[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], April 2021]
Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.
Last week we were thinking about how building quality relationships with others and sharing our spiritual lives helps us to become stronger in our faith. Today we’re going to be putting a little bit more flesh on the bones as we particularly think about how we can become confident to communicate with our heavenly Father in a group situation.
Meeting together is seen as an essential part of our growth but I’m sure most of you listening today will know that meetings set up specifically for prayer are the worst attended sessions in our church calendar. We all have different reasons for struggling with communal prayer. Maybe we struggle to be open or we feel shy to speak in front of others. Perhaps we feel uncomfortable with different personality types but don’t want to upset anyone.
I think it probably is the case that when we’re trying to provide for lots of different characters and styles we end up going for the least offensive route which can then end up being a bit bland. So if praying with others is so important to our spiritual health and our relationships what can we do to make it easier so that it’s something we look forward to eagerly?
I thought I’d share some of my top tips today and then if you’re so inclined you could add one of your own brilliant ideas in the comment section so we can all benefit.
First of all, I found learning to pray in a triplet or a small group first of all really useful, particularly with people that have developed a personal relationship with Jesus and are already used to communicating with Him. If you can make the times you meet regular then you’ll quickly get to know each other well and this helps to develop openness and trust. Combining this with eating breakfast, brunch or lunch together is another great way of relationship building.
Come spiritually prepared if you can and expect God to do something special amongst you. Be prepared to share a scripture or thought or word with others. Try to lay down your own agenda and trust God to speak to you all through the gifts he has given to the people in the group. You don’t have to have your eyes closed the whole time or even put your head in a praying pose unless that helps you.
Remember that prayer can be two-way communication even in a group setting, It’s okay to swap between speaking directly to God and then to each other just like with any other interaction. Become comfortable with pauses as a group and spend time listening as well as speaking, and let your personality shine through. God made us to be social beings and take huge joy in our interactions. It really is okay to have times of laughter during our prayer times and does wonders for our emotional wellness.
Once you’ve become experienced and confident to communicate with God in small groups then transfer this to wider settings. Perhaps add people to your group or set up others particularly for special events or situations where you know you share a heart concern with others.
I really believe that God wants to develop our shared prayer lives into something special. As a friend once said to me at the beginning of my journey in this area: “You’ve been eating cornflakes for a while and cornflakes are really good but God wants to lead you to a place where you can choose from a delicious banquet”. A great analogy for me, I love a bit of variety. The other thing about banquets is that I imagine them to be vibrant and full, a place where people want to be together.
Could that describe our group prayer times? Wouldn’t that be great?
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[1] YouTube link: Better Together
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Contributed by Sandy Turner; © the Author
