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Our 24 hour prayer vigil begins this Friday at 10:00 a.m. I hope that you have signed up to pray with us during one of the one-hour time frames. Gray always says that you don't have to pray for 24 hours and that is true; however, when you are participating in one of these time frames you help to ensure that our family of faith is collectively praying for 24 hours.
At our session retreat several weeks ago Presbytery Executive Rev. Aisha Brooks-Lytle, discussed potential barriers to prayer. While prayer is meant to be at the center of our daily lives most of us will confess that often that we have some discomfort with our prayer life. I want to invite you to think of the following hurdles to prayer and how the prayer vigil can help to remove these barriers.
Hurdle 1-" I don't feel comfortable praying out loud." During the vigil you pray silently.
Hurdle 2- "I don't know what to pray for." We provide prayer guides and a sheet of needs submitted to us over the past month so that we can pray for specific needs.
Hurdle 3- "I'm so busy I forget to pray." By committing to one hour of prayer in the sanctuary you will intentionally spend time with God in prayer. Slowing down to pray can be transformative.
Hurdle 4- "I don't like praying in front of people." You will experience an intimate sense of solitude in the sanctuary so the sense of any other people in the sanctuary will disappear.
Hurdle 5- " Praying for 1 hour seems like a long time." Past participants regularly say they had this concern but experience a sense of calm that lessened their time consciousness and that the 1 hour really flew by.
If you are experiencing a hurdle feel free to discuss this with one of the pastors, Allison, Alice Ann, or past participants. Get over the hurdles and come pray with us!
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