A Season Of Prayer
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 meaningful 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 future, 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 concern in God’s care. May we listen attentively to the Spirit’s leading to discern with clarity our calling as people of faith in this tumultuous time. May we breathe in the peace that surpasses human understanding, and breathe out God’s own compassion into the world.