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My Dear Friends,

It seems as if the George Herbert was a great hit among you, and has triggered all sorts of memories and explorations into the different things that inspire us to pray.

I remember when I was a Curate in Eastbourne, at least 12 years old, and people would say to me, ‘I don’t need to go to church to pray, I pray while I am walking my dog up on the downs (or something similar). I would think, ‘No you don’t, that is just an excuse. Nobody prays while they are walking their dog!’

Well when I got my dog Clyde, and walked him on the downs, I realised how wrong I had been.
(They should never have let me be a priest!)

It is so important for us to realise that prayer is an attitude of life rather than a specific process that we go through that lasts a certain time, and contains some specific elements. How dull life would be if we only prayed in church, and didn’t find it natural to give thanks for the glory of God when we see a newborn baby, or a magnificent sunset, or the scary view from the top of the Puig Campana, or hear an outstanding piece of music, or fall in love, or receive some good news, or witness a miracle, or recover from an illness, or reflect on the fact that a loved one has gone to heaven, (Heartbreaking for us, but glorious none the less) or walk in the forest, or even eat cake.
These and so many millions of things prompt and inspire us to unpack a little more of our relationship with God, and wonder at his greatness.

Liturgical prayer, like the worship we offer in church is a big part of our life. It is what we do, and the Sacrament of receiving our Communion is the height of the expression of our Common Union with God, and our fellow Christians.
A pattern of prayer, like a rule of life, particularly if it includes Morning and Evening prayer which is so based on words of scripture, helps us to immerse ourselves in the word of God.

Let me briefly remind you of the idea that lies behind the Benedictine style of regular prayer.
Vigils, or sleepy prayers. Observed by those who are awake at night. Use the darkness to simply be with God, aware of his Holy Presence in your quiet hours. Prayer can be simple.

Lauds, or I want to Praise you. Wake to thank and praise (laudate) God. This is the moment to spend time in prayer and contemplation, letting our appreciation of the goodness of God flow.

Prime or Let’s get going. Take a moment to look at your plans for the day, asking God to be with you in all that you do. (The trick is to remember that you have asked God to be with you later in the day, when the going gets tough!)

Terce  or that nourishing cup of coffee. Mid morning is break time. Deeply breathe in God’s Spirit and allow yourself to be joyful in his presence as you then return to your tasks.

Sext  or What is going on out there? It is now mid day, and time to consider the whole world and it’s needs. Don’t panic. We don’t have to think of, pray for and solve everything! God knows. We take time to spiritually be alongside those issues on our heart today. Other folk will be praying for other things. Between us we have it covered.

None   or Homeward bound. In the afternoon we close down our work related activities, or our leisure pursuits, and begin to focus on home. It is a time for forgiving, for asking for forgiveness from God, and for letting go of stuff that gets in the way.

Vespers   or Compline. Close the day with peacefulness and prayer. Entrust your life to God until you greet the morning again with joy and thanksgiving.

This Pattern of Prayer has been the backbone of countless lives, and the source of so much spiritual growth. But if you were to speak with someone who practiced it for years, they would, without doubt say two things. The pattern gives them a sense of focus and belonging, and they wouldn’t be without it. And the pattern gives them the freedom to be totally spontaneous outside those ‘Times of prayer’ and they discover that they are ‘In Prayer’ in so many different ways throughout the day that are not part of that pattern.

When we look at the example of Jesus praying we have a very full picture. He prays in the Synagogues and Temples, the liturgical prayer, he also prays by himself, early in the morning, in the middle of the day, and at night. He goes of into the wilderness to pray, sometimes for a very long time. Sometimes he prays right through the night. He prays before major decisions, he prays with and for his disciple. He prays as part of his ministry, and he teaches about prayer.

We will unpack some of that teaching in the next few letters, but let me finish with this.

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer  Luke 11.1-4

11 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
³ Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ Forgive us our sins,
    for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

Until next time, Bless you, Bless you, Bless you, and pray for me as I do you.

Fr Marcus

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Well my Friends, we continue our ramble along the highway to heaven which is prayer. Last time we reminded ourselves that there was no right or wrong way, but it was all part of sustaining our relationship with God, and we finished by pondering on this beautiful poem.

PRAYER BY GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,

God’s breath in man returning to his birth,

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth

Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

The six-days world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

Exalted manna, gladness of the best,

Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,

The land of spices; something understood.

It certainly takes some reading, and I am pretty sure you had to go over it a couple of times to try and fathom it out. Did you notice it is just one long extended  sentence. Well not quite a proper sentence because it doesn’t contain a main verb. I think this is indicative of the idea that prayer is continuous, and always a bit unfinished – but I love the fact that it concludes ‘Something understood’. 

When we do our Bibles studies at Calpe, we read a passage of scripture, and then look for the words or phrases that stand out to us, and see what they mean, and how they apply. So let’s do the same with this.

‘Prayer, the church’s banquet’ reminds me of the Eucharist, that great meal of the kingdom in which all participate because those who celebrate it do so on behalf of the whole of creation.
‘Angels age,’ for me is eternity, because angels never die.
‘God’s breath’ take me back to the time in Genesis when God breathed life into Adam, and ‘returning to his birth’ links us will all who have been born.
‘The soul in paraphrase’ is prayer taking the immense content of all we want to say, and putting it in words that we can manage. But sometimes we can’t manage with words, so we pray in tongues, or we sing (whoever sings prays twice) or we dance, or paint or make music, or walk or do whatever we can that does make sense.

‘Heart in pilgrimage’ is one of my favourite phrases, taking whatever is deep within us, and holding it in our souls as we journey close God who is always present.

Prayer is like a ‘Plummet’ which reaches not only the whole world, but heaven too.

‘Engine against th’almighty, sinner’s tower’ are those things that reach right up to the heart of God. How great it is not just the domain of the righteous, but the sinner’s tower gets there too. (Probably first, but no one is counting)

‘Reversed thunder’. Another of my favourite lines.  Prayer is also like a thunderbolt that we capable of firing up towards heaven, reversing the usual direction of thunder. But we can’t lose sight of the idea that it came down first. We get our ability to pray because God takes the initiative and gives us that ability.

‘Christ –side piercing spear’. Suddenly things have taken a dramatic and terrifying turn, our prayers can pierce the heart of Jesus, and this speaks to me of when we pray for what we want rather than what God wants. It must break the heart of Christ when in all our piety and religiosity we use our prayers to try and affirm the injustices in the world. God on my side and all that nonsense.

    Back to joy. ‘The six-days world transposing in an hour,’ Scriptures tell us the creation process took six days, and we bring all of that, our thanks, our awe and wonder, our openness, our desire to take care of creation and our concerns for the world and all that is in it, and our tiny understanding of the universe, and we bring it all to God within the hour. Perhaps another reflection on the meaning of the Eucharist, or a reference to Matins where we pray the Benedicite. (I will add it as a footnote in case you can’t remember it. It is incredible!)

‘A kind of tune’ – I just love this, the Holy Spirit takes our offering and turns it into something beautiful for God – which all should hear and fear. The fear is as in being in awe of  rather than frightened of. All are welcome to take part in prayer. I love that Mother Teresa used to say Do something beautiful for God.

Another change of tone, this time reflecting on our consequences of praying. ‘Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss’ is what we experience when  we have prayed, or rather allowed the Holy Spirit to pray through us. Things have turned round. Prayer is like the ‘manna’ that comes from heaven, and as we give that gift back to God, all things make sense. ‘Heaven in ordinary’ – that which is divine has come to us in our prayer and produced a gladness which is overwhelming.
‘Man well drest,’ Our response is to offer our best. How could we not?

From here we go back to the grandness of the universe, the ‘Milky Way,’ which takes us way beyond ourselves, and that lovely image of the bird of Paradise. Not the flower but the bird, which legend has it remains in flight, and never comes down to earth. Continually offering our praise.

Then the last two lines, again some of my favourites.
‘Church bells beyond the stars heard’ – wow, the call to prayer, and our response to it going further than we could ever imagine, and being efficacious as it does so.

‘The soul’s blood,’ a slightly gruesome sounding way of saying that prayer is the life giving essence of our souls. Our souls will not flourish without prayer.

    ‘The land of spices;’ there is something very exotic about all that George Herbert has included in his words about prayer, and along with exotic comes the mysterious, so it is a beautiful  paradox that the poem finishes with ‘something understood.’ We can’t explain it, but we get it.

   We can learn so much about the point of praying by dwelling on these beautiful words. Feel free to write you own poem. You will be amazed at what you think when you open your mind.

   Until next time, Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

Fr Marcus.

    I have attached the words to the Benedicte, which we used to sing from the book of Common Prayer at Matins. You will remember that it says ‘praise him, and magnify him for ever’ after each line. I have taken some out just to make it easier reading.

Benidicite, Omnia Opera
O all ye Works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Heavens, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Waters that be above the Firmament, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O all ye Powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Sun and Moon, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Stars of Heaven, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Showers and Dew, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Winds of God, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Fire and Heat, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Winter and Summer, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Dews and Frosts, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Frost and Cold, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Ice and Snow, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Nights and Days, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Light and Darkness, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Lightnings and Clouds, bless ye the Lord :
O let the Earth bless the Lord :
yea, let it praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Mountains and Hills, bless ye the Lord :
O all ye Green Things upon the Earth, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Wells, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Seas and Floods, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Whales, and all that move in the Waters, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O all ye Fowls of the Air, bless ye the Lord :
O all ye Beasts and Cattle, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Children of Men, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O let Israel bless the Lord :
O ye Priests of the Lord, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye Servants of the Lord, bless ye the Lord :
O ye Spirits and Souls of the Righteous, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.
O ye holy and humble Men of heart, bless ye the Lord :
O Ananias, Azarias and Misael, bless ye the Lord :
praise him, and magnify him for ever.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son :
and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be :
world without end. Amen.

Here is the link to a recording of Fr. Marcus’s sermon this morning, on the subject of St. Benedict, and filmed while he delivered it to the congregation at La Fustera church.

We are ready to offer you a warm and safe welcome at our Sunday services in Albir, El Campello, Calpe, La Fustera and Gandia. If you are not here at present, if you are not yet ready to return, or if you just want to be part of Fr. Rodney’s glorious recorded worship you can view today’s communion service by clicking this link –

Click the link to watch Fr. Marcus’ message for today

So My Friends, we are continuing our wander down the path of prayer. Last time we finished by finding ourselves in a good place with God, because we were hiding nothing, and accepting that we were loved.

Today we will get lost a little bit as we explore ‘What is the point of prayer?’
Let me begin with a lovely true story. I was thinking about my response to a couple who were planning to get married, and they had asked me ‘How do you make sure your marriage lasts forever? It was a huge question, and they were asking the wrong person, so I said I would get back to them. I then posed that very question to some of our church members who had been married for donkey’s years. We did it in a group after one of the Wednesday services at Javea, and between them they said some lovely things. Laugh together, Cry together, Spend quality time together, Make time for each other, Listen, Forgive, Go on adventures, Eat, drink and be merry,  Be open and honest, Trust, Don’t nurse your anger, Remember Love keeps no score of wrongs, Much About, Don’t take everything too seriously…….. The list went on.
There was a discussion about communication. One person said ‘Always communicate’ then another said ‘Be careful what you communicate, because you may be communicating your bitterness or anger which will soon pass!’
Anyway, it was a great and helpful discussion.

On reflection I thought that this was a brilliant introduction to the understanding our relationship with God. We need to treat it exactly the same if we want it to last. 
No relationship can survive if it is too regimented, or based on mere pious practices or just the use of other people’s words or thoughts. There has to be Love, spontaneity, humour and a huge dollop of reality.

The way we pray has a bearing on our relationship with God, and if we want that to blossom and flourish and grow we need it to be real.
As you know, there are many of different ways of praying, and our own style will slowly emerge during your spiritual journey, and be a combination drawn from  a huge range.
There is the Public Prayer we do with others in church. The Eucharist where we give thanks to God for everything that has happened, is happening and will happen to further the Kingdom.
There is the pattern of the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer, which is largely structured around the use of scripture. We immerse ourselves in the bible if we follow these.
There is of course our own pattern of private prayer, sometimes said out loud, sometimes silently in our hearts. During these times we bring before God the things closest to our hearts.
These intentions may include the huge issues of the world and the church, Praying for Leaders and followers alike to be open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Alongside these may be the simple offerings of whatever is going on in our life.

We may pray as we walk, or cycle, or climb. We may have a set pattern or just send one up to the Big Guy whenever it feels right to do. We may use words or music or art or drama, or food or dance or whatever. Or we may just ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’

There is no right or wrong way. God already knows that our prayer is just part of the stimulation of having a relationship with him, of knowing that we are in his presence.

I used to think I was not very good at it. I still do, but now I believe that that doesn’t matter. It is not some pious competition, it is real life with God. I worry less about it now, and rejoice that God reveals himself constantly in so many different ways.

May I give you some homework. Please read the following incredible poem by George Herbert, and just take some time letting it speak to you. Reflect on the phrases that stand out, and listen to see if you can hear things that make sense to you. Allow your thoughts to be big. 

I shall share some reflections next time.

As ever,

Fr Marcus

PRAYER BY GEORGE HERBERT

Prayer the church’s banquet, angel’s age,

God’s breath in man returning to his birth,

The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,

The Christian plummet sounding heav’n and earth

Engine against th’ Almighty, sinner’s tow’r,

Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,

The six-days world transposing in an hour,

A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;

Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,

Exalted manna, gladness of the best,

Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,

The milky way, the bird of Paradise,

Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,

The land of spices; something understood.

Dear All,

I hope everyone is well. There are a few things to update you on, most importantly the introduction of the TIE.

1. TIE: As I’m sure many of you will have seen, on Monday the Spanish Government introduced a new residency document for UK nationals who are protected by the Withdrawal Agreement – the Tarjeta de identidad de extranjero or TIE. This means some changes to the appointments process and anyone registering from now on will be issued with the biometric TIE card, rather than the current green paper document. You can find all the detail in the boletin oficial del estado.
   There has been lots of concern from members of the British community in Spain and we have received a huge number of questions on social media. Therefore, we would appreciate your help in underlining two key points:

• All British nationals, who are legally resident in Spain by the end of this year, will have their rights protected, including the right to live and work here, and lifelong access to healthcare for UK state pensioners, including those who claim a pension in the future. These are not affected by the current negotiations taking place between the UK and the EU.
• Whether you already have the green residency certificate – A4 or credit card-sized version – or the new TIE, they are equally valid in demonstrating your residence status and your rights as a beneficiary of the Withdrawal Agreement. And whilst you may choose to exchange your current certificate for a TIE at some point in the future, there is no requirement to do so. The green residency document gives you the same rights as the new TIE card.
  There is one group of people who must take action. If you live here, but don’t already have a green residency certificate, you must apply for the new TIE as soon as possible. A link to the Spanish administration website is here.
  We know people will have lots of questions about the process itself and we are currently updating our gov.uk/livinginspain guide to reflect the changes. It’s also worth bearing in mind that the system is very new and different provinces will be introducing it at different rates. Also, COVID restrictions mean that there will be fewer presencial appointments available. However, people do have time to get their residency certificate and as long as they are legally resident in Spain (meeting the current residency requirements) then they will be covered by the Withdrawal Agreement, even if they don’t have the document itself by 31 December.
  You can see HMA Hugh Elliott talking about this in a short video here.

1. UK Nationals Support Fund: As you may already know, the UK Government has made funds available to support UK nationals in the EU to complete their residency applications and secure their rights under the Withdrawal Agreement. In Spain, three organisations have been funded to provide this support: the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Babelia and Age in Spain. Their remit is to support the most vulnerable UK nationals, providing targeted assistance to individuals who face specific challenges, such as people living with disabilities or chronic illness, those facing language and literacy barriers, or barriers in accessing relevant technology. The attached document gives you further details about the organisations and their current plans. As you will see, we do not have this targeted support for the whole of Spain, but the organisations’ websites and helplines will be available for people anywhere in Spain.
2. Healthcare information: We also wanted you to be aware of a change to our online healthcare information. We now have one definitive guide to Healthcare in Spain on gov.uk. This page has been recently updated. It includes information about how you can access healthcare in Spain as a resident, and up-to-date information about your right to access healthcare during and after the transitional period. You can also sign up for alerts on this page, so that you can keep up to date with any new information. Some people may have previously used http://www.healthcareinspain.eu. Please be aware that this website has now been closed. We’d like to thank anyone who visited the page and offered comments and feedback over the last few years. Please be assured that we will continue to provide the latest information and updates regarding healthcare on our Healthcare in Spain page, and via our Brits in Spain Facebook page.

Debbi Christophers | Consular Communications Officer | Communications Team | British Embassy Madrid.