Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.”
We could say we are in times like that now. Our worship time may not be in church but as we have been taught, we can worship God anywhere. He is with us in the bad times and in the good. We can talk to him anywhere any time in spirit and truth.
So how do we pray alone? Well Jesus did that all the time there are many verses in the Bible where we read of Him going off to pray. A good example is found in Luke 11 :1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Here Jesus gives the disciples what we know today as the Lord’s Prayer. So if we don’t know what to say we all know the Lord’s prayer. We can use the Lord’s prayer as a daily communication with God taking our time to really understand what we are asking.
This helps us with our relationship with God. Even chatting to him as we wash the dishes or in the garden, He loves to hear our voice. We can also purposefully and intentionally take a moment out of our day to spend quiet time with Him that also is prayer. Taking that time to talk with God being in His presence, as we know helps our relationship with Him to grow.
We might be missing praying together but we can still do this. Bishops James and Emma are encouraging us to pray together for the Nation. Each day they are using different themes to pray for. The Nation, schools, family and those who have lost loved ones. This will be done at 6pm each day So we can join with the diocese in praying together as one. Again, Jesus gave the instruction, “Where two or three are gathered in my name there I am in the midst”.
We might not be together in person, in fellowship but if we take up this call to prayer, we will be together in spirit and truth.
A WORD FROM ... Anne Denwood