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What is prayer?

There are as many different definitions of prayer as there are people who pray! But try this:
  • Prayer is all about opening yourself up to that which is beyond you to a broader picture of reality
  • Prayer is about asking and seeking, waiting and receiving, celebrating and remembering, imagining the world through other people's eyes and trying to discern life through the lens of God/the divine
  • Prayer is done instinctively by most people – but most people don't often know they're praying
  • Christians believe that prayer is done supremely 'to' or 'in the name of' Jesus, but, for some, also of/to his Mother Mary and the Saints.
  • Real prayer is risky (the word 'precarious' means prayerful!!) – because it changes people for ever.
  • We can pray for other people and situations – and find ourselves being drawn to involvement in their lives. So watch out!!
  • We shouldn't worry too much if other folk have different definitions of prayer – the important thing is to try and it make a daily habit of practising it as we are best able.
  • Pray as you can – not ask you can't.
Intercession is about:
  • focusing on people and situations
  • calling down the Holy Spirit of God for blessing and healing
  • allowing your heart grow bigger
  • discovering who and what you are – and where you're meant to be
Something to think and pray about this week:
  1. keep reading the newspaper and stay up-to-date with the world news
  2. the needs of people across the globe
  3. the people you meet each day, for those you work and study with, for those who're struggling and lonely, ill or anxious
  4. that you may be open to the beauty of the world and all the good things that come your way
Meditation & Contemplation
Much has been written to make these things seem unduly complicated or elitist, but as with all things, practice makes perfect!

Do you want to pray now?

It could appear very odd to pray at a computer screen, especially if there are other people all around you, or if you're in a noisy, busy place.
Yet God is everywhere, all around us, constantly calling out to us and trying to get our attention – no matter where we are.
When we know this with a bit of practice, we can pray anywhere! Nobody will know that you're doing it!
  1. Start by listening to each noise around you, naming it and letting it go;
  2. visualize who or what you want to pray for: a face, name or simple idea.
    Let this fill your whole mind and body.
    Stay with it for a few moments...

Try praying for the people in your life at the moment:
  • family
  • friends
  • people you find difficult
  • those you see on your TV screen – those you'll never meet


Try praying with this piece of scripture: (This sort of prayer is called 'imaginative contemplation')

'I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. John 15.1-10

The New Revised Standard Version (Anglicized Edition), copyright 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of he Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Please use the box below to enter your prayer requests, they will be shown on all pages in the prayer section and to all visitors to with saints and angels, for people to pray for.



If you would like someone to talk to / pray with then please call, If you are in the UK, then call 0161 275 2894 from outside the UK its +44 161 275 2894, and ask to talk to a chaplin

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