VERY often people only pray when they are in trouble.

I'm glad they do, and I am sure that God hears those prayers. But what a pity it is that we don't pray at other times.

In some churches different colours represent the different seasons of the year. In Advent and Lent we use violet. It is a colour that reminds us of sorrow and sadness and that is why we use it for funerals too.

White is the colour of joy, and so we use white for Christmas and Easter and for ceremonies like weddings. Green is the colour of growth and fruitfulness. We use that for the times in the year when trees and flowers are in full growth, but it also reminds us that we are supposed to grow in wisdom as human beings.

The most spectacular colour of all is red. It reminds of the blood of the martyrs who died for their faith. It reminds us of the fire of the Spirit. But red also reminds us of anger and passion.

All these colours are symbols of the range of emotions we feel in our lives. The fact that we use all these colours in church means that God wants to hear our prayers in joy as well as sadness.

And red means that we can come to God with our anger. Instead of holding our anger in or pretending it isn't there we can bring that anger to God in our prayers. God even accepts it when we are angry with him.

Sometimes things happen to us that throw us into a rage. Sometimes we feel angry and let down by God. At those times it is important to bring that anger to God and let him know how we feel.

To show God how angry we are is the first step in turning our anger into something constructive. So often human anger destroys others as well as ourselves. But when we turn our anger to God it can be transformed.

All these colours remind us that we can pray to God no matter what emotion we are feeling. We often need to hide our feelings from other people. But there is never any need to hide our emotions from God. Michael Williams, Vicar of Bolton Parish Church.