Easter is upon us once again.  For Christians it is about the passage from death to life; of finding hope even in our worse moments.  It is about life and the one who give us that life.  This is why we hope and pray when life is dangerous.

I have been in quite a few desperate situations with people over the years.  I particularly remember a night I was called by the parents of a young man who was a fisherman on a shrimp trawler.  It was a small community.  It was 1am and I walked the 3 miles around to their home where all the family and closest neighbours were gathered.  When I arrived I was told that the small plane coming home from Greenland on which their son and some of the crew were flying, was reported missing.  They were now waiting to hear any news about it.  Was it crashed?  Was it just off the radar?  Did it go astray?  One person said.  Well, all we can do is hope and pray.  And so we did.  We found out later the plane had crashed and everyone on board had lost their life.  It was a sad time but in the midst of it all we prayed to the Lord because we knew he understood our pain and in our close relationship with the Lord we could pour out our hearts.  It was prayer in the hope of consolation to get a close family through a the struggle of coping with the death of someone so young.

Another time I was called to the hospital by a man whose wife had battled cancer for some months.  As it had been so far advanced, the doctors had given little hope, yet still someone said all we can do is hope and pray.  Indeed we did pray and held out hope that she would recover.  I had already spent many hours with the family but now the end was near and they asked me to be with them as they said their goodbyes.  As we prayed around the bed the 7 year old son said, I can feel Jesus here.  We had a great sense that our prayer and hope for her to be received by him were being answered.

I was with a family at the time of a very difficult birth.  It was not going well.  The plane that was to come to take the young mother-to-be out of the community could not land because of a blizzard.  The nurse was a well trained midwife but blizzards always make even the best trained a bit nervous.  She said ‘can we pray?’  I said ‘yes we can’; and we did.  Five hours later a healthy baby girl was born while one of the worse blizzards of the winter raged around.  Our hope was for calm and peace so that this baby could be born.  With the birth the storm abated.

Some would say that we get through all these troubling times anyway.  Why bother to pray?  Why hope for anything at all?  ‘What will be, will be’.  These are some of the things that are said by those who might scoff at prayer.   When we say ‘all we can do now is hope and pray’, we say it to reassure and bring comfort to ourselves and to others.  These words are said with love and tenderness and often with a certain amount of fear that we might yet face what we do not want to face.   But they are not just words.  They are a call upon the God of Love who will stand with us and face the what may come.

To pray in these times of trouble is to remember the relationship we have with God.  Just as it is normal for us to talk with and share life with friends and family; to share our deepest fears and worries and celebrate our greatest joys, so to pray is to speak to, and share with God in just that way.  He desires us to be close to him and to know his love for us.  In prayer we share our hopes with him and even though the outcome of events are not always the way we would wish them, we trust that God, the one who is steadfast, will see us through the rough times and laugh with us in the good.

Jesus, the son of God entered this world in total empathy with our struggles. He enters into all our stories and understands our hopes.  He has touched the lives of many people and continues to do so now. He reaches out in hope that we will accept his help, his friendship and the peace that passes all understanding that brings us life.  Psalm 121 tells us of his wonderful help.  Our help comes from the life of God.

I lift up my eyes to the hills;
from where is my help to come?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not suffer your foot to stumble;
he who watches over you will not sleep.
Behold, he who keeps watch over Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord himself watches over you;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand,
So that the sun shall not strike you by day,
neither the moon by night.
The Lord shall keep you from all evil;
it is he who shall keep your soul.
The Lord shall keep watch over your going out
and your coming in,
from this time forth for evermore

With peace and every blessing this Easter to you and your family,
Steve Laskey, Vicar of Holy Trinity

I’ll Pray for You…

I’ll pray for you... a promise that, whether made on the spur of the moment or after careful thought, presents us with a challenge.  Where, when and how are we going to pray?

A special place or time is not essential to prayer – Jesus’ promise was that when we prayed in faith God would hear our prayers.  How we pray is rather different.  Perhaps pouring out our hearts, battering God with all the little details; an arrow prayer, just a word darting to heaven; keeping someone in our prayers for months, even years, or silently holding out our hands lifting the person or situation before God.

Good advice I once received was: ‘Pray as you can, not as you can’t’.

My colleague ‘George’ was devastated when told that a change in mission agency policy meant she and her family were being recalled to England.   Near to tears she shared her disappointment at leaving the work, begun with a Ugandan mother, on AIDS education.  When I promised to pray for her she managed a smile and suggested that with yet one more person for me to ‘bother’ God about she should be my teaspoon prayer.

‘George’ is now happily settled in England as always sharing her faith and her skills.  But every now and again as I fish a teaspoon out of the washing-up bowl I think of her and thank God for her.

Praying for others is not just about asking it’s also about saying ‘thank you’.

With every blessing for Easter,
The Rev. Valerie Shirley,
Assistant Curate at Holy Trinity

Prayer and the Holy Spirit

Have you ever done something that has been really special and felt that it wasn’t really you doing it? Maybe you found yourself saying just the right words to someone who was upset and you were surprised that you knew what to say. Maybe you wrote a poem which expressed more than you had realised you knew.  Maybe you threw a perfect pot on a wheel, or chose a surprising, but perfect colour to finish a painting. If that happens you might say ‘I was inspired’.
         Inspiration comes from  words meaning ‘breathed into’ and it is a way of describing what happens when the Holy Spirit, the Breath of God, fills our bodies and uses them to express the beauty and the love of God. Think about what you were doing when you experienced that inspiration. My guess is that you were completely absorbed in the task and you had stopped thinking about yourself.
        The Holy Spirit is always here, ready and waiting to inspire you but many things get in the way of being inspired. Negative thoughts about abilities, old criticisms, fear of making a fool of yourself, lack of trust and lack of courage can all make you put up a fence and keep the spirit out. Prayer and practice can help pull that fence down. Pray these words from the Lord ’s Prayer: ‘Thy will be done’. ‘Thy will’, not mine. And then practice the thing you feel that God is calling you to do – whether it is playing a musical instrument or making sculptures or painting pictures or arranging flowers. Try to be as good as you can but do not be judgemental with yourself if you make a mistake. Enjoy what you are doing and let your mind and body work in harmony. There will be a time when you feel at peace and realise the power of the Holy Spirit is working through you. 
       Teresa of Avila who lived from 1515 to 1582 said this:  “Christ has no other hands but your hands to do his work today; no other feet but your feet to guide folk on his way; no other lips but your lips to tell them why he died; no other love but your love to win them to his side”
          It is the Holy Spirit that works through our physical bodies to do Christ’s work here on earth.  Trust in the Lord and let your hands do his will.

Easter Blessings,
The Rev. Sara Scott,
Assistant Curate Holy Trinity and St. Augustine

Mothers Union
Christian Care for Families

One way to think about prayer is sitting quietly to speak with God.  But prayer can be take a different turn when we decide to put what we sense God is calling us to do, into action.  The Mothers Union takes this very seriously as we seek to serve people around us.  So who are we and what do we do?  Well, we are a world-wide organisation that does just as it states above: we give Christian care to families; the very essence of which is prayer. We need to pray every day.  Without it, we would not be able to do what we do.  And we have a very active branch right here in our community.

We will pray with you or for you in what ever part of your life that you wish. God then takes over and moves us to action; very practical action for you and for our community. These can include:

- Supervised play areas in church, schools and prison visitors centres; - Mother and Toddler Groups;
- Pram services;
- Prayer support network;
-Bereavement counseling;
- Contact centres for separated families;
- Support for the chapel at Tinsley House, Immigration Detention Centre at
  Gatwick Airport; 
- Parenting courses;
- Baptism follow up;
- Knitting caps and small clothes for premature babies in hospital;
- Home starter packs for mothers and children who have been abused;
- New baby packs for lone parents as well as Christmas hampers.

Do you want to pray? Do you want to turn your prayer into action.  Perhaps you would like to join us.  We meet at Holy Trinity Church Centre on the third Wednesday of every month at 2pm.  You would be most welcome.  For more information, please contact Holy Trinity Church Centre.  A message may be left on 020 8699 0172.