Strategy Update: Prayer encouragement: Parish of Havelock North

Written by Rev'd John and Rev'd Sue Matthews

Kia ora koutou/Greetings everyone

It’s good to be able to share with you some of the joys of the distinctive prayer/intercessory ministry which underpins the life of our parish in Havelock North.

The prayer ministry of a parish is predicated on the promise that the Deacon and Priest make at their Ordination – a life binding vow to pray daily following the Prayer Book. The original rule being that it was to be publicly prayed after the ringing of the bell, however it’s been many years since I rang the bell before morning prayer. The focus of the prayer is quite specific, the collects within the prayer book give us significant focus. We are prescribed to pray for the Church (this includes our Bishop, our diocesan prayer cycle, and significantly it is to be linked to the Anglican cycle of Prayer – where we hold our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Anglican Communion before God – and they hold us in prayer when it’s our turn on the cycle). We also pray for our mission partners and for the issues brought to our attention by NZCMS, and we ‘pray the news’ – locally, nationally and internationally. We pray for those in our community and parish who are sick and suffering, for those who mourn as well as for those who have died, and who’s years mind we recognise. We also pray for our rest homes on a cycle and for our schools as well as using day 8 of our diocesan cycle of prayer to pray specifically for our church schools.

In Havelock North we had a group that met daily up until our Covid lockdown and briefly returned after the lockdown – the second lockdown brought this group to a close. As Vicar I continued to pray the ‘daily office’ (that is how Anglicanism describes Morning and Evening Prayer). Then, in 2023 we were joined by the Hukarere School community, who also prayed Morning Prayer daily and the Hakari Tapu/Holy Eucharist on Wednesdays.

Now Hukarere have moved to their Prayer centre to their new school, we as a parish are once again reconvening a group which will be a visual praying presence. Not just the clergy maintaining their obligations, but a group of parishioners praying the Daily Office as well. This can be something which anyone can do, and when we do, we realise that we join the Disciple who first asked Jesus ‘Lord teach us to pray’. In this way, we can and do join in that singular prayer that the Church has uttered unceasingly throughout the world, from that very moment.

We hope that this inspires you as the Anglican prayer journey continues to inspire us.

Every blessing

Rev'd John and Rev'd Sue Matthews.

We would love to continue hearing about your prayer adventures, whether as individuals or as a parish. You can send them to me at graeme.brock@waiapu.com