All Saints Margaret Street.

A paper was given to me a few days ago. It had been written by the Bishop of Sheffield after he had been a fraternal delegate at a Synod of Bishops in Rome on evangelisation.

From its deliberations and discussions with others, the bishop has distilled seven disciplines and practices which help to grow the Church.

The first of these, suggested to him by our own bishop, is "prayerful discernment and listening or contemplation."

In the Gospel on Ascension Day, Jesus speaks to the apostles of the mission to all nations, but tells them that they are to remain in the city until they "have been clothed with power from on high."

Then in Acts we read of them being together in prayer with Mary and the women until Pentecost.

The nine days between Ascension and Pentecost are kept as a season (a novena) of prayer for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These days are a reminder of the priority of prayer in the Church’s mission. This is something we are reminded of again in Sunday’s Gospel which is part of the "high priestly prayer" in John (17: 20 – 26) in which he prays for those who "will believe in me through their word."

Prayer has always been at the heart of the life of All Saints.  But the bishop’s paper suggests that we give thought to how we might focus our prayer on discerning mission opportunities in a city where the nations of the world have come to us.
Lack of space means that discussion of the other disciplines and practices will have to wait.  In the meantime we will, like those first disciples be "continually in the temple blessing God."

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Alan Moses