Our thanks to Pastor Sarah for offering this week’s devotion.
How is your prayer life going? When do you find time for prayer?
Prayer is something that I have personally been working on for a while. I haven’t always been good at it. (Confession and forgiveness is good for the soul…yes…your pastor hasn’t always been good at prayer). These last few months I have intentionally began my day with prayer and scripture.
What scripture should I use?
I fumbled on this question a lot. To help me out, I visit https://www.luthersem.edu/godpause/. It is a devotional site created by Luther Seminary. You can find a daily devotion based on scripture we will hear the next Sunday at worship. I take the scripture reading for the day, open my Bible, and carefully read it.
The prayer part
Then I open my journal and enter a grace I need for that day. Sometimes it’s “Lord help me to be a good listener today” or “Lord help me with time management” or “Lord help me be more forgiving.” Then I read the scripture for the day and see how God might be speaking to me. I end my journal entry with thoughts, prayers, or a petition for God’s guidance. I find that when I begin my day this way, I am more open to the connections God wants me to see, I am more ready to hear the messages God desires me to hear.
Perhaps you have a way to open yourself to prayer, and if you do, that’s great. But if you struggle the way I do, I share this prayer routine as a guide, and also as a way to encourage us to be in prayer together.
Speaking of Prayer
The other week I was in a meeting with our church consultants, Richie and Rachel Musser from Kirby-Smith Associates. Richie and Rachel are walking us through our feasibility study. In the next couple of weeks there will be several opportunities for you to meet with the Mussers. I hope that you take an opportunity to be interviewed by them and chat with them, as well. They really want to hear from you as they help church leadership gauge the feasibility of a Mission Campaign.
In that meeting that I was in with Richie and Rachel, I asked what we could do to help them as they engage in the feasibility study. Their first response was, “pray for us.” They earnestly want us to pray that they may faithfully serve as consultants and keep their hearts and ears open to God’s call for this congregation. They also want us to pray that as a congregation we are in touch with what God wants, and how we may faithfully listen to God’s desire for our community of faith.
I promise to keep Rachel and Richie Musser in my prayers. I promise to keep you in my prayers, as well. Would you keep me in your prayers?
A note about our Feasibility Study and Proposed Mission Campaign
Friends, the Mussers and the church leadership really want to hear from you. You can complete a feasibility survey going to bit.ly/stpeterssurvey2020 and you can sign up for an interview by going to bit.ly/stpetersinterview or by calling Richie Musser at 484-364-0781. If you want to find out more about what the proposed Mission Campaign looks like and more details about the feasibility study, please visit https://www.stpeterslutheran.org/mission-campaign/