Churches join 2024 Chain of Prayer for Norwich
The Friends Meeting House in Upper Goat Lane in Norwich provided the setting for this year’s annual Ecumenical Chain of Prayer which has been running for 40 years.
It was organised by Laurette Burton, the Catholic Denominational Ecumenical Officer for Norfolk, and was hosted by Liz Hoffbauer from the Society of Friends who offered most kind hospitality to all the participants.
The material for the 2024 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity was provided by an ecumenical team from Burkina Faso. Members of the Catholic Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, Protestant Churches and other ecumenical bodies in Burkina Faso worked to put together the prayers and reflections based on the passage of scripture ‘You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbour as yourself’ (Lk 10:27) and the story of the Good Samaritan.
The Chain of Prayer ran from 10am until 1.30pm, with 15-minute sessions being led by clergy from 11 churches from Norwich and the surrounding area, representing a number of different Christian denominations, including Anglicans, Methodists, Quakers, the URC and Roman Catholics.
The opening service was taken by the Rev Julian Pursehouse, Chair of Methodists for East Anglia District and Convenor for Churches Together in Norfolk and Waveney (NWCT) . The event concluded with a typical Quaker service, with the participants sitting in silence which can be broken briefly if someone feels inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak. Laurette said:
“The diversity of services in the Chain of Prayer is part of what makes the Chain of Prayer so special. A number of people remarked that the day illustrates so clearly the many areas which are common to different Christian denominations, thus bearing out what is so often said: that there is more that unites than divides us.”
Dr Ian Watson, County Ecumenical Officer for NWCT, who attended throughout the day adds that: “Laurette did an amazing job in organising this long standing annual event and Liz was a brilliant host who guided us gently from one prayer session to the next. As a lay Catholic, I was humbled to experience the collective joy of continuous prayer for Church Unity, peace and love. Across the different sessions we experienced prayer, song, chants, poetry, stories, a bit of philosophy and even puppets! You know, often people talk about ecumenism as involving the exchange of gifts between our different traditions, and this is what we experienced as we prayed together as brothers and sisters in Christ. I am really looking forward to next years chain of prayer and to keep up this 40-year old tradition”
The pictures are from the 2024 Norwich Chain of Prayer.