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The Rector's October Newsletter
25-Sep-09
The Church is a community of worship and prayer. Everything else that the Church does derives from its worship and prayer. Buildings are to worship and pray in; preaching and teaching is to deepen our knowledge of the nature and activities of the God whom we worship, mission is to draw other people into worship and prayer; good works and living out the teachings of Christ are an expression of our worship and prayer. Worship and prayer are central to the life of the Church, and to the lives of individual Christians. Anciently the only prayer was corporate, when the members of a local church gathered perhaps twice daily to pray together. If you are ever near a mosque, you will see that Muslims are much better at doing this than we are. Muslims are an example to us in their commitment to daily corporate prayer, either in going to the mosque, or in joining in the daily corporate prayer where ever they are.
Regular readers of this Newsletter will know that from time to time I remind people of the importance of our remembering our own part in the centrality of prayer in the lives of Christians, not just on Sundays but in joining in the corporate daily prayer of the Church, Morning and Evening Prayer. We encourage members of St Giles congregations not just to join us in church daily, for that sadly is not possible for most people because of the distances at which people live, and the pressures of work and family life, but to join us by saying Morning and Evening Prayer (which, for convenience we have printed as a booklet and is available at the back of the church) wherever you are. To fit in twenty minutes or so at sometime in the morning and/or evening to join in ancient words of praise, thanksgiving and intercession, and to read a small portion of the Old and New Testaments helps to deepen our relationship with God, and to bind us into the stream of praise and prayer which the Church offers to God in thanksgiving for his generous love revealed in Jesus. It doesn’t matter when or where we fit this into our day, whether at home, at work, on the way to work on the bus or train, early in the morning or late in the evening. I sometimes notice people on the Underground reading their Bibles, or praying.
To assist members of St Giles’s congregations, and people who receive and read this Newsletter, further to have a sense of praying together, at the suggestion of a member of the Parochial Church Council, Thomas Hardin, one of our Churchwardens, has prepared a monthly intercession list Praying Together for people to use when saying Morning or Evening Prayer or in their personal prayers. It includes a theme for prayer each day, anniversaries of baptisms, marriages, and deaths of members of the congregation during the past ten years, and the names of the streets in the parish, so that we pray each day for people who live and work in the parish. We would be grateful for comments on the list, and suggestions about how it might be improved, or volunteers for future intercessions’ lists
The more that we can worship and prayer together the more we will be able to reflect God’s love in our lives to all the people that we meet and are involved with in our daily lives.
Copies of the list will be at the back of the church, and will be sent out to people who receive the Newsletter by post or e-mail.
Bill Jacob.
SUNDAY MORNING SUNG EUCHARIST
During October, we will be experimenting with an additional hymn after the anthem at the communion, to give all members of the congregation an opportunity to join in a hymn expressing gratitude for the grace that we receive in the sacrament. If you have any comments about this change, pass them on to the Rector or the Director of Music, so that we can review people’s reactions at the end of October. It is quite acceptable to leave us anonymous notes, if you prefer.
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