Back
at the start of the New Year we gave an invitation to make this a year when we
put prayer at the centre of all that we are and all that we do as a church
family.
There
are things to help us in our praying.
Prayer
calendar and diary that comes in Highbury News.
Each
week in our Notice Sheet there are ideas for prayer … and an invitation to take
the notice sheet home with you to uphold the work of the church and the events
that are happening in your prayers.
At
the pastoral care meeting, Lorraine urged people to be part of the prayer chain
we have – and so share the pastoral care of the church family in prayer.
And
we invited people to use a book of prayers that we could share in using
together. Angela Ashwin’s Woven into
Prayer – a flexible pattern of daily prayer through the Christian year.
For
each season of the year there is a pattern of prayer – that takes us through
the Christian year.
At
the end of each section is what Angela Ashwin describes as ‘A Quiet Space’ –
some suggestions for meditation and other ways of praying.
Today
we reach a new section of Prayers for Easter.
And in the quiet space are what Angela Ashwin describes as some
‘imaginative exercises’.
In
some ways those exercises tie in with the invitation we have given people to
Experience Easter Outside. The idea is
to imagine yourself to be there in the Garden of Gethsemane, in the Courtyard,
at Golgotha, in the garden by the empty tomb.
Imagine
that you are there.
Imagine
being there on the Road to Emmaus.
Let’s
do that for a few moments now … imagine you are one of those two friends on the
road to Emmaus.
It’s
an interminably long walk that stretches ahead of you … you are going over the
things that have happened in the last few days, trying to make sense of it all,
and failing, miserably. When someone
draws alongside you and joins you … what are you talking about? He asks.
You
stand still for a moment, you look at each other – and you are filled with
sadness.
You
find yourself asking the question, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who
does not know the things that have taken place in these days?”
And
then you find yourself going over it all one more time.
How
Jesus was to have been the one to bring freedom to the people, how he had been
arrested, tried, executed, dead and buried.
And how that very morning some of the women among his friends said the
tomb was empty.
Imagine
what it would have been like as this stranger then begins to go through the
Scriptures, explain the things that have happened in a way that makes sense.
The
journey disappears.
You’ve
arrived home … he makes as if to go on.
And you invite him in, Stay with
us because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.
He
does just that.
And
it is in the blessing he gives, the bread the he shares that of a sudden you
know – it is the risen Jesus.
Imagine
the moment of realisation, the moment of joy.
Imagine
re-tracing your steps back to Jerusaelm, to the upper room – a lightness in
your step this time.
Imagine
the excitement you have to share and the excitement of the others too. He is risen – he is risen indeed.
And
then imagine in your mind’s eye, the risen |Jesus is there and he turns to you
and looks you in the eye … and says peace be with you.
Imagine.
There
is a power in imagination that is released in prayer.
But
there is another invitation that awaits from Angela Ashwin in that Quiet Space
of prayer and meditation.
Go
for a walk – for real, or in your mind’s eye.
Bring to mind the things that have happened in the last few days and
weeks. Maybe there are things that have
excited you, maybe there are things that have troubled you. Maybe, there are things that have happened
that have troubling consequences yet to work out.
In
your mind’s eye, imagine that Jesus joins you just as he joined those two on
the Road to Emmaus that very first Easter Sunday evening.
Hear
him ask you about the things that trouble you.
Imagine what he would say to you.
Maybe he would simply share the things that trouble you. Maybe he would weep with you.
Maybe
he would have words of wisdom to share, words of encouragement, words of hope,
words of love.
As
you arrive home, for real or in your mind’s eye, invite Jesus to come in with
you and stay with you there in your home.
And give thanks.
At a
meal, say a blessing, say grace – say it out loud even if you are on your own …
and sense that Jesus is there with you in the meal that you share.
Jesus
is there with you, sharing with you all that you are, all that you have been
through, all you are going through, all that is to come … and he is encircling
you with his love.
Love
of Jesus, fill me
Joy
of Jesus, surprise me,
Peace
of Jesus, flood me,
Light
of Jesus, transform me,
Touch
of Jesus, warm me,
Strength
of Jesus, encourage me.
O
Saviour, in your agony, forgive me,
In
your wounds, hide me,
And
in your risen life take me with you
For
love of you and of your world.
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