TLDR: Last week, we started a series of blogs on Gratitude, Prayer, Faith, and Sacrificial Giving. Our service to God in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, is expressed in our love of others, and it is grounded in gratitude. Today, we will reflect on how Prayer reveals our vision. Read below for more.
To reveal is to make secret information known, but it is also to discover or uncover the nature of information, or to bring something to light. In this sense, the content and the style of our personal and corporate prayer at Saint Dunstan’s brings to light what we stand for as a church. The dictum, “If you want to see what a Church stands for, watch how they pray” applies in this case. Week after week, we gather together to bring our fears, concerns, hopes, and aspirations to God in community because we know that God cares deeply for us. Our joys and laments belong at the foot of the cross of Jesus, because it is at the cross that the unlimited love of God is manifested for the whole world. At the cross we share in the fullness of our human condition and ask for the strength necessary to lead lives that honor and please God.
The vision of Saint Dunstan’s is to unite all people with the love of God. Last week we said, “These are not ethereal, overly complex, theological constructs. Rather, these are very practical realities that demand a very particular lifestyle.” We identified service as a crucial part of that lifestyle. Today we add prayer to it. I love the Gospel Coalition’s definition of prayer, “Prayer is the act of asking God to do what God has already promised to do, which is modeled throughout the Bible by the patriarchs, the psalmists, the prophets, Jesus, and the apostles.” When we pray, we acknowledge that God is faithful and can be trusted. In fact, Jesus often instructs his disciples to pray, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:6). We pray in full awareness that we are joining a tradition of ancestors and saints that dates back to the Patriarchs. In fact, when Jesus asks us to pray, he invites us to say, “Our Father…” We pray in community, acknowledging that God is Father of all, regardless of race, creed, age, or socio-economic status. Therefore, prayer is one of the ways in which we build unity, and one of the ways in which we unite all people with God’s love.
In prayer, our congregation remains connected to the source of all power. Imagine that you just purchased a brand new, state-of-the-art television or computer, but you fail to connect it to an electrical outlet. Eventually, the system will run out of battery and will be completely useless. Prayer is the way we remain connected to God in Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Without a rich prayer life, a church will soon run out of battery and devolve into secular marketing, trite feel-good messaging, a cultus of the rector or senior pastor, and an ego-centric and superficial lifestyle. Prayer is the antidote to grandiosity and isolation because through it we acknowledge that only God is in control of the Church and that we are not alone in the universe. Sadly, many ministers believe that the future of their churches is completely dependent on their cleverness and skills as preachers. At Saint Dunstan’s we believe that our future is safe in God’s hands. Your ministers know that without the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth there is nothing of real value we can offer you. It is Christ who unites us in the love of God.
I am proud of the fact that we are a praying congregation. Every church service begins with prayer in the vesting room, every meeting begins and ends with prayer, all vestry meetings end with the service of Holy Communion, every Pastoral Care meeting discusses and prays for all in our congregation in need of prayer and for the people who send us prayer requests through our website, and members of the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew, Daughters of the King, and Pastoral Care leaders send daily prayer requests to the entire congregation. In fact, I would dare say that prayer is not something we do, as much as it is part of our identity, it is who we are.
Our prayer life shines a powerful light on our vision to unite all people with the love of God in Christ. We show this in our worship, in our corporate prayers, and in our own personal devotions. We work and pray for unity because we know that the Gospel of Jesus of Nazareth is good news for all people. In prayer we affirm our dependence on God, and we affirm that God will provide for us what God has promised from the beginning. God can be trusted, and the abundant mercy of the Holy Trinity surpasses all understanding,
To God alone be all honor and glory, Amen!
Fr. Roman +
