Pray

Facebook and the internet have opened up a whole new way of communicating. Usually I have met the person I am messaging but sometimes I haven't. Sometimes I may be posting for one person, but later might find that someone else read it with more interest. Sometimes not being able to see the person on the other end can lead to missunderstandings or confusion but, for the most part, many of us are happy to express ourselves trusting that someone will respond.

You might say it is a bit like prayer. 

But how many of us pray? Surveys show that even in secular Britain about 20 million adults admit to praying on a regular basis. That is about half of us.

To pray is to pay attention to something or someone other than oneself.
Whenever a man so concentrates his attention --
                 on a landscape,
                 a poem,
                 a geometrical problem,
                 an idol, or the True God --
that he completely forgets his own ego and desires,

he is praying.

                                                      W. H. Auden (1907- 1973)

To pray seems to be a natural expression of our human experience, giving an outlet for our groaning emotions, with or without words; a conduit for expressing threatening thoughts, finding a frame of reference … a sense of perspective.
             A sense of peace or a new strength.
I find that I am more when I pray because, as the saying goes:

"seven days without prayer makes one weak."     - Allen Vartlett

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray (Luke 11)

One thing that distinguished Jesus was his life of prayer. Sometimes it was a bit annoying. Just when the crowds were gathering, Jesus walked away in order to be alone and pray. Sometimes his friends searched and could not find him (Mark 1.35f). And when they did eventually find him, they exclaimed, 'EVERYONE is looking for you!'

But for Jesus, prayer was like breathing air into his lungs.
Everything else – his teaching, the miracles, even his friendships - flowed
               not into, but,  
               flowed out from his times of prayer. 

But was Jesus really alone when he prayed?

What do you think?

Those closest to Jesus noticed that when Jesus was alone, he was deeply engaging with someone else. When Jesus was alone, he was not really alone. He was enfolded in a Holy invisable Presence which inspired him, guided him and even changed his physical apprearance. On some occassions, these supernatural encounters caused his face to shine and his clothes to became as bright as a flash of lightning. (Luke 928f). His prayers were certainly more than meets the eye.

Perhaps that is why they dared to asked Jesus question: “Lord, teach us to pray.” They wanted to learn his secrets. And so, in the way that we might hold a child's hand in ours to trace the letters of the alphabet, Jesus introduces us to his language of prayer.

 ‘When you pray, say:
             ‘“Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come...”

 
And there is the origin of what we now call "the Lord's Prayer". Jesus taught his friends how to pray by giving them an example to follow. He wasn't giving them a formula or a magic spell to recite. He was giving them a guideline or a template to fill in. But more than that, Jesus was really introducing them, opening their eyes to meet the other person in his conversation.

Don't know how many of us communicate with your father on social networks. I facebook my father, but ring him mostly.  The relationship Jesus had with his own father was definitely first place in his life, because his father was unlike any other.

Even to call upon his Father was to call upon Pefection and Holiness, the source of all love and life. No, Jesus was never alone. He always had his Father. Every other father, no matter how wonderful, still falls short when compared to the Creator Father that Jesus was introducing that day. 
                     
And Jesus invites us to see that this Creator Father of his, is Our Father too:

  this Father that always runs out 

- arms outstretched towards the runaway -

throwing his welcome wide embrace round and

weeping with kisses of love and forgiveness

freely inviting all who will come

 into the party circle to celebrate 

the reunion 

                                             - ‘The Prodigal Son/Daughter’painting by Charlie Mackesy

Our Father, Who is in heaven,
Holy is Your Name;
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. 
The power and the glory are yours                                                             forever and ever. Amen.

Travelling

Along with everyone else, we waited on the edge of our seats. The minutes felt like hours. We listened in silence to the outside sounds of doors opening, trucks moving about. But then, with a ding, the seatbelt sign switched off and we leapt to our feet, and funnelled down the narrow aisle.

Nodding to the cabin staff as I passed, I stepped off the plane and into the corridor. I noticed an older women negotiating herself into a wheelchair and then someone brushed passed my right shoulder before I got into my stride. Down the corridor, down the escalator, down the hall and into the que for EU Passports.


I had just arrived from Vancouver into Gatwick. It had been a short trip to see my Dad for his birthday. But now as I stood waiting in the customs area, my thoughts were of getting home.

I handed my passport to the Boarder official and after scrutinizing my photo, he swiped it on some kind of digital reader and stamped it. He then handed it back to me, looked me in the eye and said the words 'welcome home.'

Life is a journey

When you stop to think about it, our whole life is a journey. From birth to death, we each move from one place to another carrying our memories along with us. Some seem to move freely forward, while others struggle with oversized luggage. Some have a certain sense of purpose and direction while others seem to hold back, dreading the uncertainties of what the future might hold. It seems we each have our own way of dealing with twists and turns of the journey.

As a Christian, I find that what keeps me going is the very real sense that I am not alone. God is with me and I enjoy sharing my experiences with him. He always listens. And when I look back at the hard times and the difficult times, I can see that how he looked after me and I am always grateful. When it comes to seeing God at work, it seems that it is only my hindsight that is 20/20.

But it is not just me. Here is part of a letter I received yesterday:

I just wanted to tell you since coming back to church and studying the Bible I no longer feel alone and lost. I am happier, calmer and feel alive. When I am reading the Bible or praying I am sometimes filled with such strong feelings of warmth and love I want to shout about it from the roof tops. I now know God never left me he was always there, all I had to do was ask for help.

None of us has to travel alone. God is with us and provided his own family, the Church, for us too. He brings us together and when we follow him, amazing things happen which we could never have planned or imagined. God enjoys being with us, especially as we gather together weekly in his name to seek him. And when he comes among us, our gathering becomes a place of healing and wholeness, of purpose and direction, which is so much bigger than we could have imagined for ourselves.

The Bible tells us that this is the way God intended for his people. 

You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.

  -  Ephesians 4. 1 – 6 (The Message)

But there is a secret to our Church gatherings which many outsiders may not be aware. It is that we in the all share an understanding that none of us is perfect. None of us have it all together. There are no experts. Quite the opposite really. We each have been deeply humbled by the awareness that God, in his mercy, is the one who has called us and he is the one leading us forward.

Your life is a journey you must travel with a deep consciousness of God.

It cost God plenty to get you out of that dead-end, empty-headed life you grew up in.

He paid with Christ's sacred blood, you know.

                                           - 1 Peter 1.18f  (The Message)

Why don't you consider travelling with us? You can find out more about when we gather on this website if you look at the menu bar for service times. You would be most welcome.

View

Driving along the Fen roads on my way to make a home visit, the view was flying past my window. I couldn’t help but notice the beauty of the horizon stretched like an open canvas around me.  

The fields brushed full of wheat, the sky awash with grey clouds.  I don’t know what caused me to slow down but before I understood, I began looking for a farm drove so that I could pull over and park.

Leaving my diary on the seat, I stepped out on to the rain soaked land, feeling that I was stepping out on Holy Ground. The soil black, turned out in rows of green abundance, shouting fruitfulness in all its glory for any who would stop to see. The wind blew my hair and then nearby rustling trees, swaying in a kind of dance.  A chorus of birds rose up out of the corn as I stood there, camera in hand, marvelling at the sight.

I knew then that God was there.  

It’s not that he wasn’t with me the car a few minutes before. Of course he was. It’s just that I never noticed. 

But when I stood on the land, camera in hand, I was in a position to greet him.

It is so easy to live distracted life, isn’t it? There is just so much to do:  the house to be cleaned, children to be organised, diary dates to be remembered. (Not that I get all these things done!) But when the list is complete, you’d think that we would pop the cork and toast the victory, but we don’t.  Instead we stuff our minds with an addictive diet of fast food worries and concerns. Too terrified to touch the void, we prefer instead to stuff it with cheap novels, bottles of drink, and whatever else works for you…

But now, here we are.

And God?  

He is here too.

‘Crazy, how this vicar keeps going on about God,’  you may think.

 Yeah. But there is a reason:

If you could meet the people in Chatteris I have met

                                 and hear the stories I have heard,

                                                  perhaps you would understand.  

……………………………………………

·         “My dad died. I had never been to church before. But as I stood there in the funeral service, I knew that God was real and that he was with me. I can’t explain it. It was an amazing feeling. And I knew at that moment that I needed to find out more about God.”

·          “My marriage broke down and I felt really alone. I didn’t know where else to turn so I went to sit inside the church on my own. As I sat there, I felt peace, incredible peace. I have never felt anything like it before. I knew that it was God.  God was with me.”

……………………………………………..

The diary dates, the lists of things-to-do, the days and even the years are all racing by the window of our lives.

I wonder what it will take for you to slow down and stop and attend to the knowledge that

God is here.

God is here

Right now, He knows your joy and he feels your pain. His arms are open wide.

................................

I wonder what you will say?

The writer of Psalm 46 sang a song of praise for all God had done for him. He shouts thanks to God for his protection. God is his defence and has given him the victory. He remembers the moment and sings praise to God. He sees that God is over all, so he stands in awe ready to greet him.   

The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

          He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;

I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.’

          The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

                                       - Psalm 46. 7 - 11

 Remember: what God has done for others, he can do for you. 

Remember God is love.