A few weeks back, as part of our Sunday morning series on ‘The Marks of a Healthy church’, I mentioned a vision that had come to me while preparing a sermon. The sermon had been about the need for us, as a church, to listen for what God was wanting us to do, and the vision was of the Wilson Hall as an ‘upper room’, where, like the first Christians before Pentecost, we could gather to wait for God’s guidance.
Afterwards I expressed my hesitancy about this vision, and asked people to tell me whether they thought it was of God, or whether it was just me doing some wishful thinking. I was surprised and delighted by the number of people who wrote to me or spoke to me in the days that followed, expressing their enthusiasm for the idea of setting aside some time on a regular basis, and making the ‘upper room’ available for people to come and listen, on their own or together, for what God might be saying to us.
As a first step in this direction, we have agreed to designate the Wilson Hall from 3pm-9pm on Thursday 11th December as a place of prayer and meditation. The time until 7pm will be a flexible time, where people will be able to come and go when they have the time. The hall will be organised into a number of different ‘prayer stations’, with themes for you to explore in your own time, but always listening to what God might be saying to you. Then, from 7pm-8pm we are planning a joint time of praise and prayer, when we will be gathering all our thoughts together and offering them to God. The half day will end with seasonal refreshments and fellowship from 8pm-9pm.
The whole event will be designed to be relaxed and informal, allowing people to come and go when they can and listen to God in their own ways. How it goes will give us a direction as to how to take the whole idea forward. In so doing we will be following an age old pattern of discernment that has been part of church life since the days of the Apostles. So, please come along and join in.
JNY & the Prayer Team