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Q: Why Pray in a Room?
“Why can’t I pray in my own home? It’s safer, it’s warmer, and it’s more convenient.”
You can if you like! You can pray anywhere, anytime - we could probably all do with more of that. Paul encourages the Thessalonian church, and us to "pray continually" ( 1 Thessalonians 5v16-17). When John Wesley was once asked how long he prayed, his answer, "Never more than half-an-hour", might have been a relief, a pleasant surprise for us
feeble-pray-ers. However, his added-comment, "but never do I go longer than half-an-hour without prayer", is the extraordinary challenge. To pray continually!
You can pray anywhere because God is everywhere, and God hears every word we pray - we cannot escape God's presence. And yet, as both scripture and our experience testifies, there are times when
our everywhere-God is somewhere... it's as if God is more here, somehow.
“There’s no room for me in here, it’s all you, you, YOU – FANTASTIC! Can it be
like this all the time? It’s like my heart is coming out of a deep sleep. I feel stirring, groans building, passion, compassion growing!” Emma
[1] Continuity
The sense of build-up, of momentum and flow that
occurs as people pray one-after-another. It is relatively easy to start praying in a room becoming full of other's poetry, pictures and prayers.
[2] Discipline
The accountability
of having your name on a rota, of being commited to praying - "if I don't show up, I'll be letting others down"
[3] Unity
Without being led-from-the-front , the
prayer room allows different people to express their praying in different ways... but in one common space. This requires us to extend grace to one another... and to maybe learn from one
another too. Previous prayer rooms have proved to be places where young and older can easily be 'united' in common praying, irrespective of styles.[4]Creativity
Prayer is far more than words, and yet we often stick with words. The space to be creative, and the having materials available to *encourage*
people to paint, draw, sit-in-silence, write poetry, sculpt, dance, script their prayer, helps them to engage more fully with Creator God.
[5] Presence
The Celts called sacred places 'thin places', places 'thick' with the presence of God.
[6] Mission
Most 24-7prayer
rooms have experienced the 'coming' and 'going' of mission. The 'coming' refers to the number of people who wouldn't call themselves Christians, but who have been brought,
or have wandered into prayer rooms, and stayed a while. Our busy, accelerated society is looking for 'sacred spaces' to reflect and find something 'other' than themselves. The
'going' refers to the frequently-felt sense of heart-for-the-World that pray-ers feel as they encounter God in the prayer room - which shouldn't surprise us at all?!
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