A Creative Call to Prayer

St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church in Edmonton continues to create opportunities for parishioners to engage in prayer in new ways. This past weekend, the prayer development team put together a series of prayer stations at St. John’s, as well as a prayer schedule that people could sign up for and be part of, whether they came to the church or prayed at home. Led by Robyn Thompson and Allan Chettle, the team created 11 stations:

• Prayer for the children of St. John’s (a sticker for every prayer is placed by the child’s name on a card)
• Prayer for a broken heart (featuring smashed china and a kintsugi vase)
• Pads and journals for writing out prayers and reflections
• children’s station
• Pictures of Christmas sent in by some of St. John’s children to line the south wall
• A prayer box: leave a request or pull one out to pray for at the prie dieux
• Meditative prayer on symbols from the life and roles of Jesus (manger, crown, crown of thorns, lion, sword, Word)
• Advent prayer station (hope, peace, joy, love)
• Worship station
• Music station (use a QR code to access a rendition of “Mary Did You Know”)
• Thanksgiving tree (write your thanks on an ornament and hang it on the tree)

Bishop Steve and the Rev. Stephanie London visited St. John’s on Saturday, December 4. In a Facebook post, Bishop Steve commented: “St. John the Evangelist in Edmonton had an amazing series of Advent prayer stations to spend an hour of prayer. I didn't even get to them all. Where God really spoke to me today was with the prayer on Joy. A needed reminder for me that the God of love is also the God of joy.”

The Ven. Richard King, rector of St. John’s, says he continues to be amazed and blessed by the creativity poured into these events (the first involved a week of prayer in June). And he looks forward to more. “The plan is to hold a prayer event approximately every seven weeks, which ends up being seven each year.

“These events are completely planned and executed by parishioners using their gifts to bless our church family. It’s a living out of 1 Corinthians 12 that tells us how each one is gifted by the Spirit and uses that gift for the common good. It won't be the first time I've said this, but it’s all too exciting for words!”