Skip to main content

When we pray

 



Last Sunday Harriet reminded us in the very telling phrase that when we pray we do not pray as the alone praying to the alone.   This sentence has stuck with me since then and I have noticed in my prayers that I do sense myself as part of something much bigger.   And I am more aware also that prayers are going to God even when I have ceased my own.   This reminded me of a hymn I would often sing to myself in Sri Lanka in the evenings as I watched the sun going down in the direction where so many of my family and friends were.  Here are the well known words which I encourage you to read slowly and notice which lines stand out for you.   You could also listen to it here by clicking here:  (13) The Day Thou Gavest Lord Is Ended : The Choir of the Abbey School, Tewkesbury - YouTube

The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended;
The darkness falls at Thy behest;
To Thee our morning hymns ascended,
Thy praise shall sanctify our rest. 

 

We thank Thee that Thy church unsleeping,
While earth rolls onward into light,
Through all the world her watch is keeping,
And rests not now by day or night. 

 

As o'er each continent and island
The dawn leads on another day,
The voice of prayer is never silent,
Nor dies the strain of praise away. 

 

The sun that bids us rest is waking
Our brethren 'neath the western sky,
And hour by hour fresh lips are making
Thy wondrous doings heard on high. 

 

So be it, Lord! Thy throne shall never,
Like earth's proud empires, pass away;
Thy kingdom stands, and grows for ever,
Till all Thy creatures own Thy sway. 

 

I love the sense of the global church that the song conveys, that we are linked to millions of other Christians that worship and pray and seek to serve and be faithful to Jesus.  Especially after this last year and the continued uncertainty it is important to remember this.   I love also that there is an unceasing offering of prayer and that just as the sun rises and goes through its circuit so does the prayers of the church.   When we can feel tired and worn down being reminded of this can refresh and renew us. 

Who knows, but perhaps the prayers of a person in Namibia or someone in Hong Kong are holding you up as they pray for their brothers and sisters in Scotland.    So next time when we listen to the intercessions on a Sunday and we come to the part where we pray for other parts of the Anglican Communion, let’s really join in.

And finally the hymn has a great sense of confidence that God has not abandoned his world, that it still is his, even when things are in such a mess and that we can be hopeful for its final outcome.   Each decision we make and step we take to live in line with the values of his kingdom will bear fruit in time.  

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Re-enchantment

  The magical wonder of snow can be lost by a couple of degrees warming turning the white falling flakes into dismal rain.    It is precisely the same elements of moisture and air, humidity and wind, yet the shifting of the one variant of temperature creates a totally different outcome.  I have only managed three snow days in the mountains this winter, due to a combination of mostly busy diaries and a very unpredictable weather which meant days set aside for a climb would sometimes be literally a washout.  Ina and I did have a good summitting of the Cobbler with the spikes on our boots giving us the grip we needed in the the last snow of the season, and I felt again the sheer wonder of walking in crisp, hard snow as the world fell away around us. It looks like it's gone for the year now though and we have to wait 9 months probably to get out onto the white stuff again.  The hills just look wet and sodden now and most uninspiring... and yet...they are exactl...

Lambing Snows and Holy Week

  (photo courtesy of Abi Bull, Isle of Skye) Lambing snow is the name given to an early spring snowfall that can catch some of the wee lambs out who are born at the start of the season.   Farmers have to watch out for this and, given care and shelter, the lambs are usually able to survive.   It coincides too with the images of daffodils emerging through a covering of late snow,   a similar sign of hope and new life in a forbidding and even hostile environment. Nevertheless there is something beautiful of this setting of fragile life against the rawness of nature, something that speaks to the heart of the human condition and the poignancy of it all.   I write this on a Good Friday which is set in a global context of much uncertainty and even fear and desperation.    The centuries old story that we are taken back to again and again by the turning of the season, of a God who died for a suffering and broken world, seems to have more resonance than ever. ...

A Solstice Nudge

  A Solstice Nudge At 3.47am this morning the solstice took place and the earth started its' long journey back towards summer (in the northern hemisphere at least!).   I always feel my heart lighten a little when this happens. It’s all about the direction of travel as I have so often said to people struggling with circumstances or a seeming lack of progress.    And the fact that I know we are heading towards warmth and light makes all the difference in the dark and the cold.   It reminds me that my current situation, however stalled it may feel, will one day pass. Such a change though rarely takes place in a dramatic and obvious ‘before and after’ kind of way.   Rather it feels like a nudge.   You would have to be looking very closely to notice that little tilt of the earth that starts the process.   I’ve just been looking at my weather app and over the next few days the sunset time moves by a minute each day: today:15.44;   23 rd : 15.45...