For one second, standing in our local supermarket, I couldn't breathe. This was our pastor's 8-year-old son. Just months ago, we buried an elder's grandson who died with head trauma from an ATV accident.
Calmly, I replied: What do you need me to do?
We are part of an extraordinary church*--extraordinary not because of the people but because of the cause of the people: the cause being to let God have his way and for us to be teachable, becoming known primarily for loving each other and extending that love outward. This trajectory transforms us collectively into vessels with extraordinary capacity to function for God.
We also live in a small town and news sometimes flies faster than the wind. When it involves a young child and injury, nothing is worse than getting the facts wrong. So I embraced technology and typed into our church facebook group:
Let's stay calm and start praying for Canon Helpman...Borrowing from an arthritis commercial:
A body in motion tends to stay in motion.What if the primary motion of the body (the church) is prayer? What if we calmly start praying and never stop? And what if we pray as Jesus teaches in Matthew 6?
[Don't be] full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don't fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need.
In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can't get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God's part.What is our part? We can't know our part unless we get to know God through prayer and listening and reading what he has to say. It's like jumping into a pool before knowing how to swim--God wants us to jump in; he won't let us drown but he expects us to learn to swim as he teaches.
I often imagine that heaven's leaders (that the rest of us will be following) will be the little old ladies who faithfully swept their porches, tending house and family, while praying without ceasing, for anything and everything. Somewhere along the line, they chose to go into prayer motion and simply never stopped.
I hope, as a church, we are learning to jump onto the moving trailer of prayer that will carry us wherever God is driving.
Thanks, Canon, for the imagery:
May your complete healing be one of God's delights in answered prayer.
May our church body now in exceeding prayer motion stay in exceeding prayer motion.*The Grove Church: thegrovechurch.com.
Comments are welcome at feedyourstrength@gmail.com.
