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I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that this week was the best week of my 7 years working as a university chaplain.  Although on most days the role enables me to engage with students, journeying with them as they grow personally and in community, the Week of Guided Prayer felt like concentrated joy.

The time was right for us to take part, as venues and hosts and participants offered their availability.  Enabling this week was as obvious as giving a glass of cold water to someone who is thirsty.  

I was aware, as the week enfolded, as I passed students on their way to and from their one-to-one sessions or taking a prayerful moment in the park, that this was something I had longed to see:  a community encountering God and being transformed by the experience of God’s love.  This was not something I could have ever enabled on my own, even though it was what I most wanted.  We needed the patience and experience of the wonderful and generous guides (both in person and on-line) we needed the wisdom of a pattern that had worked well at other universities over many years and we needed the prayers of those who were faithfully supporting us, even if they were unable to take part themselves.

I shouldn’t be surprised by this, but a month later, there are already signs of fruit.  Several people who took part have found relationships reconciled or at least attempted this. I have heard stories about generosity, patience and trying new things.  The Spirit was with us, bringing us life and reminding us how much we are loved, and that Life is sending us out in new ways to love the world.

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