Rector pleased with response to prayer walks around Omagh

A LENTEN initiative by St Columba’s in Omagh has concluded this week after offering prayers for the 33 districts within the Drumragh Church of Ireland parish.

Rev Graham Hare, rector, said the prayer walks were aimed at living out the belief that regular prayer is an essential part of their discipleship.

He said there were countless examples of faithful people who pray to God seeking his counsel and wisdom, needing his help and his mercy and that they had been learning about some of them on Sunday morning.

“As local people of faith, it is important that we love our town and that we pray for our town,” he said.

“I was wondering how we might creatively pray for our town during the season of Lent when I was drawn to Jeremiah 33:3. There, the Lord promises “Call to me and I will answer you and teach you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

“When I counted the weekdays (Monday to Friday) during Lent there were 33, then when I counted up the districts in our Parish, there were also 33 and so the 33:3 initiative was born, inspired by that promise from Jeremiah.”

Each afternoon at 3.33pm, the St Columba’s Facebook page featured photographs of a particular area of the town and specific prompts to help people pray, ensuring that the whole town was covered in prayer during Lent.

“Everyone has enjoyed seeing the photographs from parts of the town that they might not regularly be in and that has been a real encouragement to them to pray,” he added. “Over many years, prayer walks have been a regular discipline at Drumragh Parish. We have prayed around the streets, through housing developments and at key community sites. Some people think that prayer is all about closing your eyes and sitting still, and that can be very important. Prayer can also be active, we can walk and pray for people the that we meet and for the places that we see.”