“Through prayer, meditative reflection on scripture, and community worship,
we as Christians discover the paths of our faithfulness.”
– David and Kaye Edwards, Fellowship of Prayer, 1994
On February 2, 2011, in the Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Christian Egyptians formed a wide circle and held hands, facing outward, to protect their Muslim neighbors as they knelt in prayer. Four days later, when Coptic Christians held a mass in the same square as a show of solidarity with the antigovernment protesters, the Christians were protected in like manner by Muslims.
Last autumn a pastor in Gainesville, Florida made plans to publicly burn the Qur’an. The international protests that were sparked ignited local Christians and Muslims to begin to meet in interfaith gatherings. They prayed together, pleaded with the pastor to cease and desist from his plans, and, as a long term result, formed a coalition of 25 faith communities to study the Scriptures, share meals, and sponsor a Habitat for Humanity build.
Praying together works. Study your Holy Scriptures and you will see that no matter what your walk of faith, it is our Creator who teaches us to pray. The One who created and creates wills for us to communicate with the holy and with one another. Unlike any other form of communication, the act of praying has the power to connect us with God; prayer has the unique capacity to connect us with each other.
This week in the Christian Century we read, “People who attend religious services regularly and build friendships within their congregation indicate higher levels of satisfaction with their lives, according to a Faith Matters survey of American adults conducted from 2006 to 2007. Strength of religious convictions and private religious practices such as prayer do not by themselves indicate higher levels of satisfaction. What matters is a strong sense of religious identity and belonging and the forging of friendships within one’s faith community. ‘It is neither faith nor communities, per se, that are important, but communities of faith,’ report the authors of the study. ‘For life satisfaction, praying together seems to be better than either bowling together or praying alone.’” [American Sociological Review, Dec. 2010)
Prayer draws us together with God. Julian of Norwich put it best, saying, “Prayer oneth the soul to God.” Prayer draws us together with one another. There is nothing haphazard or accidental about the fact that our church gatherings begin and end with prayer; that our worship services are interspersed with prayers spoken and sung and offered in silence; that for the next three months we are going to meet in triplets (groups of three) ten times for the sole (soul!) purpose to pray.
At Emory University, Professor Tom Long preached a sermon that pointed out a difference between receiving counseling from a secular therapist and a pastor. When a session is over, the therapist will pull out a calendar to set up the next appointment, while your pastor will pray with you, invoking the presence of God to watch over you while you are apart, one from the other.
As always, First Christian Church of Decatur, know that you are in my prayers and that I am delighted to be your pastor. Shalom,
James Brewer-Calvert