19/04/2021
The ten chapters of the Archbishop of York’s book, ‘Prayer – where to start and how to keep going’ will form the structure of BBC Radio 4’s Daily Services for two weeks starting today, Monday 19 April. The Archbishop will lead the daily service this morning and will round up the series on Friday 30 April.
The book covers questions such as: What is prayer and how do I start? How should I pray? How do I pray when prayer seems impossible? Each day will focus on one question to encourage everyone to think about prayer and how this might be brought into everyday life.
The Archbishop said, “We talk a lot about prayer, about the benefits. But we rarely hear how to pray. Getting started is the most difficult thing. Praying is not easy, but joining with the voices of others strengthens my voice and my faith. I’ve discovered that weaving prayer into the existing rhythms of life is sometimes easier than trying to carve out special times in special places. I hope that the Daily Services on Radio 4 will be an encouragement to everyone to give prayer a go, to come into the presence of God and hear him tell us of his unending love, and to travel deeper into relationship with him.”
The themes of the book will be explored by those who sign up to the Church of England’s campaign that will run alongside the radio series, taken from the Archbishop’s book and delivered to tens of thousands of subscribers from Monday.
Daily emails, audio and social media graphics will be shared to guide followers through the themes.
Sign up to receive the reflections from the Archbishop at cofe.io/Prayer.
The Daily Services are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 LW each weekday at 9.45am. You can also listen again on BBC Sounds.
‘Prayer – where to start and how to keep going’ was published by Church House Publishing in 2020 and is available to buy in bookshops and online.
Prayer resources are available on the Church of England website here and here