Week: Learning - Solomon
We start by pausing and taking a deep breath:
In and out.
In and out.
We remember that God is here, and so together we prepare ourselves to be with God.
Pause
Our Father in heaven, we know that You are with us and that You want to talk with us – so we respond very simply by saying: ‘Here we are, we’re ready. Teach us how to pray.’
Julian of Norwich focused her life on prayer. Let’s REFLECT on some encouragement from the Bible about how we can pray.
Read by Liliwyn
1 Timothy 2:1-4
First, I tell you to pray for all people, asking God for what they need and being thankful to him. Pray for rulers and for all who have authority so that we can have quiet and peaceful lives full of worship and respect for God. This is good, and it pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to know the truth.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NCV)
This first thing about Julian of Norwich is that she wasn’t actually called Julian. We know that she was born in England more than 700 years ago, but her real name has been forgotten, so she’s known by the place where she lived, St Julian’s Church in Norwich.
When Julian was 30 years old she got very sick. In fact, she was so sick that a priest came to say the final prayers before a person dies. To everyone’s surprise though, instead of dying, she had sixteen visions and dreams of Jesus, and then she was completely healed!
For the next twenty years, Julian prayed about her visions and dreams. She also wrote about them in a book called Revelations of Divine Love, which meant that she was the first woman to publish a book in the English language!
Julian’s experiences shaped the rest of her life. From then on she chose to live and pray almost completely by herself in a small room built onto the side of St Julian’s Church. But she didn’t cut herself off from the world. Julian’s room had two windows: one that looked into the church, so she could join in with the worship services, and one which looked out onto the street so that she could talk and pray with the people outside.
Let’s press pause and talk about today’s question which is: What’s the best thing that we can see outside our windows?
The two windows in Julian’s room are like are a picture of our lives. We are part of the church, God’s family, but also part of the wider world. God wants us to pray for both.
Let’s think about our church for a moment. Let’s imagine peering through a window and looking inside. Who do we see there? Let’s ASK God to help them today.
Loving God, we ASK you to look after our church and all the people we worship with. Help us all to keep following You. Please especially encourage those that we’re thinking of today.
Now let’s imagine walking across to another window, the one that looks out onto the street. Who do we see out there? Let’s pray for them!
Loving God, thank You for our local community. We ASK you to show us ways to help and encourage the people around us. Help us to share Your love with them.
By committing her life to prayer, Julian made space for God to speak and lead her. Describing her heart as being like a room dedicated to God, she wrote these words:
“Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee or thine,
But quiet homes of prayer and praise, where thou mayest find fit company…” *
Pause
Let’s say YES to making our hearts into places where we can meet God in prayer:
Loving God, we say YES to making room in our hearts for You. As we welcome You Lord, lead us to welcome others into Your love.
After enjoying this time with God and each other, let’s say our memory verse together:
Read by Liliwyn
John 14:26
But the Helper will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.
John 14:26 (NCV)
God, help us to remember Your Word.
Let’s put a hand on our heart.
Father God, fill us with Your love. Help us to love You, and everything that You’ve made.
Let’s point to our eyes.
Lord Jesus, help us to see You, and to see others the way that You see them too.
Let’s point to our ears.
Holy Spirit, help us to hear You, and give us courage to do what You say.
* Julian of Norwich, Revelations of Divine Love (Penguin Classics) p.169
Chris lives in Melbourne, Australia with his wife and two boys. He works for 24-7 Prayer Australia and Red Church and is also a professional musician. When he’s not working or drumming Chris enjoys going on long hikes in the mountains with his boys and playing table tennis.
Liliwyn lives in Kansas City, USA, with her parents, sisters and dogs. She is a good friend and enjoys designing, music, traveling, math and watching American Football (especially the KC Chiefs).
