Dear Friends,
In 2023 we convened a year-long prayer community called Wonder, and it was a truly blessed time. We’ve decided to do it again in 2025, and are inviting people to sign up to join us.
The group will be approx. 15 people, and we will meet in person in various locations around the diocese, one Saturday morning each month of 2025 (excluding August and December).
Here’s all the info and a few comments from last year’s Wonderers, to whet your appetite:
The Wonder Prayer Community 2025
Would you like to join a prayer community, journeying together to discover the varied landscapes of prayer?
Prayer is the incalculable privilege and joy of communion with the presence of God. Yet so often it can feel more like an obligation or a burden. The aim of ‘Wonder’ is to form a little community, lasting just a year, and to discover together not the weight of prayer but the wonder of prayer.
‘Wonder’ has three focuses:
Praying together – tasting wonder as we encounter the presence of GodLearning together – making space for wondering and curiosity as we explore different types of prayerJourneying together: wandering through a year of life together, sharing our stories and keeping each other company in prayer.We will form a community of about 15 people, meeting almost every month throughout 2025. Each gathering will last three hours and will take place on a Saturday morning.
We will meet in various locations around the diocese and the year will be free of charge. Participants will be asked to do their best to attend all sessions.
When we get together, we will hear teaching from different voices on different types of prayer and have the opportunity to try things out. The emphasis will be on praying together, more than listening to a talk.
We will explore together a range of different themes, such as using art and music in prayer, prayer and the Bible, prayer and creation, and healing and the Holy Spirit, to name but a few. Though there will be teaching in each session, the emphasis will be on praying together.
The Wonder Community will meet on the following Saturdays of 2025 (venues yet to be confirmed):
18 January
22 February
22 March
26 April
17 May
21 June
19 July
20 September
18 October
15 November
What do the 2023 Wonderers say?
“A precious opportunity to pray with a settled group of wonderful pray-ers. To listen and notice God together, to find voice in a safe place.”
“A time to learn, share, grow & enjoy prayer in a safe place with people who want to see the love, truth and light of Jesus in our world.”
“As someone new to the Church of England I so appreciated being able to experience a very wide variety of ways both to pray and to view the Christian life with a group of people who have a deep love for Jesus.”
“A safe healing space to interact with God in so many different ways … like a tapestry of bright threads … and a place to celebrate difference! Just Wonderful !”
If you’d like to request a place in the 2025 Wonder Community, or if you have any questions, please reply to this email to let me know. And please feel free to share this information with anyone else you think might be interested.
Blessings,
Lyndall
Lyndall Bywater