Prayers for Madiba

This open letter was issued on 13 June 2013

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, dear friends of South Africa everywhere, I invite you to join with me in praying for God's tender merciful hand to be upon our former President, Nelson Mandela at this time, and for his love to enfold dear Madiba, and all who are close to him. The Bible reassures us that 'God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble' (Psalm 46) and it is often when we feel most weak and vulnerable that God's reassurance comes to us most powerfully. It reminds us that in life, and in death, nothing can ever separate us from his love, and that his everlasting arms will never let us slip from his safe June grasp.

As I pray for Madiba, I also join many others, around the Anglican Communion and around the Commonwealth, in praying too for Prince Philip, as he recovers from surgery in a London hospital.

We thank God for these men who, in very different ways, have each given so much of their lives in the service of their nations, and of the wider good.

May God hear our prayers, and may his perfect will be done, in their lives and in ours. Amen.


Issued by the Office of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town
Inquiries: Ms Wendy Kelderman 021 763 1320 (office hours)