Prayer
This photo of the Lijang river in China, reminds me of prayer. Stepping into a river is how I imagine prayer. The river of prayer keeps flowing night and day whether I dip my toes in or not.
Sometimes prayer is refreshing, like bathing in healing waters. Sometimes it's hard; the water muddy or dried up to a trickle. In drought times what encourages me to persevere is the companions on the way, seen and unseen. Some I know. Others I have never met. We are never alone in prayer. There are others in a world-wide community who try to follow Jesus in seeking the honour of God's name and praying for the coming of God's rule of love, justice and peace for all people.
Many people find daily prayer a necessity, not least - Jesus. I've tried several methods of personal prayer, starting with the simplest: 'thank you...sorry...please...' - not a bad model if you also add silence and Bible reading, perhaps sometimes visual art or music.
Everyone has to find their own way to pray, being open to God's Holy Spirit to shape the prayer and transform the person praying. If you are a beginner you may find the Daily Prayer section of the rejesus.co.uk website helpful.
If you want a fuller diet of praise, prayer and Bible reading, you might try stepping into the river of daily prayer provided by the Church of England. This can be used in a group or alone. Not that we are ever alone in prayer. The links below are to live feeds for Common Worship Daily Prayer for Morning, Evening and Night. The live feed is set to London, UK timezone, which is why I have included the prayers for yesterday and tomorrow as well as today to allow for different time zones. Under each heading I've included a short prayer from the service, so you could just pray that if you have no time now for more.
MORNING PRAYER
so may the light of your presence, O God,
set our hearts on fire with love for you;
now and for ever. Amen.
Click here for live feed to Yesterday
Click here for live feed to Today
Click here for live feed to Tomorrow
EVENING PRAYER
As our evening prayer rises before you, O God,so may your mercy come down upon us
to cleanse our hearts and set us free
to sing your praise now and for ever. Amen.
Click here for live feed for Yesterday
Click here for live feed for Today
Click here for live feed for Tomorrow
NIGHT PRAYER
and guard us while sleeping,
that awake we may watch with Christ
and asleep may rest in peace.
Click here for live feed for Yesterday
Click here for live feed for Today
Click here for live feed for Tomorrow
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