Resources for Prayer
At its simplest our prayer is nothing more than our conversation with God. Thousands of years of practice and experience have lead to specific schools and disciplines of prayer each of which have tremendous value. This page is not meant to offer an exhaustive resource for prayer, but to act as a guide and support and to build such resources over time as we explore them within our parishes.
A rich and active prayer life can lead us to a deep spiritual well which can support us through both the good times and times of great need. Jesus said, "Those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." (John ch. 4 v. 14)
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Intercessory prayer, that is asking God for things, is probably the most familiar and most common form of prayer and the way through which most people begin to learn to pray. Included in this type of prayer is when we say thank you to God for the blessing we receive in life, such as when we say grace at mealtimes. Christians commonly pray for issues throughout the world and issues close to home, from asking for peace in the world, to solutions to hunger and poverty or healing of the sick, the list of possibilities is endless. We may ask God for anything we wish – there is nothing we should feel we cannot bring to God in prayer and that includes desires which may be selfish. We may, of course, not get the response we expect. Prayer is dangerous because through prayer, God may change our hearts and minds, so that we begin to desire different things, begin to look at the world with the same love that Jesus had for us.
Intercessory prayers form part of almost every gathering of Christians and are a key part of any service held to worship God. We have a number of prayer groups which meet in the Benefice to offer intercessory prayer. See What's On or contact a member of our ministry team to find out more details. "Let my prayer rise before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." (Psalm 141 v. 2) |
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The Daily Office (morning and evening prayer) is the formal prayer of the Church. To find out more about the daily office look at our description of morning and evening prayer in our worship section. To find out when services of morning or evening prayer occur in our benefice look at our worship schedule.
"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."
(1 Thessalonians ch. 5 vv. 16-18) | ||||||||
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Praying with scripture (that is, the bible) is important for deepening our faith and understanding. If prayer is our conversation with God, then it becomes fairly obvious that we should try to pray when we read God's word to help us see how God is speaking to us through scripture. There are many ways to approach praying with scripture and what we do does not have to be formal in any way.
Lectio Divina is a particular prayer exercise developed through the Benedictine monastic tradition which helps us ask the questions "what is God saying to me today?" and "what is my response to this?". The prayer exercise is based on the belief that Christ is truly present in scripture and that the reading of scripture allows God to speak to us. We use this exercise regularly during our bible study groups. Find out more at www.osb.org/lectio/about.html. You can download a template for this exercise to engage with it at home:
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Self-examination and self-knowledge are a really important part of our prayer lives as we seek to understand our place in the world and God's purposes for us. There are many ways in which we can spend time reviewing our day with God, but from the spiritual tradition of St Ignatius of Loyola comes a particularly powerful exercise called The Daily Examen. It is simply an approach to prayer where we explore the events of the past day and ask ourselves what we are thankful for, what we are sorry for and what we will try to do differently tomorrow. When we make a commitment to regularly practice such prayer it can quickly make a tangible difference to our lives and stop us from repeating old mistakes. Ignatius also explored imaginative prayer and praying with scripture by imagining yourself as a character within a bible story. To find our more about Ignatian Spirituality in general go here.
You can download a guide for doing the Ignitian Examen at home:
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The Jesus Prayer is a tradition developed particularly by the Eastern Orthodox Church, but widely adopted across the Church seeking to explore more contemplative forms of prayer. It is a repeated prayer, in the name of Jesus, which seeks to help us still ourselves before God and truly realise God is with us. It is a prayer which both acknowledges Jesus places as God and our place as humans who often fail to live up to the standards of love that God asks of us. It is not a harsh prayer, though, but a gentle one. It is based around the simple words "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me". It is a form of prayer where we are encouraged to pay attention to our posture and breathing and has some similarities with meditation.
"When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!’ "
(Mark ch. 10 v. 47) | ||||