About Prayer:
‘Prayer is personal, Prayer is private
Prayer is secret, Prayer is silent’
Yet when believers meet together…
‘Prayer is corporate, Prayer is public
Prayer is shared, Prayer is spoken’
Prayer can be a paradox.
On the one hand, prayer is personal, private and silent; yet every week when we come to worship, prayer becomes a public event.
There are times in our Prayer life when words are just not appropriate… only silence touches the deepest prayer need.
Stopping… and being silent can enrich our corporate prayer life, as well as keeping it personal.
There are particular prayers which lend themselves to short periods of silence.
Firstly, Prayers of Confession, when we can personally and silently tell God about our sin, selfishness towards others, and our self centredness.
Secondly, Prayers of Intercession, when we can privately pray to God about people we personally know and global situations we are concerned about.
Make the most of these silences, not just in worship, but in the comings and goings of life’s activities.
Through prayer we meet God everywhere and in all people; therefore our thoughts, words and actions are a constant prayer to God.
However, remember the silence: for it is in the silence that we utter the unspoken words and touch God with the emotions of our hearts.
Our Sanctuary is available for anyone to use for peace, quiet and private prayer. There are Bibles under each chair, and we have a prayer tree available for people to light a candle to aid their prayer.
A Prayer to enable us to commence prayer:
Lord,
Quieten my heart,
Quieten my mind,
And help me focus on your presence.
Still my inner voice,
Still my restless soul
And help me focus on your peace.
Breathe your Holy Spirit through me
And touch my longing heart
So I may listen
to what you would want to say to me.
Amen