Prayer

What is prayer?

There are two basic answers to that question – the first answer is that prayer is ‘talking to God’. The second answer is that prayer is ‘listening to God’. Take comfort from the fact that most of us struggle with prayer in one way or another and that it’s not a competition to see who’s best.

Prayer isn’t long fancy words – it can be, and they can be very helpful, but God is interested in prayers that come from the heart.

Prayer isn’t something that just happens in church – you can pray anywhere, anytime, although a quiet place certainly helps.

Prayer isn’t meant to be a shopping list – it is firstly a time to praise God. It’s also a time to say ‘thank you’, and a time to say ‘sorry’ but also a time just to sit in God’s presence.

The best advice that can be given to anyone wondering how to start to pray is:

PRAY AS YOU CAN, NOT AS YOU CAN’T

If you want to join with others that are praying we meet together as follows;

• Monday and Wednesday mornings, 8.30am in church. This is a more formal time of prayer using a Church of England format called Morning Prayer, which includes Bible readings.
• Wednesday evenings, 7.30pm in church. A less formal structure often including some reflection on particular Bible passages.
• Thursday mornings, 9am in church. A very informal and open structure bringing to God those prayers that have been placed on our prayer board.

If you want to have the church pray for a particular person during our usual services then please contact our Parish Administrator (01622 299715, stnicsparish@hotmail.com.) We keep their name on the weekly list for a period of three months.

If you want to have them, or a particular situation, prayed for in a less public setting (at the Thursday prayer group) then please complete one of the cards in the prayer corner and pin it to the board. The cards are removed after a month or email prayerstnicholas@outlook.com