Pray without ceasing

Friday evening and me and andrew went along to the start of the sheffield district leg of the methodist church year of prayer, pray without ceasing. It was a really nice service, and pretty well attended considering it was a district event. The meeting commenced with the singing of a hymn, unaccompanied, followed by a time of extempolary prayer for people and situations. During this time, I felt a real connection with God, as the prayers were being said, interspersed with the singing of the taize song 'o lord hear our prayer'. There was a real sense of engagement with god and a peace over the proceedings. A time was then spent praying at various stations around the chapel, and although there was little creative input, I still found the time rewarding. There are so few times when I actually set aside time to commune with god these days, which is not a good thing. The meeting closed with the distribution of candles to all the various circuits, which reminded me of the great diversity and large geographical size of the district, and comforting to know that for the next couple of weeks, people from all around my locality will be exploring and joining in prayer in all manner of ways.