Joined in prayer across the Diocese
During the time I’ve been responsible for putting it together, I have come to appreciate our diocesan prayer calendar more and more.

And wherever I go, it’s clear that others appreciate it too. In churches large and small across our diocese, it sits on prayer desks with all the other resources for leading services; it is pinned up in vestries and porches; parts of it are reproduced for pew sheets and local magazines. It is very well used! And that’s before you go into private homes where you might find it leafed into Bibles on study desks and bedside tables…
Each day’s entry guides us in prayer from the local to the global. It begins with one very particular Deanery or Benefice and the clergy and Readers who minister there. Any church schools in that place are also listed. Then the parameters shift a bit wider and we are asked to pray for particular people who contribute to life across our whole diocese – such as the Archdeacons, or those who are responsible for music in our churches. Finally, our horizons broaden again and our prayers are asked for the diocese listed that day in the worldwide Anglican Cycle of Prayer.
As you will see if you flick backwards from this article, the calendar forms the central pages of The Magazine. For those who find it difficult to get out and about, it is a lifeline of connectivity, an opportunity to be one with the praying church around them without being physically present. For those constantly on the go, the wonderful on-line availability of the prayer calendar means that access is easy almost anywhere. So don’t be surprised if you see a colleague finding the calendar on their tablet while waiting for a meeting to start, or the person sitting next to you on the bus reading it on their phone! Just go to DofN.org/prayer if you want to join them or even set up a daily feed to your Twitter or Facebook account.
And did you know that the Dean and Chapter of Norwich Cathedral invite people from each benefice to join them for Evensong on the day that they are listed? It can be very moving to experience your own community being held before God by others in this way – a further example of the calendar’s capacity for encouraging a church which reaches out beyond itself in prayer and is thus knit together more strongly and lovingly.
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Articles in this issue...

Is prayer the new taboo?
Sally-Anne Lomas talks about different aspects of praying.
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The practice of prayer
Prayer has been a constant part of my life since I was at University. It was through thinking about prayer that I was drawn to the idea that the regular prayers of Jesus would have been the psalms.
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Partying at Pentecost with puddings and Pimms
Rachel Seabrook tells us about St Edmunds’ annual Pentecost Puddings and Pimm’s event and what effect is has on the community.
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Cathedral prayer: the heartbeat of God’s love
Each day at Norwich Cathedral begins in the same way. Shortly before seven o’clock, the verger unlocks the doors and people begin to filter into the church.
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Pray in all circumstances
A personal reflection on prayer from John Brownlee of Postwick.
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Prayer spaces in schools – making prayer accessible
Anna Walker asked three people who delivered prayer spaces in schools during the Autumn term about the opportunities and impact they present in terms of helping young people explore spirituality and make prayer accessibly.
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A model of contemplative witness in community
"As any contemplative will say, the church is going to wither and dry up unless there are some who take on this calling in a public evident way." Rowan Willliams, "Tokens of Trust"
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Thy Kingdom Come – a wave of prayer across the community
Biddy Collyer talks about the premise behind Archbishops of Canterbury and York’s prayer initiative and shares how churches in the Diocese took part.
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