Light a virtual Candle !

Grasmere church interior

I was in the Lake District at the weekend and popped into Grasmere Church and was fascinated to see the numbers of people writing prayer requests on small bits of paper and sticking them on the noticeboard provided.  I think it says something very positive  about how spiritual people are even if the do not regularly attend church and how much they value being prayed for.

Equally visit any of the great Cathedrals and for a few pence you can light a candle for a loved one,which for many people is a very meaningful act and from time to time I have done it myself, as an aid to concentration as I pray
I think I might draw the line at this though  London internet Church

What do you think?

Thoughts about prayer

This is the week of prayer in our church

 On the theme of prayer, my friend and colleague Steve sent me this. I thought it was a brilliant post and the video in it, a great discussion starter on prayer press here

lamentation

As part of our week of prayer Beryl spoke on the need to lament last night.
I had heard her on the subject last year and been so helped by it that I went again last night
It was a very powerful talk.
Drawing on themes from both the Old Testament and New Testament including Psalms ,Job, Habbakuk and Romans ;Beryl demonstrated that lamenting is an important if often neglected (Beryl thought particularly by evangelicals and charismatics) part of a Christians relationship with God, but was critical if we are going to be honest in our relationship with Him.
The talk was interspersed with songs and hymns that picked up the theme I found the whole evening very inspiring
I had to leave early but the people there were going onto write their own laments
I ma hoping to persuade Beryl to let me have the notes so I can put them on this blog (with due acknowledment of course)

New Year ,new building ,new opportunity,.. but an old prayer

2012 looks like being an exciting year !

This Friday our new Central building is being handed over by the developers,  although the formal openings are not until March.

I  cant pretend I am not excited about the new building, and in particular the new opportunities that it brings for us to serve and bless our community; but I do remind myself frequently that it was Herod, and not Jesus, who was famous for building buildings, and what I am really looking forward to is the chance to connect with people who visit ,live in or work in the town centre.

We are also determined that the new building should be a place of prayer and we  even have a small dedicated prayer room upstairs  in the Central building .

We see this as vital as we want to not simply acknowledge, but to depend on God to do God's work in God's strength and not our own.

I haven't made specific new year resolutions as I am  not good at keeping them, but I do echo this prayer in Townends hymn for my life and the life of the church I help lead.
I hope it will be your prayer too

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You

To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us
All Your purposes for Your glory.

Teach us, Lord, full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility;
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise; cause our eyes to see
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of pow’r that can never fail—
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us—
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises,
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, till Your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

You can hear it here

an unusual prayer

Like most ministers and vicars I am sometimes  asked to say grace or open some otherwise secular event in prayer
I am sure I have never made the impact that this guy did though! here
Some useful thoughts on Krish Kandiah's blog about the whole thing

Prayer!

Simple ...but fun !
Thanks Mathew for pointing it out

To be in His presence

When people outside church ask what I do? and I tell them that I am a church leader ,a fair amount still say "What a great job you only work one day a week"! I smile weakly, and try to give the impression I have never heard that joke before.

Perhaps it is just because I am getting older,but even by recent standards this has seemed an incredibly busy year. I suspect that is a combination of a demanding building project , the need to plan for future ministry and raise finance, and perhaps a slightly higher number of pastoral issues.

I am conscious too how hard others in the church are also working,in many cases at the same time as holding down demanding jobs, or looking after busy families .I thank God for these fellow workers and for their commitment to building The Kingdom

I love what I do .I love working with the people I work with.I always have, and I hope and think I always will.I am so grateful for the encourager's who have walked with me down the years and still do.

However I am an activist by nature if there is a visit to do ,a meeting to hold or an email to write my temptation is to get on with it

The danger with this is that even in prayer my mind drifts to things that need to be done, or phone calls that need to be made.

How I need to learn to Be Still in God's presence. How I need to learn  again that God's work needs to be done in God's strength and not my own.Like many people Hymns and worship songs really keep my mind focussed on Jesus and enable me to examine my heart and soul.

I love this one which sums up what I believe God is calling His people to do

The lines "Keep us from just singing,move us into action" are especially powerful and for me at least act as a reminder that God calls us to be in His presence but He also sends us out to a needy world

Worship and Mission belong together!

As the song puts it fill us up and send us out

Reflections week of prayer

 Firstly the prayer room was beautifully and helpfully arranged by Sheila and Mathew Howe’s mum Cherry. Many people commented how great it looked and how the things in it inspired them to pray.

People did not use the room in vast numbers for personal prayer but some did and a few people used it again and again. I have been asked if it can stay up permanently but made no promises!

As far as the events were concerned

The prayer walks

2 in the town centre and 1 at Monkmoor.

The town centre prayer walks both had about 10 people attending; I didn’t get to the afternoon one, but heard it was helpful. The evening one from 9pm -10pm was perhaps too early to get the full Friday night experience (!)but it was good to walk and pray and to think just what a variety of things go on in the town centre and what great needs!

The Monkmoor walk( about 8 came) was led by Peter R and again it was good to be physically close to the schools and shops and people that we often pray for. In most streets Peter would tell us who he is praying for in a particular street. He has built some good relationships. An idea also came up for a project for Soul Purpose in the area.

The praise evening (Monday) and intercession (Wednesday) – I was encouraged especially by the evening of intercession which was well led by Victor and Margaret and Roy and Mary and focussed on the church, its people and mission. We prayed for a vast number of people and things and over the course of the evening from 6-9 pm 30 -35 people were present

The session led by Jane Willis from The  Abbey (church not pub!) on the Jesus Prayer was an eye opener for me (its not often you have prayer beads in a Baptist Church)but in fact I found the repetition of the prayer very effective and it generated a great deal of thought

It was evident a couple of people struggled with it but most loved it and found it very helpful- I have already been asked to get Jane back again.I was delighted with the attendance for this. On a Thursday morning about 17 people came

Lament evening was led by Beryl and for me was the highlight of the week. About 8 people came but all were fully engaged. Beryl covered the biblical material on lament very well, and with great sensitivity and chose some good songs to accompany the talk. We then wrote our own laments which I think we all found painful ( I certainly did) but 3 or 4 people read their own ones  out which was deeply moving. Perhaps the small turnout helped with the intimacy of the occasion. We were able to be vulnerable This was a good evening

Prayer Breakfast If I am honest it was not a good turnout- 13 I was expecting 40 (was it too early?)

David Boddy had,as always, done a fabulous job with the food and the singing and the prayer in large and smaller groups was good .We looked at Colossians 1 and Steve had arranged a mini walk around prayer stations in the church to finish which was appreciated.

Conclusions

·         I was encouraged that a lot of people engaged with the week in some way

·         I was encouraged that the feedback from people coming has been very positive because that means they found it helpful

·         Though I feel tired I also feel I have met with God through a variety of prayer experiences

·         I feel we need to develop further some of the things we experimented with this week meditative prayer ,lament etc

·         It was good to have a dedicated prayer room that had been thoughtfully put together I was sad more didn’t use it perhaps they needed help with this?

·         I was surprised more people didn’t come to the prayer breakfast as I thought people who hadn’t come to anything else would feel comfortable with that

·         I think we need in practical ways to demonstrate ways of praying as a means of teaching people to pray and to sustain their prayer lives