Someone once described prayer to me as "allowing our hearts to beat in tune with God's heart". As we start our new year as a worshipping community, our minds are turned to ask "what has God got in store for us?"
- For us as individuals?
- For us as the Encounter worshipping community?
- For us as the people who long for church in Marlow to be More Than Sunday?
- For us as part of the the Marlow Anglican Team, Churches Together in Marlow, the universal church?
Our call to prayer at the start of the year is to seek God's direction, his fresh purpose for us.
So whilst it it would be premature to suggest the detailed outcomes of our prayers, a guide would be Jesus' teaching in Matthew 6 - seek first the rule of God.
Jesus taught that we need seek only one thing - seek the Rule of God. This good and love-inspired rule has consequences for our personal lives, our social networks and communities, our national and international societies. God's rule enriches every dimension of the world he longs to bless with his version of justice, peace, faith hope and love. Everything else, then, is of secondary consequence. All our day to day, material concerns are trawled along in the undertow of that mighty force of God's Love in action - his Rule renews, restores, redeems our relationships, our communities and the very fabric of our existence in the world.
It's going to be an exciting journey, no doubt with all kinds of ups and downs along the way
So join us in prayer as we discover what God has in store for us and allow our hearts to beat with his.
Monday Prayers:
ReplyDeleteAs we looked over Marlow from Winter Hill at dawn,
- We prayed for God's protection over his people as we seek to make his name known
- We prayed for families, especially those facing hardship and stress.
- We prayed for children and young people, concentrating on the schools of Marlow and district
- We prayed for disadvantaged people, those who suffer any kind of sickness or hardship.
- We prayed for the shared witness of our churches
- We prayed for our connections with the outside world
We pray that God will encourage his people as he answers our prayers over the coming year
Tuesday prayers
ReplyDeleteWe prayed around the image of the church as the Bride of Christ, reflecting the Old Testament image of the wayward bride, and the New Testament promise that the bride will be made beautiful by the groom (Christ)
A picture was shared of a part of the church that had been covered with many layers of wallpaper, hiding the true beauty of the original feature.
We reflected on Psalm 72, especially verses 12-14
12 For he will deliver the needy who cry out,
the afflicted who have no one to help.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the needy
and save the needy from death.
14 He will rescue them from oppression and violence,
for precious is their blood in his sight.
We also dwelt on the letter from the vicar of Bisham in 1835, who reminded his flock of the priority of prayer in Ephesians 6:18-20
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Wednesday prayers
ReplyDeleteWe continued to reflect on scripture's pictures of the nature of the church - today, the church as the Body of Christ, praying for the unity in our relationship and purpose that Christ prayed for (John 17) and praying that we will value and seek the variety of gifts and contributions from every member of the body of people that God has drawn together (1 Corinthians 12)
Thursday prayers
ReplyDeleteToday we continued to consider "what does the Bible tell us about the church we are called to be?", today considering our witness in word and action as Light for the world. We prayed that individually and collectively, our frail little lights of witness will be fruitful for God's purposes in drawing people to respond to God's love. When we are separate we can feel isolated and vulnerable, in our workplaces, homes, neighbourhoods and leisure pursuits. When we are together there are times when our buildings get in the way of the light that we long to shine into our town. We pray for wisdom to know "how to answer everyone" (Colossians 4) and Christlike in our example of love so that people will truly say "See how these Christians love"
Friday Prayers
ReplyDeleteIn drawing together our week of "Watch and pray", our final image of church was the church as pilgrims on a journey. Our prayers were prompted by the journey of the disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus, reminded that Jesus was present amongst people whose hopes had been dashed, and how had a very limited view of what was happening around them. Jesus opened their eyes to the scriptures and brought hope out of despair, giving them a greater understanding and a spring in their step. We pray for God to turn despairing people into hopeful people as they meet with the risen Jesus. We pray for a greater understanding of God's unfolding story amongst his people.
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
ReplyDeleteTonight (Friday) is prayer gathering for healing and reconciliation. I'm remembering one of the prayer-saints I've known in past years, who had something going on where her "gift" was weeping for the brokenness of the church.
It's tragic what some people do in the life of the church that tears the body of Christ apart.
We'll be remembering God's longing to repair his broken church and praying for reconciliation of relationships and healing of past hurts.
I'm also reminded of a picture shared with a church I served some years back - God asking his church to symbolically glue a broken plate back together again. We were reminded at the time that we then had a choice - to display the broken-and-mended plate on a wall as a reminder of what happened, or to put the plate into active service, still able to see the joins.