Wednesday 24 February, 2010

UK
Politics

The Christian Renewal Centre situated at Rostrevor

By Charles Gardner

The bomb blast in Newry, Co Down, has sent shockwaves across Ireland whose people have been hailing a series of breakthroughs in the peace process interspersed by setbacks such as this.

Republican dissidents are thought to be responsible – the car bomb blew up just outside the courthouse, symbolic of the call for policing and justice to be administered from the province rather than London.

But splinter groups care little for justice or peace and believe Sinn Fein has betrayed the Republican movement’s declared aim of a united Ireland by agreeing to share power with its Protestant former political enemies.

But just as the police inspector about which my colleague Denise Pfeiffer has written (Reducing crime through prayer) has discovered that prayer has reduced crime, prayer is also the answer for Northern Ireland.

Groups like the Christian Renewal Centre in Rostrevor, Co Down, have been working and praying for reconciliation across the political and religious divide for decades.

A mixed community of Catholics and Protestants are based at the centre, where prayer and action towards peace is the focus of their activities. Nuns share accommodation with lay people, with their faith in Christ bonding them together.

I have witnessed it myself, and my wife Linda was a member of the community for several years during the troubles – in charge of catering as it happened – and a number of attacks took place in the area at that time.

She recalls a time when, through prayer and a ‘word of knowledge’ from a member of the community, a big cache of IRA bomb-making equipment was discovered. The information – through one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible – was passed onto the police and indicated the exact whereabouts – in a rubbish dump – of the material.

Linda also remembers how targeted prayer and fasting over Easter one year was followed by an extended period of peace without incident.

I also remember how, some years earlier, our church in Sheffield specifically prayed for the apprehension of the Yorkshire Ripper. And, sure enough, within a short time he was tracked down and arrested!

I thought it significant that after editing Denise’s piece on the policeman’s commitment to prayer, the word count was 911 – the emergency telephone number in America, where 9/11 now has even more dire connotations.

God’s telephone number, it is said, is 333, standing for Jeremiah chapter 33 verse 3 which says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

The Apostle Paul says: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

He also urges his protégé Timothy that “requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives…”

And Jesus says: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

Photo: www.crc-rostrevor.org