For years we have talked about taking the church outside or beyond the walls, being the church in and for our community, and reclaiming John Wesley’s vision of “The World as our Parrish.” Now is our chance. Like it or not, we have been forced outside the walls of our sanctuaries and gathering places. Like the people of Israel with Moses, we are wandering in a kind of wilderness. Like the saints and martyrs of the early church, we are scattered in homes across our communities.
How can we continue to be the church in this day when we are apart?
I propose that we must be the church in the same way we have always been the church, or at least always should have been the church. The church has never been about a building or a gathering place. It is about our identity as the Body of Christ, both gathered and scattered. And so in this season I am taking an opportunity to call us back to our Baptismal and Membership vows. These may be slightly different depending on your denomination, but in the United Methodist Church, we take vows which include supporting the church with our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.
Throughout the month of April, I will be sharing reflections on what it looks like to be the Church by keeping these 5 vows even when we are unable to gather. Let us not grow slack in honoring our covenant to God and to one another. Until we meet again...
Today, we begin with prayer. Below the video, you will find a link to a prayer seminar I recently put together on “Praying in the Trinity.” May this video and prayer resource encourage and strengthen you as you deepen your prayer life in the weeks ahead.
“I arise today, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness,
of the Creator of creation…”
~ from St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer ~
Does the Trinity matter? Are we Christians simply trying to be obtuse and exclusive, or does this three-ness and oneness actually make a difference? And if it does matter, how might our own confession of the three-ness and the one-ness of God transform our prayers and our lives?
Attached you will find an interactive and experiential resource for learning to pray in the Trinity. Together we will practice:
Listening to the Holy Spirit
Praying the Living Word through Scripture
Embracing Stillness in the presence of our Loving Heavenly Father