Prayer @ Christ Chruch

Wednesday and Friday saw an experimental prayer service at Christ Church.  Experimental for us anyway.  It has long been a concern, for me, that we don't meet as a church to pray together.  The last time we did was when Warner was ill.  We met then to pray for him and for the church while he was off work.  After he returned the will to pray seemed to dry up.  That was 2008, so its been too long. 
The evenings were structured as services and included some worship - with Warner leading the singing and playing the guitar.  Some of the songs were relatively new to us and some were very familiar.  I have to say there wasn't a lot of volume.  Our singing seems to get quieter and quieter.  There were some video's, Bible Readings, and a little bit of talking, from some of us but mostly from Warner. The Wednesday service ended with the option of being signed with the cross, with water from the font.  "It isn't Baptism" Warner said, but it was a good opportunity to make a statement of your intent to God.  A few took up his offer. The Friday service ended with communion.  While Wednesday was mainly about the Church, Friday was more about Christians in the world.  One feature was the 2010 World Watch List from Open Doors USA.  It contains countries that I had never thought of as oppressive, and some of the usual suspects were missing, I expect they've dropped out of the top ten (good!).

We broke into small groups to pray, and were encouraged to pray out loud.  Some did, and sometimes it was very quiet.  We are out of practice - I am out of practice.  One person admitted in their prayer that it was really hard to pray into 'such darkness'.  That is true.  There are times (such as this one) when I just don't have any words, the ones that come are angry and sharp, they are certainly not for public consumption. 

Should the event be repeated as a single session - 8pm to midnight?  A single service, rather than two would make more sense in a lot of ways.  Easier flow, better focus, more chance to concentrate on some specific issues.  Midnight though is late for me to be out on any day other than Friday.  Saturday is the only day I don't get up to an alarm.  I don't have family responsibilities like school runs and bed times any more either.  There are other practical considerations for Fridays as well.

My only dis-like for the two events was the moving backgrounds to the song words.  I find them distracting, my concentration flicks over to think about the pattern cycle, when I should be concentrating on the meaning in the words.  Also, I occasionally loose the words in the background.

So, I'm looking forward to the next one ...