A prayer vigil – a time dedicated to expectant listening and communication with God.
To individuals who do not have a faith, the importance of a vigil can feel like a little bit of a mystery. Why would someone select to take a seat or stand for sometimes prolonged periods of time, often in silence?
But as Christians, the importance of this practice brings us back to The Bible. The Bible repeatedly tells us concerning the power of prayer (Matthew 17:21, Acts 1:14, Ephesians 6:18-19), and Jesus himself gives the instruction several times to “watch and pray”.
The most notable occasion being the night before his crucifixion, within the Garden of Gethsemane. When Jesus is about to face his biggest hardship, he prays and asks his disciples to maintain watch with him. When Jesus sees that his disciples haven’t done this, and have as a substitute fallen asleep, he’s saddened.
As the world becomes an increasingly difficult place, the challenge of spreading the excellent news becomes harder. As the climate crisis wraps our brothers and sisters around the globe into increasing desperate life conditions, it could possibly be difficult for people to see God through the suffering.
This was never made clearer to me than when a lady in a region devastated by drought asked me why God hated her. The pain in her face was evident. But it was not God causing her suffering, however the greed of those humans set on creating an increasingly hostile world.
The UK can be beginning to feel the results of environmental breakdown. The frequency of storms hitting our shores have increased, and still a gas-fuelled cost-of-living crisis is squeezing people’s budgets further than ever before, with some having to choose from eating or heating.
It’s easy to feel helpless, when corruption and lies are something we come to expect from our leaders and multinationals seem largely to be unaccountable and to operate above the law. But as disciples of Jesus, our instruction stays the identical – “watch and pray”. Only then can we truly take part in the renewal of God’s creation and the bringing of the Kingdom.
So this Lent, we’ve got been leaning on our most ancient of traditions – prayer. The No Faith In Fossil Fuels Vigil is going down from the 14th to the twenty fourth Feb 2024. Christians from across the UK are coming together to take a seat in prayerful reflection outside the gates of power – parliament in Westminster. A complete host of organisations are involved on this: Christian Aid, Tearfund, CAFOD, The Salvation Army, JPIT, Student Christian Movement, A Rocha, Green Christian, Operation Noah and more.
Bishops have been involved, MPs have been involved, churches, small groups and more. And there’s still time so that you can take part. Stay for an hour or a day. If you suspect in the facility of prayer, join us in prophetically reimagining this world into something beautiful.
