Usually, Lent is the season we set aside with 40 days of reflection
and prayer, mirroring the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness.
Recognizing how this pattern of attention and intention is mean-
ingful to many of us, we invite you to add another 40-day season of
prayer this year, beginning Sunday, September 29, and concluding
the first week of November.
No doubt you’ll notice that this season of prayer coincides with
our country’s approaching election. In this time of heightened
anxiety, of deep divisions, and vastly different visions for our fu-
ture, prayer seems a particularly appropriate response – a plea for
protection and participation for every voice and voter, and a way to
keep our thoughts, words, and deeds centered in love and aligned
with God’s hope for us all.
Each week in the Friday and Sunday emails and in print we are
offering you a Prayer Book to accompany you through the week –
Scripture, prayers, poetry, and art to prompt your reflection.
If you happen to have a reading or a photograph to contribute
to this weekly offering of edifying words and beauty, please send
them to Chris Braudaway-Bauman at chris@firstcong.net.
On Thursday evenings 6:00 to 6:45 pm, starting on October 3,
we will gather in the Chapel for a weekly service of silence, quiet
singing, candlelight and a time for you to speak the prayers and
concerns of your hearts. We imagine it as our version of Quaker
meeting, a time of silent listening with an open-ended invitation
for worshipers to speak as the Spirit moves them followed by a
prayer response.
As we join our hearts in prayer, may we place our every concernin
God’s care. May we listen attentively to the Spirit’s leading to dis-
cern with clarity our calling as people of faith in this tumultuous
time. May we breathe in the peace that surpasses human under-
standing, and breathe out God’s own compassion into the world.
