As a pair of parishes we are totally committed to the Blackburn Diocesan Year of Prayer for Growth and Renewal.

In Lent we are encouraging all parishioners to join with our prayer  guild – The Guild of Anna & Simeon to pray related prayers prepared by our Anna Chaplain, Dr Helen Hindle.

Wednesday 5th March

Ash Wednesday

 

 Pray that you would be transformed and grow during this season of Lent.
Thursday 6th March Pray that you would have wisdom in your actions.

 
Friday 7th March Pray for joy in your worship.

 
Saturday 8th March Pray for power in your witness.

 
Week Commencing 9th March
This week we will focus on the opening words of the Diocesan prayer:

God of mission,

Who alone brings growth to your Church,

Send your Holy Spirit to give vision to our planning.
Joel 2: 28-29

Then afterwards
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit                  Joel 2: 28-29 (New Revised Standard Version)
Sunday Pray for the church to be focused on God, and to recognise that all growth comes from God.
Monday Pray for the Holy Spirit to be poured out across the diocese.
Tuesday Pray that across the diocese we would be open to receive the Holy Spirit.
Wednesday Pray that we would be open to listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Thursday Pray that during this year, across all generations, we would be open to dreams and visions from God.
Friday Pray that we would be able to share those dreams and visions together and to listen for God’s voice as we discern the way forwards.

Pray for humility as we do this.
Saturday Pray for protection on the church as we seek God’s will.
Week commencing 16th March
Send your Holy Spirit to give wisdom to our actions.

 

We will use verses from James to explore characteristics of wisdom, and pray that these characteristics would be seen in the action of the church, and that our actions would be guided by God’s wisdom.
 James 3: 13-18

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

James 3:17 (New Revised Standard Version)
Sunday Pray that the church would seek wisdom from God, a wisdom which is pure and holy, rather than ‘the wisdom of the world’.

 
Monday Pray that our actions would be peaceable.

 
Tuesday Pray that our actions would be gentle.

 
Wednesday Pray that we would be willing to yield, with wisdom to discern when it is necessary to stand form and when to yield.

 
Thursday Pray that our actions would be full of mercy.
Friday Pray that our actions would be full of good fruits.

 
Saturday Pray that all our actions would be filled with wisdom that comes from God.

Pray that we would be guided by God in all that we do.
Week commencing 23rd March
Send your Holy Spirit to give joy to our worship
Sunday Pray for the worshipping communities connected to our parishes including:

·      Rufford St Mary’s Church

·      Tarleton Holy Trinity Church

·      Forest/Muddy Church at Mere Brow School

·      Choir Church at Tarleton Holy Trinity School

·      Diamond Disciples (youth group for Primary School aged children)

·      Impact 412 (youth group for High School Children)

·      Sunday School and Sunday Club at Tarleton and Rufford Churches

·      Collective worship within our schools:

o   Mere Brow CE School

o   Rufford CE School

o   Bishop Rawsthorne School

·      Alsley Lodge Care Home
Monday Pray that our worship would involve our hearts as well as our minds.
Tuesday Pray for a renewed sense of awe as we worship.
Wednesday Pray that we would meet God as we worship.
Thursday Pray that our faith would be nourished as we worship and that we would be renewed and strengthened to live our lives.
Friday Pray for joy in our hearts as we worship.
Saturday Pray that God would be at the heart of worship.
Week commencing 30th March

 
Send your Holy Spirit to give power to our witness                                                             =
Sunday

Mothering Sunday

 Pray that, as a church filled with the Holy Spirit, we would ‘shine from the inside out’ so that others will see Jesus in us.
Monday Pray that we would be conscious of the Holy Spirit’s presence in all our relationships and interactions.
Tuesday Pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to listen well to God and to the people we meet.
Wednesday Pray that the Holy Spirit would fill us with love for others.

 
Thursday Pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to ‘be present’ with others, remembering that sometimes no words are needed.
Friday Pray that the Holy Spirit would transform our attitudes towards others.
Saturday Pray that the Holy Spirit would guide our words as well as our actions, and give us boldness to share God’s love.

 

 

All groups and schools with in the parishes are fully involved in the Year of Prayer. Here are some examples:

Each week in our church schools at Collective Worship we are following the Diocesan Board of Education scheme.

Our Key Stage 2 Youth Group Diamond Disciples have been using Lego to pray.

Rufford Sunday School and Tarleton Sunday Club children are preparing prayers on fish that will be placed in a fishing net at the February All Age Worship Service.

Members of our housebound prayer guild – The Guild of Simeon & Anna are hard at work in prayer

 

Each week on a Tuesday at 8.15am parishioners are invited to join the clergy for Lauds (including Prayer for Growth and Renewal) in person at Holy Trinity, Tarleton or on line here.

Throughout Lent we will meet for an hour before The Sacrament  at 7.15pm on Friday evenings and will join in Bishop Phillip’s study of Prayer in the Bible on Wednesday evenings. Both at Holy Trinity, Tarleton.