Praying together (differently)

This week has been the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, a time always marked in Birmingham by #pray24brum, an event I have been actively involved in organising for the last few years.

As various phases of pandemic and lockdowns have evolved, so had the plans, but by the back end of last year, in amongst everything else, it had certainly ended up very much on a back burner as we all dealt with, ya know, global crises and stuff! By early January, with it becoming clear that if it happened at all it would have to be entirely online, I at least, was questioning whether we had the time, energy and capacity to pull together something meaningful and prayerful which would add anything extra to the plethora of online stuff already out there. 

But a few conversations and emails later we made the decision to press ahead with a very different #pray24brum. I am, now, very glad we did.

Filling 24 hours of digital content, at a time when churches are already busy and trying to adapt to yet another new way of supporting their communities, was undoubtedly unrealistic: but the 24 lived on in an invitation to pray for 24 minutes at some point during the two days. Churches and groups were invited to prepare and lead 24 minutes of online prayer, but there was also an invitation for people to step away from their computer screen and commit the time to praying for 24 minutes in whatever way they wished, alone, in their household, but in some mysterious way connected to a community. The image of "a patchwork of prayer to cover the city" evolved.

In the end there were times of prayer led by 18 different groups. Something in the time, effort and prayer that all those different groups put into preparing their slots served as a reminder that there are others who really value this event too. Facebook insights and twitter analytics notwithstanding we have no idea how many people really engaged with the online content. We have even less idea how many people may have taken up the invitation to set aside their own 24 minutes of prayer. Perhaps none of that matters. Perhaps what matters is simply that it happened. 

And for me, personally? This event has always been a very important one. I love the constancy of our regular routine of prayer but #pray24brum has always been a boost, a little reminder as we start a new calendar year that we join with others, across different traditions and expressions, who are committed to and believe in the importance of prayer. 

And yes I have missed physically being with others, people I know, people I don't, people I see only once a year but who I have come to appreciate sharing in prayer with: almost a little like going on a retreat or something, although it is only as I write this that I've come to think of it as such. And yet, albeit through a computer screen, I did feel like I was once again connected to and praying with those people. 

I am pleased that I was able to set aside time to focus on the event, just as I would have done if we were meeting in person. I am not saying the rest of life entirely stopped for two days, it never does, but most of my diary was intentionally blocked out to spend two days ensuring all the content was posted and shared as it should be, and praying. It would perhaps have been easy this year to just "have it on in the background" and I appreciate that for some that may have been the right way to engage. For me, it was valuable to take the computer, stop (mostly) trying to do other things at the same time and just engage with the content and pray. It was valuable, in the breaks between social media, to go out for a couple of short walks still focused on the idea of praying for Birmingham, ... and it was valuable to watch the snow fall with a slight sense of relief that no contingency plans were required!

I am very glad that #pray24brum was able to happen this year, albeit differently. I am very glad to have been part of it.

(Most of the content from the two days, should you be interested, is available on the Birmingham Churches Together Facebook Page)