Prayers sitting on a bench looking up at the cathedral tower - Reflection by Canon Ellen

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
    All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
Psalm 37.7
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Mark and I take our dogs Holly and Jacob out for a walk every day. We walk around the cathedral (very slowly – they are old dogs, I have a dodgy back and Mark is recovering from his cancer treatment). The dogs have to read all their ‘wee-mails’ and it seems we stop at every lamp-post, corner and piece of grass. But, it is a highlight of our day.

Along the way we often knock on the doors of our neighbours and say hello. Stepping back quickly once the door is answered and standing on the other side of the path but nevertheless chatting, sharing small excitements of the day and sometimes consoling each other over the challenges. Joan Walters always has a great story to tell (and a puzzle to swop) and we often chat to her along the way, we also see the Padfield family (Jude is Vicar at St James in the City) and their children are a bundle of fun. Our dogs usually have a bark at Lee and Daniel’s dogs and sometimes Pauline Lewis pops her head out the Lewis living room window to say hello. Then we visit Nelson Pike at Tsedaqah House. This is Holly and Jacob’s favourite person to knock on. Jacob is particularly pleased to see Nelson – even if it is from across the path. Jacob also loves seeing Martin who drives the Micah van – Martin is like the dog whisperer.

Then there are the other neighbours, too many to mention by name: cathedral clergy, lay people and families on the close, older neighbours supported by those immediately beside them, Community Spirit (who have had to stop working in the house but come to tend the garden), and those who have become friends through their connections with us as neighbours. As we walk our dogs we often stop and stand (at a distance) and chat.

But, as we come back toward the house we usually stop and sit on the bench that is opposite the tower and just sit and chat and think and pray. That incredible tower reaching up into the sky is silent (we miss the bells ringing!) but it is so beautiful. The powerful calm of the enormity of the presence of the structure and the way the sides encircle the space. It reminds me of the wings of a bird of prey and eagle in flight but also of the way a bird gathers it’s young and tends its eggs – gently, hopefully, nurturing. This is a beautiful place to sit at the end of a walk and I am grateful for it. 

So, my prayers this week have been around allowing myself to be gathered and nurtured by God. Cared for like a mother bird cares for her young: tenderly cherished and encouraged, fed and joyfully enabled. As I sit on that bench my prayers are that it is possible for us all to feel that sense of peace and love in the gracious arms of our God who cares for us.   

Canon Ellen
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While you're here:
Why not prepare for next Sunday's worship? Our preparation sheet for adults and for children can be accessed by clicking on the Resources tab of this website: https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html.
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