A Place to Pray

In theory a Christian can pray anywhere, anytime and in any circumstances; walking down the street, with others in church, in various rooms in the house, in the garden.... the list is endless.

I think most Christians, though, have a special place where they especially like to pray.  When I was studying in Durham as a Student Minister I used to love going to a particular side chapel in Durham Cathedral to pray.  Somehow, in that particular space, I felt the presence of God very powerfully in a way that I didn't in the rest of that beautiful building.  Of course God was and is present in the whole of that prayer soaked building, but he seemed especially present to me in that side chapel.

Since leaving Durham and moving to Bramhope I've been looking for a place near me where I can find that same closeness and powerful presence of God; I've been looking for a place to pray.  I've found two.

The first is a local nature reserve at Golden Acre Park on the outskirts of Leeds.  As I walk through that place in a morning, often alone save for the animals and birds, I find that I can talk freely with God and listen for his still small voice.  Inspiration for sermons comes often as I walk in this place.  The drawback is, of course, that it isn't suitable in all weathers and with winter approaching I needed an alternative.

A colleague of mine provided the answer.  He has built a prayer shed in his Manse garden, made out of scrap wood.  In it he has created somewhere he can go intentionally to pray and meet with God.

Now my DIY skills aren't really up to building a shed.  The result wouldn't be a place to pray so much as a death trap!  Neither are my finances healthy enough to buy a shed!

My alternative is a dedicated prayer room in the Manse I live in.  I'm lucky to have a small bedroom I don't need for any other purpose and so I'm in the process of turning it into a prayer room.  It has a couple of comfy seats, candles and a cross.  I'm looking for pictures to help create a very special space.  I'm already praying in there, using a mixture of quiet listening prayer and the orders for Morning and Evening Prayer and Compline from the Methodist Sacramental Fellowship.  Already that room is becoming a special place where I meet with God in a powerful way and I look forward to those times of the day when I go into my Prayer Room, close the door and pray to my God.