Why Pray? Songs of Praise


Why Pray?

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-It helps focus and clear your mind before the day.

-Parents' health. Well-being.

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-It does help you in the moment.

-Sometimes in sad times.

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Like when somebody's died.

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It's just a belief and a routine that I have.

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If you're wondering what on earth they're talking about,

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it's prayer. But why DO we pray?

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That's a very good question.

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This week, praying in times of tragedy,

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almost a century of prayer,

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and praying together for the nation,

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with prayerful songs of praise

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and music from The Priests.

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In a week when two police officers have been murdered

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in Greater Manchester, our thoughts have been with those

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who have lost loved ones, and many of us have turned to prayer.

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Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

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My name is Sir Peter Fahy...

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In this week's Songs Of Praise,

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we'll be hearing from the Chief Constable

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of Greater Manchester Police, who lost two of his officers.

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Greater Manchester Police is a family,

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and to have lost two colleagues this week

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in awful, violent circumstances

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has just been devastating for the whole force.

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Very, very dark day.

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As well as reflecting on the events of the last few days,

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we'll also be meeting a man

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behind the 24-7 Prayer movements

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and hearing about the positive power of prayer

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on communities around the country.

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Our first hymn is from Salisbury Cathedral,

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and it puts this week's theme of prayer into perspective.

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Clearly, we are devastated today

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by the loss of two of our officers...

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The Chief Constable said the deaths marked

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one of the darkest days

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in the history of Greater Manchester Police,

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if not the police service overall.

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Sir Peter has been telling us what he meant by that

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and how his Christian faith comes into focus in times like these.

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I think a lot of us feel passionately

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that policing is a vocation.

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It is a calling.

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I feel that, in terms of my faith,

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but I know a lot of officers

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who don't have a faith

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feel exactly the same.

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That it is a vocation.

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It's not just a job.

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And I think that's what you

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go back to in difficult times,

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in difficult circumstances.

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That how unfair something may feel,

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that how inadequate you may feel,

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you do actually rely on, at the end of the day,

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you're doing your best and this is your vocation.

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The Chief Constable told us

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how he personally deals with tragic events that are so close to home.

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The chance for me personally

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to be able to every day

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have a bit of quiet time, pray,

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think about your own values,

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your own sense of vocation,

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to examine your own conscience,

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I think, is really, really important.

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A prayer vigil will take place on Tuesday,

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a week after the police officers were killed.

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We know a lot of people would like to express

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their feelings at this time.

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It's mainly, really,

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for their colleagues.

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For members of the force,

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but no doubt there will be members

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of the community, local people,

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who will want to use a vigil

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whether they have a faith or not,

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really - just to be there.

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It is that sort of,

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like, human need to express emotion, to be together.

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For me, you know, personally,

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and I think for a lot of people of faith, prayer is important.

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You do often feel so helpless,

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so praying for the dead officers,

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praying for their families,

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becomes your own reaction,

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your own expression of hope, really,

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for them, at a time of great need.

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In the Greater Manchester Police headquarters,

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Sir Peter wanted a reminder

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of the founding principles of the police service,

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which includes Sir Robert Peel's belief

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that, "The police are the public,

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"and the public are the police."

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We believe very much in what Robert Peel laid down for us

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back in 1829, that we are

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a routinely unarmed police force.

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That we use the minimum of force,

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and that we have

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this very close connection

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with the community that we serve.

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And that is really, really important

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to us.

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Praying for communities is at the heart of a Christian charity,

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that believes that the church needs to engage with local people

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to bring about positive change in their neighbourhoods.

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We work with people of goodwill, of faith and no faith,

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and that's something that I'm really personally very passionate about.

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The charity's vision began almost 20 years ago,

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and led to seven years of prayer in the city of Manchester.

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We looked at the city

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and started to respond by gathering

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all the different churches together and saying,

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"Let's pray about the things which affect peoples' everyday lives,"

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like education, healthcare, the arts.

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We were praying in a very targeted way

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about issues that really affected peoples' lives

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and we wanted to see that our prayers would change things.

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Come on, guys!

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There are a growing number of community cafes around the country

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run by the charity, that bring people together in a new way.

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This one is in Bolton.

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We're trying to reduce anti-social behaviour and stuff in the area,

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so we're giving the children something to do.

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In this economic climate of cuts,

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we've found ROC has been really popular,

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because we include the partner agencies.

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We get the church to think outside of its four walls,

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and we get to look at positive solutions to social problems.

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God loves communities, and we get God's heart in that.

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The church hasn't got a monopoly on goodness or on kindness,

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because God made all people in his image.

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The hustle and bustle and, perhaps, hassle, of everyday life.

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Pete Greig is one of the founding champions

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of the 24-7 Prayer movement.

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24-7 Prayer started with a group of us.

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We were students on the South Coast, in Chichester,

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and we really got serious about our faith.

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We realised, if this is true, we really need to give it everything

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and we realised that the key was prayer.

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The key to pretty much everything in the Christian life is prayer.

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Prayer is a two-way conversation with the living God,

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who loves and listens to the things we say.

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We decided we'll just start trying to pray in one-hour shifts

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in a special room, round the clock

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and just amazing things began to happen as we prayed.

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Prayers were answered,

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people were experiencing God's presence

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in ways they never had before.

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People who weren't Christians were coming in and using the prayer room.

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But not all their prayers were answered.

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When Pete's wife, Sammy, was diagnosed with a brain tumour,

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he had to question whether his prayers were working.

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I would sit by her bed and I would pray for her,

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and it just didn't seem to work,

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and after a while, I just stopped praying,

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because it was hard enough having to deal with the kids

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and waking up in hospital with her the next morning,

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without having a crisis of faith as well.

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Pete now believes prayer really helped them

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get through a difficult time.

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Finding myself in the middle of that crisis...

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..I didn't find I could pray long, impressive prayers.

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I prayed really simple, childish prayers.

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My prayers were kind of like a man falling downstairs saying, "Help!"

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It was, "Don't let her die," "Please make her better,"

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"Please help us," "Show me what to do."

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And in many ways, I CAN see how God helped us.

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My wife's still alive.

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She's doing way better than the doctors ever thought she could,

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but I think I learnt that prayer

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isn't just a force that changes the world,

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but that prayer changes us,

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and that, in prayer, we experience peace.

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We experience God's presence with us.

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So I think we learnt something about how God

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doesn't always airlift us out of our problems.

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Sometimes he parachutes in

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and he joins us in the middle of the mess.

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Some people dedicate their whole lives to prayer.

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I'm off to meet two nuns who have done just that.

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'St Michael's Convent in Ham Common in Surrey

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'is home to the community of the sisters of the church.

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'Sister Dorothea is 97 years old, and Sister Veronica is 30.'

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It's fair to say that you've devoted a long time to prayer in your life?

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Yes, I have.

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Has the way you pray changed over the years?

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Oh, yes...

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entirely.

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I mean, it's very much, I think,

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a sense of being present to God,

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of feeling God's presence.

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Have you learnt a lot from Sister Dorothea?

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I have, yes, a lot,

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and also Dorothea has been Mother Superior,

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and just her examples are very important.

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-Do you pray all day?

-Yes.

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It's all day, yes,

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even though you're not in the church or in the chapel setting,

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but whatever you do, you know,

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if you know that, whatever you do, you do it for God,

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then it's all about prayer.

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For somebody that's never prayed before, why should they start now?

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Why should they try it?

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I think you can be aware

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of whatever you're doing.

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I mean, for instance, there's an idea

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on which the Buddhists are very much keen, called mindfulness.

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-Yes.

-And all the time, you're aware

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everything is part of you,

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part of life, part of your life with God.

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It's all holy.

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I mean, we have our prayer times when we pray together,

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and we all have our separate...

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but most of our life, we're living ordinary lives.

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I mean, I've been headmistress of a school,

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where you can't be praying half the time,

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a children's home - you're looking after children.

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It's prayer. You can be prayerful.

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You can be aware that what you're doing is God-directed.

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Do you think all prayers are answered eventually?

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Well, you're aware of the needs.

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You share them with God's presence, and really,

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you leave with him the outcome.

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Well, not every prayers are answered,

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but that doesn't mean that God doesn't answer our prayer.

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They are answered,

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but in one way or the other that we cannot understand.

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In what way does it enrich your life?

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It's quite difficult to begin with,

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if anybody is joining a religious order

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and to live in this life of prayer.

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It's really hard work.

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It's really hard work, to be honest.

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Prayer is not easy.

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How do you think your life would be different without prayer?

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Well, it's a sense of being held,

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of belonging to something beyond yourself,

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that your life has meaning,

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whatever you're doing.

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# Our father

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# Who art in heaven

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# Hallowed be thy name

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# Thy kingdom come

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# Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

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# Give us this day our daily bread

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# And forgive us our trespasses

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# As we forgive those who trespass against us

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# And lead us not into temptation

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# But deliver us from evil

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# For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory

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# Forever and ever

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# Amen. #

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This Saturday, thousands of people are going to be gathered here

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at Wembley for the National Day of Prayer.

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'The West Ham and Millwall stadiums

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'have already hosted mass prayer events.

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'Now, it's Wembley's turn.'

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As a child, you're encouraged to kneel by your bed and pray.

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It's a very solitary thing.

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On Saturday, 70,000 people will be here all praying for one thing.

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Does that make that prayer more powerful?

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It's a different atmosphere.

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I mean, people just get into the flow of it.

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Get into the flow of the worship.

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They have worship bands and worship leaders

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that they're familiar with as well.

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That also helps. Then you have the choir.

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-Jesus! CROWD:

-Jesus!

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-We ask you! CROWD:

-We ask you!

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Help!

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We tell people to pray in groups,

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we tell them to pray individually,

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we tell them to pray at a local church.

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And so, Aled, it's...

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you should come. You'd really enjoy it!

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I'm getting anxious a little bit.

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I'm imagining 70,000 people here praying powerfully up to God.

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What about if he's not home that day?

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I've lived long enough to see prayers, heartfelt prayers, answered.

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And I've lived long enough to see heartfelt prayers not answered.

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It's a mystery. And sometimes we can't answer all the questions.

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But what we do know is that the Bible orders us to pray,

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and when we do pray, we do see things happen.

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Somebody said, "When you pray, coincidences happen.

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"When you stop praying, they stop." HE LAUGHS

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So just keep praying and let those coincidences keep happening.

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Dennise Christensen was one of the thousands that attended

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the previous National Prayer Gatherings.

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I think the biggest thing to pray for

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is unity -

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unity amongst people,

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unity amongst the generations, the different cultures.

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Christianity is a very inclusive religion,

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and Jesus is obviously our role model,

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and when I hear about his last prayers...

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his last words were in the form of a prayer to his father,

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and saying, "When I leave, may there be unity."

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And then he said, "Let the world know that these are my disciples

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"because of the love they have, one for another.

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"Let the world see that, at the root of it,

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"it's loving each other that brings power and brings strength."

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'Dennise has kept a journal to record answered prayers from her life.'

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Well, this is my little treasure book of prayer.

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It's actually my book of answered prayer,

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and we live in very troubled times,

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and with my children growing up in the heart of the city,

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as it were, we've gone through some very difficult times,

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and if God doesn't come through for me on those difficult times,

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then what is the point of my faith?

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Dennise is really looking forward

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to praying with others at Wembley Stadium.

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To fill it with prayer, worshippers' prayer...you know,

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when we sing to God, it's prayer,

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when we meditate, it's prayer.

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Prayer is wherever there is unity amongst Christians

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and where we are invoking the same God.

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We're hoping that people will leave this place

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with a sense that prayer is powerful

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and prayer will affect a change.

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Throughout the centuries, saints have left us

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with their thought-provoking prayers,

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like this one from St Richard, once Bishop of Chichester.

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"Thanks be to my Lord, Jesus Christ,

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"for all the benefits thou hast given me...

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"..for all the pain and insults thou hast borne for me.

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"O, most merciful redeemer, friend, and brother...

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"..may I know thee more clearly,

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"love thee more dearly...

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"..and follow thee more nearly.

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"Amen."

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And before we go, a medley of two great gospel songs

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from the congregation of St John at Hackney.

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Next week, I'll be beside the sea in Brighton,

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to meet a talented artist who's divinely inspired,

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and a high-flying mum who's changing lives around the world,

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and the singing comes from Church of Christ the King,

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led by Stuart Townend.

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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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