Prayer
Dear friends,
I wondered if I were to do a straw poll, how many of us would say we are confident in how to pray? Many of us will be familiar with what are known as "set prayers" such as the Grace, the Lord's Prayer or The Creed or other such prayers which are always the same and we are comfortable using them. But when it comes to our prayer outside the regular, I wonder how we feel. In his introduction to the Lord's Prayer, Jesus tells the Pharisees that we shouldn't pray for everyone else to see but should go into a room, shut the door and pray. But sometimes we want to pray together with others and that is absolutely appropriate to do so. But how do we do it?!
Prayer is often described as a conversation with God; one song famously describes it as a telephone! But there are very few of us who hear any audible or perceptible response from God in the sense of a conversation as we would with another person. So perhaps that is an unhelpful way to think of it. And we know that thinking of prayer as a shopping list is unhelpful too, so where does that leave us? There are many modern concepts around prayer but one of the ones I find most helpful is that of 24/7 prayer. It is a neo-monastic concept, that is to say that it is a modern interpretation of some ancient practices from the monastic side of our faith.
The concept started a number of years ago and there have been many people across the world who have kept prayer going for the whole of this century so far. Amazing as that is, it doesn't help us with how to pray! There are many resources which you can find here which you may find helpful on how to pray but essentially prayer is about telling God what is on our hearts. The psalms are often a helpful place to start; the emotions which are poured out in those ancient songs which are telling God what the psalmist is struggling with. That is what prayer should be - not in the sense of a shopping list of demands but telling God what is bothering us, what is upsetting us, what gives us joy, what makes us laugh. If we start there, we won't go far wrong with our prayer! And who knows where we might end up? For now, let us all keep the faith.
May Services
Sunday 28th May
9am - Come to the Table @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
10:30am - Holy Communion @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hurley
Sunday 4th June
9:15am - Holy Communion @ St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green
10:30am - God Through Music @ St. Mary the Virgin, Hurley
5pm - Evensong (BCP) @ St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
Other June services to follow next week.
Sunday 11th June
A reminder that on Sunday 11th June we have Mark and Rosalie Balfour joining us at the 10:30am service at St. Mary's in Hurley and it would be wonderful to support them by coming to hear what they have to say about their missionary adventures!
Sermon Recordings
I have begun recording the sermon on a Sunday morning to be uploaded to our website so that you are able to catch up (or listen again if it was good!) during the week. They are in the services section of the website and do please let me know any issues. My plan is to have at least last week's accessible, with the potential to include more.
We remember: Kate Rowland
We sadly said goodbye to our sister Kate at Littlewick Green earlier today and we remember her with fondness and pray for the family and loved ones in their grief.
Morning Prayer at 9:15am
Wednesday St. James-the-Less, Stubbings
Thursday St. John the Evangelist, Littlewick Green
Friday St. Mary the Virgin
Our churches are open for private prayer:
Littlewick Green – open every day 11am – 4pm
Hurley – open every day 8am – 4pm
Stubbings – open Monday to Friday 9am – 12 noon
Parish Office
As you may be aware, our Parish Administrator Claire is having medical treatment at the moment and is in the office only occasionally. In the meantime, we will be running reduced hours in the office so the best way to get in touch is via the office e-mail (office@burchettsgreenparish.org). There should be someone in the office on Monday and Thursday morning and I will be available as many Wednesday mornings as I can. For anything which you need I can also be contacted on vicar@burchettsgreenparish.org and 01628 822974, - please note the vicar's day off is Tuesday
Blessings to you all,
Tom