Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

lent 2008

pathways of prayer

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Week 6 - The Charismatic path

Lord you are great and greatly to be praised!
awaken us to delight in your praises,
for you made us for yourself,
and our hearts are restless
‘till they find their rest in you.
Amen.

St. Augustine (354-430)

Setting off

Our opening parable speaks to us of our need to reconnect with God and how different paths might take us closer to God. We have thought about the paths of Holiness, Social Justice, Devotion, Sacramental and Contemplative.

Our final path takes us along an exciting journey!

Perhaps you have 'fire in your belly' and yearn to journey to a closer relationship to God. This was the experience of the first Christians who met on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.1-21). The Pentecostal Tradition draws on this event and gives central importance to the 'Gifts of the Holy Spirit'.

The Charismatic Path carries us along a thrilling and exciting path; in fact we don't so much walk this path but dance it! So hang on tight!

This day in the Christian liturgical calendar is marked as 'Palm Sunday' (Matthew 21.1-11) when we remember Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This provoked astonishing scenes in Jerusalem when the crowd exploded with shouts of Hosanna! In our complementary reading we hear of David overcome with joy for all that God had done for him and through him, that he danced with wild abandon!

Prayer of praise will be at the centre of this week's service on Radio 4. But 'praise' in the Pentecostal tradition is not merely the human response, but arises out of the spiritual gifts bestowed upon through God in Christ.

Today we praise God with shouts of Hosanna - yet our praise is not one that celebrates the entry of political victor, arriving in the city to claim his crown of power, but the arrival of the suffering servant, who comes to complete the drama of our salvation that will culminate in his own suffering and death that will crown him the Lord of All.

And we are invited to join Him in this drama - BBC 1's series The Passion begins on 17 March. This is a major BBC drama production which will take us through the final week of Jesus' life to the crucifixion on Good Friday and onto the resurrection appearances on Easter Sunday.

Moving On

Tune into BBC 1 and watch the The Passion

 

Continuing the Journey

Pathways of Prayer - Resource/Study Materials

 

a man praying with hands out-stretched
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