Church Family,
You may not have recognized it, but this past Sunday was the only date in the calendar that is also an imperative: “March Forth!” With the exception of a pesky letter “u” the calendar lined up perfectly with the essence of our big idea for Sunday morning as we continued marching forth in our congregational experiment with shared prayer.
If you have not yet found a prayer partner with whom to pray consistently between now and Easter, it is not too late. You can learn more about the “Prayer ExperiLent” here and begin this week.
My prayer partner totally interrupted me today. I was busy doing good work and running here and there, firing off emails and feeling generally productive. Then he called because we had previously made an appointment to pray at that time and he threw me off my game. No longer was I turning and burning through tasks, phone calls and meetings. Instead of moving quickly through my day, I stopped, joined with a Christian brother in sharing about what is happening in my life, and spoke with God alongside my prayer partner over the phone.
It was a great interruption. In those few moments, we experienced what I talked about on Sunday in the sermon (which you can listen to here). When we paused to pray together today, I found myself not cranking away through the day on my own, but being united with Jesus Christ through prayer and being united to another Christian. Through a shared experience of prayer, I was invited to move deeper into my relationship with God and deeper in my relationship with others.
Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter two that we are all in the process of being “built together” by Jesus Christ into a holy temple in which God’s Spirit lives. When we pause to pray together, we invite Christ to shape us more and more into this reality. I am praying that you will take advantage of this invitation and find yourself being shaped into God’s dwelling place through the discipline of shared prayer.
Grateful to be in process with you all,
Chris Griggs
