One of the non-negotiables for all the baptised, whatever their tradition, is prayer and as the daily demands upon our time seem ever-increasing so it is vital we make time to pray – to pay attention to God.
A year on from our last week of prayer when we launched Capital Vision 2020, we will embark upon another week of prayer, starting at midnight on the great Feast of Pentecost, for “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans VIII.26) We will finish at midnight on Trinity Sunday. This is a deliberate setting aside of seven days to remind us that all our days must be shot through with prayer and practising the presence of God.
I hope many of you will be able to come to St Paul’s Cathedral to pray during this week as a place of pilgrimage and mission. As well as the regular patterns of Cathedral prayer there will be other imaginative ways and spaces to help us in our praying. Or you can commit yourself to pray locally for an hour with others in the parish or on your own.
Of course as part of Capital Vision we have been encouraged to pray for seven people that we may share with them the story of our faith, and some may wish to focus on this in their private prayers that week. There is also a prayer app that some of you may find helpful as an aid to daily prayer.
I am grateful to 24-7 Prayer who are again setting up and hosting a prayer space inside the Cathedral during the day time. 24-7 Prayer are also providing online booking facilities for one-hour sessions either in the Cathedral during the day time or for local prayer across the Diocese during the evening and night to ensure that we cover every hour of the week.
I ask you all to join with others across this Diocese and beyond in this great wave of prayer, for I am convinced that there is nothing that is impossible for a Church that is confident, compassionate and creative in the power of the Spirit and in union with Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Image: Prayer tree in St Paul’s Cathedral during 2013’s week of prayer before the launch of Capital Vision 2020.)
