Why I Prayer walk the Hospital
The Royal London Hospital has been on the edge of my parish the last 17 years, I’ve visited many times as parish priest and twice as a patient. Over the last few month’s it has entered my front room, through numerous BBC Covid news reports. It was one of these on the weekend of the 9-10 January that really tore my heart.
On Monday 11 January we read in Morning Prayer from 1 Corinthians 1 ‘…to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ’ and I knew immediately what to do with my ‘appointment-free’ morning.
Some years ago, I’d been inspired by Mark Batterson’s book; ‘The Circle Maker’ which instilled in me a habit of prayer walking around places of spiritual significance. It was obvious to me that Monday that God was calling me through the BBC and 1 Corinthians 1.2 to prayer walk The Royal London, (leaving a wide berth so as not to be in the way) praying for patients, nurses, cooks, porters, doctors, families of loved ones, those dying of covid, physiotherapists, nursing assistants and chaplains. And so I set off.
Since that Monday I have prayer walked a loop around this incredible place of huge medical, relational, scientific and spiritual significance. Lord Jesus Christ Son of God have mercy on us!
