Dear Church Family
Today continues an attempt at a weekly letter to our church family as we endure the pandemic we know as Covid-19. I hope that you can find these components of growing your prayer life helpful to your own journey of faith. We need a deeper connection to God, the first great commandment of Jesus, to help us navigate both the suspension of normal life because of the pandemic, and the attempts to find a way forward with the social challenges related to racism and our need to find ways to connect to our neighbors, the second great commandment of Jesus.
On Wednesday June 24, at our AWE service, I offered how to pray for an hour, by dividing up the hour into 12 5 minute segments. It is based on an article I read summarizing the book The Hour That Changes the World by Dick Eastman Blessings on the ways you grow in prayer. You could even just emphasize one element for a few days.
2. Waiting on the Lord
Waiting on the Lord is an act of surrender to, and of love and admiration for God, and is often wordless worship. During your silence before God, tune into God Himself and direct your whole being to Him and commit yourself to Him anew. During this time, do not express your thoughts in words, simply concentrate on God the Father, His Son Jesus your Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit.
We have a really hard time with waiting. Just look at how we are reacting to the Cabin Fever experience around this pandemic. We are dying to get out of the house, and in some cases, literally. Eight states have now set new records for daily cases of Covid-19. God can help us with that, but it’s called waiting. One of my favorite passages of Scripture, because I find it so helpful, is from Isaiah 40:29-31 “He give power to the faint, and strength to the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young shall fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (NRSV)
Waiting is like watching the toaster after you have pushed the bread down, something good will pop back up, but you stare and hope that it won’t take as long as it normally does. We should recognize that waiting for the Lord is so that something good will pop up, but it’s in God’s timing not ours. One of the things we can do is count to ten, by naming ten things you are thankful for from God’s gifts to you. Look around, and maybe come up with something you have not thanked God for in a while. Look back a year or two and see if you’ve forgotten an answered prayer along the way.
Remember it’s the Lord we are waiting on. The Creator of the Universe, the one who loves us so much that all is forgiven, and eternal life is promised for those who rely on the Lord. Just think how the disciples felt both over the weekend after Jesus was crucified, and the ten days between the Ascension of Jesus back into heaven the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Join us for AWE tonight at 7 pm. Remember we will celebrate a Virtual Holy Communion on Sunday. Be prepared with your own version of the elements, bread and juice/wine.
Blessed day to every one.
Pastor Jeff
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