Prayer
Prayer – an infinite path
There are many different ways of prayer and meditation within the Christian tradition.
Each has its own place and function. These include:
- Prayer with words or in deep silence.
- Intercessory prayer – holding other people and situations before God.
- Meditative reading of sacred texts and spiritual teachers.
- Reciting or singing set prayers from the tradition – a practice which helps shape or form our spiritual being.
- Spontaneous prayer, spoken or sung: the heart’s outpouring to God.
Fundamental to all forms of prayer is the recognition that the Spirit moves us to pray.
- Prayer is part of the life-blood of faith.
- It is the ladder that connects us to heaven.
- Prayer becomes a way of being, a constant standing before God.
“Pray continually in the Spirit” (St.Paul)
Prayers for healing and intercession
Jesus is the great healer and he encourages us to ask for what we need in prayer. This is what we call intercessory prayer.
If you would like someone to pray for you, you can ask for this in church on Sundays, by speaking to one of the priests or the welcome team. On Sundays, prayer ministry can be offered towards the end of the service.
If you would like prayers for healing or for any other situation even if you are not present in church (whether for yourself or someone else) then please ask to be included in our regular weekly intercessions. To do this, submit a request using the contact form. Let us know if you want the name of the person prayed for to be included in the public worship of the church on Sundays. Otherwise, members of the prayer ministry team will pray for you in private
We will usually pray for people for four weeks on the intercessions. Let us know how things stand and if you want intercessions to continue for a longer period.
Praying with the Church
The ancient and powerful practice of the Church is to say a daily office of prayer. This consists of reading psalms and scripture passages, traditional and contemporary chants and songs, and prayers for the world and individual needs.
In monasteries, there can be up to seven of these offices: vespers (evening prayer); compline (prayer before sleep); vigils and matins (prayer during the night); lauds (morning prayer); terce (the 3rd hour); sext (midday prayer) and none (mid-afternoon).
In non-monastic life, it is still good to practice regular times and forms of prayer, most commonly morning and evening prayer, plus midday prayer and prayer before sleep when possible.
You can access daily prayer with the Church of England either as an app to download or through the website.
For details of daily prayer offered at Holy Trinity see the weekly calendar.
If you would like to learn more about daily prayer and how to make it part of your daily spiritual practice do get in touch with us (use the contact form).
Mystical Prayer
Arguably the most powerful form of prayer is listening in silence. In silent prayer our heart and mind become still, letting thoughts and images pass by and gazing with quiet attention into the infinite space of God’s love. In the Christian tradition, this form of prayer is known as contemplation or resting in God, though other spiritual traditions refer to it as meditation.
Through the practice of silence, stillness, listening and attentiveness we discover that heaven is not so far away as we might imagine. As Jesus says: ‘The Kingdom of God is within you’