24-7

Having done the "prayer-versus-practice" thing two days ago, I've just come back from a 1-hour slot at the Coventry 24-7 prayer room. Your intrepid reporter seeks at all times to be unbiased ...

And what can I say? The whole 24-7 prayer thing was sold to me superbly at the Cathedral Pentecost celebration. Succinctly, I was told that this was happening at 4 Priory Row for the whole of June, and that I would be missing out badly if I didn't go at least once and give it a go.

Never one to miss out on anything, I decided to give it a go this lunch-hour. It turned out to be a truly wonderful experience.

There are seven or eight different rooms in the building, each one designed to hold a different phase of the progression. As one comes in, immediately to one's left is the praise room (I think I've got the name right), where one is invited to spend some time in praise. For me this involved writing a poem, and then getting my hands covered in red paint in order to produce a palm print, within which I wrote something that meant a lot to me about God.

Further rooms involved preparation, praying for Coventry, praying for persecuted Christians, praying for Coventry youth projects, and a Celtic prayer room. All with their own interactive slants. And finally, the holy of holies, where one confronts the Cross in all its shock and horror, and comes to terms with what God has done for us.

I'd booked myself in for an hour. I over-ran substantially.

Eventually I came out, filled with a sense of ... completion. Yes, you too will be missing out badly if you don't go at least once and give it a go.