‘Try praying’
Good morning,
It’s the first day of the resumption of teaching following the spring vacation. But a different form of teaching for most students and academic staff. If your lecture, seminar, lab, tutorial or thesis supervision is online today, I hope it goes well. After a helpful visit to youtube for a brief tutorial, I think I’ve just successfully organised a Teams meeting! If I can do it, anyone can!
The focus for today’s Companionship is prayer. Fiona Barnard, our International Students Chaplain, has shared this meditation:
“People are doing something they have never done before,” commented a frazzled medic to a news reporter the other night. Describing the pressures NHS staff were facing, she wanted to underline their desperation: “They are stopping to pray before they start a shift.” Amid the chaos and fear and weariness they are facing, they are finding themselves turning to prayer.
In a very deserted South Street, hangs a banner attached to the railings of Holy Trinity Church. It has a simple suggestion: “Try praying.” I like that. This is part of a national movement (trypraying.co.uk) keen to include people who do not necessarily attend church, but are open to see where praying will take them over seven days.
Our lives turned upside-down in a short space of time. We are facing decisions we never thought we would have to make. It is not only NHS staff who feel the challenges threaten to overwhelm them. So the invitation to try praying is timely: to start praying, or perhaps if you have done it many times before, to try praying in new ways.
Because at very least, it is therapeutic to “talk out” what may cause harm if it stays trapped inside. Because actually you may discover you pray far more than you think you do. Because it will make you attentive to the world around you. Because it might connect you with something deep inside. Because you may encounter hope and peace in (re)discovering the One who made you with great tenderness. Because God longs to listen to you and to draw close. Because you could find fresh meanings in a life of worship and wonder and surrender.
You don’t need fancy words nor grand statements. You don’t need to scrabble around for pious language from a by-gone era. Just pray what is on your heart – as you have a shower, cut your onions, observe the passers-by out your window, doodle on a blank page, pause to review the day before sleep.
Try praying, and let God surprise you.
I saw the banner too, and wondered a little at its meaning. But of course it doesn’t mean “try praying instead of doing all we can to care for others, grow and distribute food, treat and care for those who are ill, reaching out to the isolated, completely reorganise our working life in a matter of days”. But pray as we do these things, recognising that we are not alone in our care.
This theme gives me a chance to recommend:
Pray with Sam
From today, Monday 30 March the Assistant Chaplain, Sam Ferguson will be holding regular prayer sessions. Every evening – Monday to Thursday – at 5pm, Sam will be praying Evening Prayer.
You are very welcome to join her in this time of focus for light and love to surround us all. If you have people or situations you would like included in these prayers, please email Sam at [email protected]. The prayers and readings for each day will soon be added to the Companionship emails.
And two of St Andrews’ churches, the Baptist Church and Cornerstone, are leading a St Andrews day of prayer, this Wednesday 1 April. They want to encourage people from all the congregations in the town to be praying and fasting (if able) throughout the day with two dedicated times of approximately one hour of led prayer. They will post a pre-recorded video on the Baptist Church website and Facebook page to be viewed and engaged with during those one hour time periods (from 9am-10am and from a 8pm-9pm).
Have a good day. I’m taking the rest of the day off so if you need support from a chaplain today, feel free to contact Sam at [email protected]
Take care,
Yours,
Donald.