Romans 8 26-27

Prayer is the way that we as Christians talk to God. But it often seems such a difficult thing to do. We talk easily to our friends and yet, although it should be as easy to pray, we so often find settling down to find a time or place, starting our prayer and making it relevant for us.

There are many books on the subject of prayer, and this section does not intend to try to add to these excellent volumes. Some of these are on a separate page - in case you have not come across them yet.

One member of the congregation wrote this recently:

"Prayer is a very personal thing. Some find it very difficult to pray out loud. I think that being a Christian, prayer in whatever form is very important, and in trying to put into words 'prayers'; because I think that we are all different. It has taken me years and years to be confident to pray straight from my heart. During the past two years, I have grown in my Faith so much. I always believed, but now I let God do the talking. I can't understand how and why this is happening to me, but I can say that being a member of St. Gabriel's Church Community has helped. There is always encouragement to pray straight from the heart. Formal prayers are an important form of worship, because they involve the whole of the congregation."

I feel so privileged to have been given this piece of writing, because I know how erratic and how shallow my prayer life is. I try to pray every day, but it doesn't always happen. Sometimes I have things on my mind during my allotted prayer time that take me away from them. When this happens, I just say "The Lord's Prayer" and know that I have been heard. Sometimes, I find my prayer goes on and on - but I forget to listen!

Even in Church it is difficult to concentrate for the whole period of time, I know. Maybe it is because before the service starts there is a lot of chat going on. Again, the "General Post" during "The Peace" can be disruptive. After Communion, I like to spend some quiet - but even that can be disturbed. I find in these situations, that reading a portion of scripture or reading a prayer that someone else has written can be so focussing on God, on Jesus Christ and on The Holy Spirit. I try to remember that I have just been a recipient of The Body and Blood of Christ - wow! that's amazing. How good does that make me feel? How thankful am I that I am being washed clean with Christ's Blood and nourished by Christ's Body?

I would love some contributions to this page. I feel that one person has started a Blog that we could all participate in. If you have a comment, please send it to:

webmaster(@)stgabrielsbasingstoke.org.uk (remove the brackets) - I hope there will be many comments to post.

Many people like to read prayers or readings at different times in the service. Here are a few for you to printout and use if you wish.

Beginning:

If you came this way,

Taking any route, starting from anywhere,

At any time or at any season,

It would always be the same: you would have to put off

Sense and notion. You are not here to verify,

Instruct yourself, or inform curiosity

Or carry report. You are here to kneel

Where prayer has been valid.

T.S. Eliot, 'Little Gidding'

        O Gracious and Holy Father, 

        give us wisdom to perceive you,

        diligence to seek you,

        patience to wait for you,

        eyes to behold you,

        a heart to meditate upon you;     

        Through the power of the Spirit  

        of Jesus Christ our Lord              

St. Benedict

Like as the watchman looks for the morning,

So do our eyes look for you O Christ

Come at the dawning of the day

And make yourself known to us in

The breaking of bread.

For you are our God,

For ever and ever. Amen

 

Preparing

It is right that human beings should acknowledge

your divinity.

It is right for the heavenly beings to worship your humanity.

The heavenly beings were amazed to see how small you became,

and earthly ones to see how exalted.

Prayer of St. Ephrem the Syrian, 308-373 AD

Lord, the feast is yours, not mine.

It is your table to which I come, to be your guest

It is your presence I seek,

Your body and blood of which I partake.

Help me to draw near with expectant heart and a living faith,

To receive as from your hands the bread of life and cup of salvation.

For your love's sake.

Frank Colquhoun

To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.

 

Interceding

To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world

Karl Barth

The great Intercession, placed at the heart of the Eucharist, to check as it were the forward rush of the soul towards God, reminds us that Christianity is not a religion of escape; that it accepts the full burden, fret and responsibility of humanity, does not evade it ... Intercession, therefore, embraces the whole world in its scope; not only the respectable, but the disgraceful.

Evelyn Underhill