St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Daily Prayer

"Prayer" is communicating with God. We all stand on the level with God, and no-one else can tell us how we ought to pray. So let the vicar be quiet on this subject!

Except ... if we want to communicate with the real God instead of a god we made up, we should pray the way God said he wants us to!

We Christians believe God has revealed himself in the bible and particularly in Jesus, so we have always tried to pray the way Jesus said and the way the bible says.

Jesus taught a prayer - the "Lord's Prayer". He called God "Father" ("Abba", which means "Daddy" in the language he used). Jesus taught us to ask, to seek, and to knock in prayer, and to relate to God as we would relate to a loving Father. Some of the first Christians' prayers are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. St Paul advises us to "pray constantly", and in the Old Testament one of the psalms says "I will praise you seven times a day".

This is why monasteries and religious communities originally had 7 services each day. But 7 a day is too much of a straightjacket - it makes something which should be free into a system of rules. And it's too much of a burden for people who have to work and look after families and do other things in life. So the Church of England combined them into two services - Morning and Evening Prayer.

What do we do in Morning and Evening Prayer? Three things:

we centre down on God and focus on him, using words or music for praise and worship;
we read the bible: a psalm, an Old Testament reading, and a New Testament reading - and we let God speak to us;
we respond by talking to him about the issues which the bible mentions, the things we'll be doing / have done during the day, and the concerns on our hearts; and we say the words Jesus taught us.

More recently "Prayer during the day" (to help us with private "Quiet Times") and "Night Prayer" (also called "Compline") have been launched in the C of E.

It's part of the clergy's job to pray, but for too long the ordinary people have left it to the clergy and not joined in - and the clergy haven't helped them. Isn't it time this changed?

John Hartley

You can find a link to the Church of England services on our web site: go to the home page and click on the word "Prayer".

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. December 2004, Page 4.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (December 2004) Vicar's letter, Offerings, Daily Prayer, Poem. Other articles on worship.	Daily Prayer "Prayer" is communicating with God. We all stand on the level with God, and no-one else can tell us how we ought to pray. So let the vicar be quiet on this subject! Except ... if we want to communicate with the real God instead of a god we made up, we should pray the way God said he wants us to! We Christians believe God has revealed himself in the bible and particularly in Jesus, so we have always tried to pray the way Jesus said and the way the bible says. Jesus taught a prayer - the "Lord's Prayer". He called God "Father" ("Abba", which means "Daddy" in the language he used). Jesus taught us to ask, to seek, and to knock in prayer, and to relate to God as we would relate to a loving Father. Some of the first Christians' prayers are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. St Paul advises us to "pray constantly", and in the Old Testament one of the psalms says "I will praise you seven times a day". This is why monasteries and religious communities originally had 7 services each day. But 7 a day is too much of a straightjacket - it makes something which should be free into a system of rules. And it's too much of a burden for people who have to work and look after families and do other things in life. So the Church of England combined them into two services - Morning and Evening Prayer. What do we do in Morning and Evening Prayer? Three things: we centre down on God and focus on him, using words or music for praise and worship; we read the bible: a psalm, an Old Testament reading, and a New Testament reading - and we let God speak to us; we respond by talking to him about the issues which the bible mentions, the things we'll be doing / have done during the day, and the concerns on our hearts; and we say the words Jesus taught us. More recently "Prayer during the day" (to help us with private "Quiet Times") and "Night Prayer" (also called "Compline") have been launched in the C of E. It's part of the clergy's job to pray, but for too long the ordinary people have left it to the clergy and not joined in - and the clergy haven't helped them. Isn't it time this changed? John Hartley You can find a link to the Church of England services on our web site: go to the home page and click on the word "Prayer".
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