24 hours of Prayer

Every Friday we pray nonstop, in hour long ‘shifts’, from Morning Prayer at 8:30am to Community Eucharist at 4:30pm. To mark the start of Advent we decided to attempt our first twenty-four hour, nonstop, day of prayer. We themed the chapel around the theme of EXPECTANCY.

‘What are you waiting for?’ was the question asked (by a hand-cut-ransom-note-style-sign) on entering the chapel.

We marked out a crossroad on the floor with masking tape and made a pedestrian crossing from cardbaord. There was a large illustration of Mary on the wall (Original artwork by Elisa Cunningham) and poems and art materials scattered around the room.

Denise Levertov’s poem, Annunciation, was printed and fixed to the wall and gave shaped to collective times of worship and prayer throughout the day.

Throughout the day prayers were prayed and painted. Scripture shared and scrawled on paper. Poems recited, reflected upon and remixed…

We know the scene; the prayer room, randomly furnished.
Almost always, a beanbag, a box of felt pens. And always candles!
Arrived on atmospheric drumbeats and in city-centre silence,
Standing at the crossroads, looking.
Asking for ancient paths.
Acknowledging,
The movement from host to guest.
Object to subject. Transposed.

Patient Presence waits, closer than you think,
For consent to Grace.

Aren’t there stories of, God at work, in most lives?
Stumbled into. Circumstantial. Purpose-driven?
Often unknowingly,
Walking advertisements in both light and dark.
Life goes on, uninterrupted by love.

Patient Presence waits, closer than you think,
For consent to Grace.

There’s something about Mary!?
Called from mundane to Magnificat,
She simply asks, ‘How can this be?’
Bearing infinite weight and lightness,
She consents, ‘Let it be with me’

Patient Presence waits, closer than you think,
For consent to Grace.

What are you waiting for?
Consent to Grace.

The prayer room filled with its light,
The candles flicker gently,
And the drumbeats resonate.
Consent opens us,
Utterly.