Anna’s letter for Summer

Dear Friends 

What a difference a day makes…

26th June, 5pm: A handful of people gather to launch 5[to]5, the 24-hour prayer event held in the Joshua Chapel and the prayer tent alongside it, overlooking the river.

9pm: The young people, who have come together to pray in words, pictures, paint, music and stillness, complain that an hour is nowhere near enough and can they please stay longer?

27th June, 5am: The sunrise breaks through the mist beyond Syon and the full moon still shines above the pub and houses of Church Street.  The tide is up, as it was twelve hours before.

9am: The Choir gathers in the Joshua Chapel to pray in song, voices drifting into the church and out to the riverside.  Sunday morning dog-walkers turn and wonder - have they strayed into heaven?

5pm: World Cup dismay, but great joy amongst those who gather to celebrate the love and faithfulness of God, summed up in these words written by a visitor to the prayer tent:

Thank you for this wonderful place and for this time in our church’s history.  We are privileged to be part of it and what You are doing here in this place. Thank you!

That night-time pray-er was one of many who discovered afresh that God meets with us when we take time to be with Him.  When we stop doing, we are able to be and to recognise God’s presence with us.  As King David wrote, in Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God”.

May the holiday season this summer bring you days of refreshment and stillness, whether you travel or remain at home.  And when you are here in Isleworth, I hope to see you at All Saints’ and especially at the Seventies Summer Fair on Sunday 18th July, 3-6pm.

With all good wishes

Anna Brooker

Priest in Charge, All Saints’ Church.