Archdeacon Michael: Day I had a red face

When I was a child I had a little transistor radio that while in today's terms would be deemed to be huge, was, as it could fit in a large pocket, transportable.
The Ven Michael Everitt, Archdeacon of LancasterThe Ven Michael Everitt, Archdeacon of Lancaster
The Ven Michael Everitt, Archdeacon of Lancaster

It had a single earpiece as a headphone if I wanted to listen in secret. Once I was caught out as I wanted to listen to a rugby match and yet had to sing in a wedding.

So, with the ingenuity and cheek of a 10-year old boy, I threaded my earphone cable through the inside of my chorister cassock so I could do both. My embarrassment on hearing someone in congregation as we processed out saying, “Oh he sang beautifully and look he is deaf” as they noticed my “flesh coloured” earpiece and its cable meant I never repeated that action.

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My little radio was dependent on batteries, AA (or HP7s as they were called then) and they never seemed to last very long. This might have been because I would often put the radio under my pillow at night to listen to a programme.

Time moves on and while no longer dependent on replacement batteries I now look for electrical points where I can charge my phone. Airports and railway carriages often have charging points and I even carry with me a battery pack to enable me to top up the battery in an emergency.

While modern technology is often proudly wireless, I still seem to need cables to enable me to be so.

Of course, there are the times when recharging or being plugged in doesn’t happen. The conversations or work starts to have a “power issue” and can dramatically stop. When this happens there has to be a pause as it takes time for the battery to gain enough power to be able to resume.

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It won’t surprise you that needing to plug the battery in to gain power to enable something to work is for me an illustration of what prayer is! A being plugged into an ultimate power source. Prayer can be the supreme “recharging of our batteries” to power us up for life.

For Christians, retreats, services, quiet times, bible readings etc. can all enable this to happen.

We also believe others can pray for us, they can charge up our batteries on our behalf. As Tennyson wrote in Morte D’Arthur: “Pray for my soul, more things are wrought by prayer, than this world dreams of, wherefore, let thy voice, rise like a fountain for me night and day.”

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