The Revd Sarah Edmonds Maguire writes about the Say One for Me initiative that took place during Holy Week in Shipston.
We’ve probably all had times when people have asked us to ’Say one for me!’ when they hear we’re off to church. This year the churches in Shipston picked up on that theme and launched our first Say One for Me initiative in the market square. Each day of Holy Week, people from the Baptist, Anglican and Methodist churches invited people to write or draw prayers with the promise that we’d gather them together and pray them all in our joint Good Friday service. Nearly 100 prayers were written, and we heard some very personal stories of joys, sorrows and concerns from the people of Shipston. We talked about what prayer was, how God cared, and what the concerns were in the world today. There were tears and laughter and the trolley stop outside the Co Op became holy ground for a few hours each day.
All the prayers were offered in a moving ecumenical Hour at the Cross service on Good Friday, and the response from the town and the churches means the we will definitely be repeating it next year. Say One for Me is just one part of our working together ecumenically as churches, and has emerged from our close relationships and sharing in the gospel together over the years. An unexpected outcome was that we were also able to invite families along to our joint Messy Easter event, which saw record numbers of families attending and hearing the Easter story, some for the first time.