Prayers for our community and churches
Week 2: Movement This week we consider the theme of movement within the spiritual life. Waiting in darkness and uncertainty – a key aspect of Black Spirituality as we have seen – does not mean not moving. It means joining in with a God who is moving always within us, around us, and ahead of us. God is movement. God is life.…
Sharing one bread Week 1: Weekend Reading 1 Corinthians 11.23-31 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body that is for you. Do this in…
Embracing the body Week 1: Friday Reading Ephesians 4.7-16 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’ (When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower…
Part of one unfolding story Week 1: Thursday Reading Ephesians 4.1-6 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of…
The dangers of dualism Week 1: Wednesday Access an audio version of this reflection via our free app for Apple and Android devices. Reading Ephesians 4.1-6 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,…
Reuniting all things Week 1: Tuesday Access an audio version of this reflection via our free app for Apple and Android devices. Reading Isaiah 11.6-9 The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear…
Week 1: Unity The unity – the oneness – of the Christian faith is a key emphasis in Black Spirituality. However, from the earliest days, Christians have often lost sight of the God who St Paul declares “is above all and through all and in all”. We look this week at how all God’s people might grow in unity and wholeness. Prayer…
Life-giving darkness Start of Lent – Weeken Reading Matthew 26.36-38 You have made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. You make darkness, and it is night, when all the animals of the forest come creeping out. The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. When the sun rises, they withdraw and…
God in darkness Start of Lent – Friday Reading Matthew 26.36-38 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. And God saw…
Waiting in darkness Reading Matthew 26.36-38 And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’ Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, ‘So, could you not stay awake with…