Letter from Jon, April 2025 

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen

 Dear Liberty Family and Friends

It is a beautiful, sunny day as I write this letter (let's hope there are many more to come this year!).  We are halfway through Lent and, as many of you will know, our focus through Lent this year is on prayer.  On Sunday mornings we are journeying through the Lord's prayer, inviting Jesus to 'teach us to pray'.  We have also been sending out daily prayer videos based around the Lord's prayer with a number of contributors (many thanks to all who have contributed so far and we still have quite a few days to go if you want to record a video and send it to me).

If you have been watching these videos then you will notice that all of my videos so far are recorded outside on my regular morning walk through Dunfermline's beautiful parks and Abbey grounds, and I realise that most of them have been recorded on beautiful blue-sky mornings. (I find that blue skies always make praying easier!)  Just a reminder that you don't have to go into your closet and close the door to meet God!

Preparing the Sunday messages on prayer and recording these daily videos has been a reminder to me, again, of the rich diversity of prayer.  It is not just coming before God with a list of needs for ourselves and others. It is an invitation from our heavenly Father to walk daily with him.  It is a place of confession, a place of vulnerability and intimacy, a place of peace and trust, a place where we can cry out to God.  It is a place to pour out our worries, our fears, our anger and frustration, and it is also a place of silence.  It is a place where we can connect with the heartbeat of God for his world.  It is a place where we can be transformed, healed, encouraged and made whole. 

We all engage with God in different ways.  For me, clearly, that is outside in nature (especially when it is sunny!).  For others it will be behind closed doors.  For some it is when praying with people and for others it is silence and solitude.  For many it is a mix of all these things.  My encouragement for us all through this season is that we find time to engage with God in a way that we find comfortable, but also, maybe, to try something new, something that stretches us a little – you never know, you might find a whole new way of meeting God. 

My morning walks each day are usually carried out at a fast pace (ask Fiona!) but there is a place each day in Pittencrieff park where I consciously slow down and listen for God.  It is a place where I imagine what it must have been like for Adam and Eve to walk in the garden with God in the cool of the day.  I pray that each of us would find that place where we are so aware of the Father's loving presence.  I pray you would know his peace, his protection, his provision and his delight as he spends time with you.

Much love and blessing

Jon