St Mary’s completes a week of 24/7 Prayer
If you wandered into St Mary’s Ballybeen last week and thought you saw a tent at the front of the church you did indeed see correctly – it was the parish’s 24/7 Prayer tent.
For the past number of years, St Mary’s has set aside the first week of September to pray for the year ahead. Usually, this has involved an early morning prayer time and another one in the evening.
So why 24/7 Prayer this year?
Revd Mark Harvey, rector of St Mary’s gives us the answer:
“As usual, the parish had set aside the week for prayer, but as I was sitting listening to Tash Creaney from 24/7 Prayer at Diocesan Synod, I immediately thought that our September week of prayer should be 24/7.
I brought it to the Select Vestry a week later and there was unanimous support. By the end of June a large timetable for the week had appeared and by the time I returned from holiday in the third week of August, it was nearly full! The week of prayer began on Sunday 1 September at 8.00 am and finished this Sunday 8 at 8/00 am.
It has dovetailed perfectly with the launch of Mission 2015, with the ‘For Him’ call to pray and prepare starting last Sunday. We are excited about what this week will birth in our church and community in the year ahead and look forward with expectation.”
Prior to the Year of Mission 2015, the diocese plans a year of 24/7 Prayer in 2014. It will start in The Dock, Titanic, at midnight on 31 December 2013 and continue as we pass the baton throughout the diocese for every single minute of the year 2014, morning, noon and night.
Of course, this will not happen without the participation of every parish, each taking responsibility for a certain number of days, according to its ability. But it can be done, and as you will see from the photos, in a very simple way! We will be in touch with more information and to offer support to help you make it happen in your church.