Christians will line the Walls of York to pray for the City on Thursday 10th May as local churches come together as part of the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ international wave of prayer for the ten days from the Feast of The Ascension of Jesus Christ (on the 10th May this year) to the Feast of Pentecost (on the 20th May this year).
The City’s Bar Walls between Peasholme Green and Bootham Bar will see the first of ten public ‘Gather’ events for everyone between 6.00pm and 7.00pm each evening through the ten days, at which prayers will be offered for the City, its people and churches, commemorating the period after the return of the risen Jesus Christ to heaven and before the gift of the Holy Spirit to his followers at Pentecost ten days later.
Each night a different York church leader has been asked to speak for a few minutes on the Ascension of Jesus (in which he was taken up bodily into heaven) in the Acts of the Apostles, the book of the Bible telling the story of the followers of Jesus in the early years of the Church.
‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is a global wave of prayer launched by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury in 2016 in which Christians of many traditions around the world join in prayer for a renewed gift of the Holy Spirit as they work for the coming of God’s reign on earth (www.thykingdomcome.global).
The daily ‘Gather’ events (the other nine take place in churches throughout the City) are a key feature of a wide-ranging programme in York for the ten days, co-ordinated by One Voice York.
It includes five open-air lunchtime meetings in St Helen’s Square, an Open Youth Event with Silent Disco, performances by York Riding Lights Theatre Company’s Roughshod team, public readings of the four Gospels and the Book of Acts from the Bible in City Centre churches, a genuine electoral ballot box set up for a week outside St Oswald’s Church in Fulford for the public to vote for prayer topics, a host of events through the final weekend with Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu, and finally a ‘Beacon’ worship event led by a team from St Michael-le-Belfrey Church in York Minster at 7.30pm on the evening of Pentecost Day, Sunday 20th May.
Canon David Casswell said, “We’re going to light up York with prayer – Christians of all traditions coming together to pray for our City over these ten days.
“Everyone can join in – go to onevoiceyork.org.uk and click Thy Kingdom Come and you’ll find something you can join.
“When you look at the story of Pentecost you see that God longs to pour out his spirit in every time and on all people – we’ll be praying for that to happen in York right now!”