July 9, 2013

 1Thess. 5:16-18 — Rejoice evermore. Prayy  without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

 I flew into London yesterday morning. I haven’t been in a big busy city for a while. I have to say that I liked London yesterday. People were busy, and cheerful, and looking good. Perhaps it’s because London has been blessed by a startling warm and beautiful week of summer weather.

I walked around. It’s something I love to do in cities – and people DO walk in London. I was walking as the bustle of the day was quieting a little, stretching into a warm evening, with people outdoors. In London days are long in summer.

I’m staying in Southwark (please say Sutherk and not Sout-Wark 🙂 ) It’s an old and fascinating part of the city, being reinvented by a new generation and a new cultural mix, as happens to every part of this ancient city from time to time. It IS old. It’s where Chaucer’s Pilgrims started (“And thus at Southwark one spring day, at the Tabard where I lay …”). It’s the home of Shakespeare’s Globe, and Lilian Baylis’s Old Vic. More recently the Tate Gallery has sprouted a modern art wing, and the London Fire Service has set up Headquarters. This is a busy, buzzing spot where work and play, homes and shops, … everything rubs shoulders…  And then I came across Christ Church Southwark and its garden.

Christ Church Southwark is an Anglican Church. You might think that’s a weakening denomination, a fading Tudor rose, but at Christ Church it’s not just the circular flower beds and wild garden that are blooming. Just walking by and reading the notice board lifted my spirit. It has simple instructions for passers by. There are ideas about flowers, about lighting candles, but most tellingly about prayer: “We try to keep the church open for prayer as much as possible.  If you have something or someone you want prayer for, write it on the paper provided and put it on the notice board inside. We will pray for it through the week.” It’s a praying church. They pray for those they know, and those they don’t. I BET they pray without ceasing. One day I’m going to write about the simple  absolute instructions in scripture. But today I want to share with you the reminder I received yesterday to pray without ceasing, in season and out, for those we know and those we don’t, WITH those we know and those we don’t, and FOR those we know and those we don’t. Let us pray!

I walked in crowds the other day, and heard a still voice softly say, “Now’s the time that you should pray.”