I do but keep his Commandments.
Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what he is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me - still He knows what He is about.

John Henry Newman.

O Lord, support us all the day long of this troublous life, until the shades lengthen and the evening comes, the busy world is hushed, the fever of life is over, and our work done. Then, Lord, in Thy mercy, grant us safe lodging, a holy rest, and peace at the last, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

John Henry Newman.

Some Prayers for Confidence and Courage

Loving Lord,
You alone are my heart of joy,
You alone are my love of life.
You alone are my source of strength.
Yet sometimes I doubt, sometimes I am wearied, sometimes I give way to despair.

Loving Lord,
Embolden me in your service
Give me the courage to be a witness to my faith and to myself
So that the joy of my belief,
may seduce others into a love for you.
Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen

O Lord, help me in my life to advance your kingdom here on earth. Give me a vision of your righteousness in my world. Help me to help the poor, the weak and the suffering, so open my eyes to see and my heart to grasp the pains of those around me. Shake me from my complacent thoughts and my wants of self. My most precious gift is myself, my greatest temptation is withholding my time from helping others. Help me overcome my weaknesses in your service and enflame my heart with a passion to purge your world from all evil and malice which blinds your people from knowing you.

All the prayers above, unless otherwise attributed are by Marcus Ramshaw

Some Readings which may be helpful

We tend to think that the Scriptures do not show much understanding about how destructive depression might be. The Psalms talk a lot about feeling alone, about the loss of all hope, but the writer always finds, in God, a resolution to his anxieties. There is, however, one Psalm, in which this does not happen. Psalm 88 reflects, more than any other passage in the Bible the feelings Christ experienced on the Cross when he crued out `My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'

Psalm 88
O Lord, the God who saves me,
day and night, I cry out before you.
May my prayer come before you;
turn your ear to my cry.

For my soul is full of trouble
and my life draws near the grave.
I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
like a man without strength.
I am set apart with the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
who are cut off from your care.

you have put me in the lowest pit,
in the darkest depths.
your wrath lies heavily upon me;
uou have overwhelmed me with all your waves.
You have taken from me my closest friends
and have made me repulsive to them.
I am confined and cannot escape; my eyes are dim with grief.

I call to you, o Lord, every day;
I spread out my hands to you.
Do you show your wonders to the dead?
Do those who are dead rise up and praise you?
Is your love declared in the grave,
your faithfulness in Destruction?
Are your wonders known in the place of darkness,
or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?

But I cry to you for help, O Lord;
In the morning my prayer comes before you.
Why, O lord, do you reject me
and hide your face from me?

From my youth I have been afflicted and close to death;
I have suffered your terrors and am in despair.
Your wrath has swept over me;
your terrors have destroyed me.
All day long they surround me like a flood;
they have completely engulfed me.
you have taken my companions and loved ones from me;
the darkness is my closest friend.