Prayer is the basic foundation of Christian living. At a time when so much of our regular activities are curtailed, our ability to pray remains constant. While many of us have deep lives of prayer, one way in which we can continue to add richness to that is to pray together. We are introducing and expanding three ways that we as a parish can pray together, for one another, for our parish, and for the whole world.  

1) The Parish Cycle of Prayer

The Cycle of Prayer is made up of three components. First, each week, we are called to pray for all the members of our parish family. Often we might think of praying for people who are ill, as Scripture tells us to do, but prayer is not just for those who are ill! We want to encourage everyone to take up a discipline of remembering their parish family in prayer each day.

The second component is a weekly prayer intention which will be announced for the Sunday Eucharist, and is intended to shape our prayers throughout the week. The first Sunday is the Feast of All Saints, and the prayer intention for that week is for the faithful departed.

The third and final component is prayer for the mission of the parish. At a time when we face restrictions, it can be easy to become more inwardly focused in our prayers. As we continue to Build the Body of Christ in Cochrane, we are called to continually pray for our mission in this place and the ways in which we are called to share the love of God with our community.  

2) Weekday Eucharist

Prior to COVID restrictions, a weekday Eucharist was offered at All Saints every Wednesday. This is being restarted as part of this prayer initiative. This Eucharist is open to the public, and you do not need to register ahead of time in order to participate; however if you have not already filled out a waiver in order to participate in small group gatherings in the church, such as for ACW, you will need to sign that and leave it on file at the parish office. This can be done on the Wednesday you attend.

The Wednesday Eucharist will take place at noon, and will not be recorded or broadcast. Each week, this Eucharist will be offered with special prayer and intention for the people of this parish. The Eucharist will be offered in one kind only (Bread), and will be following all Alberta Health Service and Diocesan guidelines, copies of which are available when you sign your waiver.

Recognizing that many people will not be able to attend this Eucharist, we would encourage members of the parish to pause and pray at noon, where-ever they are, for the members of the parish. This simple prayer would be suitable:

Remember, O Lord, the families of my parish for whom we pray this week; be present to them, and provide for all their needs; this we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The use of “we” in this prayer is a reminder that we are praying as a parish together, even when we are not physically gathered.  

3) Prayer Night

Wednesday evenings have had the Cochrane Prayer Night videos going back to Lent 2020. These videos last about ten minutes and offer a reflection by Fr. Matthew Perreault on an area of Christian spirituality to help us continue grow in our journey of faith. While these videos are sent out earlier, everyone is encouraged to watch them around 7:00 PM, and to pray for the needs our community of Cochrane and the needs of the world.

To facilitate those prayers, we will be adding a live Zoom-based service of prayer Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM. The service will be no more than 15 minutes and will provide a quiet and contemplative opportunity to offer those prayers for the community and the world. The link to the service will be provided in the mid-week update which is normally emailed out on Tuesdays.