Devoting Ourselves to Prayer

Newsletter Article for June (sorry I forgot to post it earlier).

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

In preparing for preaching in recent weeks, I noticed something I’ve not before: the Day of Pentecost is bookended by the followers of Jesus “devoting themselves to prayer” (Acts 1:14).  This is what they do in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension before the gift of the Holy Spirit for the church.  This is what they do immediately after the Holy Spirit rushes in with divided tongues of fire and the gift of communicating the gospel to all gathered there.  As I’ve read these passages, the lesson I’ve heard is that devoting ourselves to prayer is the proper response to something huge happening, and the practice that paves the way for something else huge to happen. 

From June 7^th through July 11^th, Faith UMC will be devoting herself to prayer using Bishop Robert Schnase’s daily devotional Cultivating Fruitfulness.  If you’ve ordered a book, please be sure to pick it up at the church office.  If you’d like one but didn’t order one, there are a few extras in the office.  In this way, you can each be praying and pondering the theme of the upcoming Sunday’s sermon (beginning on June 13^th).  Further, please plan to stay at church until noon each week, because we’re organizing congregational conversations led by Pastor Matt and others (perhaps even a few “experts”).

Remembering the witness of Acts 2-3, we might ask, “So what has happened at Faith UMC that calls us to such devotion?”  Answer: God continues to proclaim life in our midst in the Son through the Spirit, and God is inspiring hope and joy that is slowly casting out fear.

Again, remembering that the disciples’ devotion to prayer led to something big, we might also ask, “So what is God going to do in our midst at Faith as a result of this praying?”  Answer: I don’t know, but I’m sure it will be for the glory of God and the building up of the Body of Christ for the transformation of the world. 

As a congregation, we are devoting ourselves to daily prayer on common themes because we believe that God has already acted mightily in our midst, and that God will graciously respond to such devotion.  Through this series of prayer, proclamation, and conversation, we invite God into the life of Faith UMC, that we might be transformed, inspired, and energized for the mission of loving into the kingdom all God’s children.