The Day of Prayer on Friday 16th March was an oasis of calm, with ‘prayer spaces’ created to help us focus on specific things. We had a prayer labyrinth outside to help us focus on the Lord’s Prayer:

Inside, there was a sand area to help us think about the impression we leave on people and how God wants us to influence society with His love:

There was an area to reflect on forgiveness, with forgiveness stones a tangible way of letting go of the hurt and forgiving others:

We could write our hopes and dreams on paper to float in water, symbolic of how hope blossoms in God:

There were local maps available to help us pray specifically for our area and wider world and a quiet space for intercession as well as an area for colouring pictures from Scripture and the opportunity to share Communion. My personal favourite was the ‘tent’ in the middle of the room filled with lights and cushions, a place to just ‘be still and know that I am God’ (Ps 46:10) and to meditate on our relationship with God. For me, that space left me reflecting on David as he hid from Saul’s persecution or later in life as he hid in the Cave of Adullam (1 Sam 22:1-2) and made me realise afresh that in the midst of busyness, adversity and challenge, we need to withdraw regularly as Jesus did and seek strength and refresment from our God.

We had the opportunity to give thanks to God for our world, our family, our friends and so on and could tie ribbons to the thankfulness tree.

Our thanks to all at Furlong Road Methodist Church who did so much to make this a wonderful day of prayer.

The next ‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting will be on Tuesday 17th April at 10.30 a.m. at our church. All are welcome to attend.