We can pray in all sorts of different ways

YOU may have heard about the 10 days of prayer that Christians from around the world recently committed themselves to.
Students from Charter Academy at prayer stations for Thy Kingdom ComeStudents from Charter Academy at prayer stations for Thy Kingdom Come
Students from Charter Academy at prayer stations for Thy Kingdom Come

Between Ascension Day and Pentecost Sunday, churches hosted special prayer meetings, opened up their buildings, and created interactive prayer stations for something called Thy Kingdom Come.

It was an initiative of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to get us to pray for others to experience God’s love – the second year in a row that it has happened.

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At St Luke’s Church, Thy Kingdom Come was themed around Pentecost.

In case you aren’t aware, Pentecost was the day when Jesus’s disciples, who were left frightened after his death, were suddenly filled with God’s spirit and started preaching about Jesus.

Thousands of people became Christians on that day, and we celebrate it as the day that church began.

So, to mark Thy Kingdom Come, we created a massive installation which took over the church space.

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Those who visited were able to use the visual, audio and creative ways of praying.

There were six different prayer stations, picking up on the Pentecost story and the growth in the early church.

People could draw their vision for the future, build a flame of prayers, pray in different languages, write a letter to God and even use glow-sticks.

We worked alongside Charter Academy, which is next to the church.

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Students visited as part of their RE classes in the week before half-term and were able to use the prayer installations themselves.

The church was open for public prayer every lunchtime and evening.

Once half-term arrived, we laid out a labyrinth of fairy lights as a reminder that prayer is a journey with God in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Visitors continued to pop in to spend time using these installations.

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It was a great way to inspire the students, our congregation and visitors about the importance of prayer, and the fact that we can pray in all sorts of ways.

Hopefully we will all have learnt something about praying creatively – and we will see our prayers answered in all sorts of ways too.

n ST LUKE’S CHURCH is in Greetham Street, Southsea, PO5 4LH.

Sunday services are 9.30am and 6pm.

For more information e-mail [email protected].

Alternativwely, go to stlukeandstpeter.org.uk.