A Praying Church

 

How is your prayer life? So many people picture their grandmother, sitting in her rocking chair with her Bible in her lap, eyes closed while she talked to God. The reality is, this is one form of prayer, but not the only form. Prayer can be talking to God on a hike. Prayer can be coloring a picture while talking to God. Prayer can be short bursts of “help” as our Children’s Message book shared in worship on Sunday. Prayer can be offered during insomniac moments in the middle of the night. Prayer can be sitting in silence. Whatever it looks like, prayer is simply talking to God, and acknowledging that maybe, just maybe, God hears us.

As we focus in worship on the Three Essential Prayers, as Anne Lamott calls them, I invite you to deepen your prayer life. One of those ways is through intercessory prayer. These are prayers prayed on behalf of someone else. You do this already, I’m sure—God, be with that homeless guy at the light who is asking for help, even if I don’t have any money to help him. God, be with our church member who is looking for an apartment. God, help my kid have a great day at school today even though it was a struggle to get there.

I’m grateful that St. Mark’s UMC is a praying church, full of people who offer these intercessory prayers. We have an active Email Prayer Chain and a Weekly Prayer Group. Both receive prayer requests and commit to praying for each situation or person. They maintain a list of prayer requests received at church, requests in the Messenger, from the weekly E-blast, and/or known/shared by St. Mark’s pastors and staff. These requests are kept and prayed for weekly, for at least 30 days. They keep a list of members, families, friends who have died in the last year, and pray for these people each week, too.

How can you submit prayer requests? We have several ways. You’ve heard the invitation on Sundays to write your prayer requests on the back of the yellow sign-in sheets that have replaced the pew books. This is the easy way on Sunday to submit a prayer request (although it’s more accurate if you write legibly!!). But there are other ways to submit prayer requests. Email them to church via prayerchain@umcstmarks.org. Or, submit them from the church website. Go to www.umcstmarks.org – then to ‘RESOURCES’ on the Home page, and scroll down to ‘Prayer Requests.’ You may call the Church Office (520 297 2062) to let us know about your prayer request, too. It’s OK to leave a voicemail request for prayer – the phone is checked later in the afternoon, and over the weekend when the church office is closed.

Care to join this vital ministry of our church? Both have room for more members. If you would like to join the email prayer chain and receive those prayer requests as they come in, send your name and email address to prayerchain@umcstmarks.org. Email the same address if you are interested in the weekly prayer group, which meets at church on Thursday mornings. Or, simply reach out to Pastor Stuart for more information.

See you soon, as we say prayers of THANKS in worship.
Pastor Lynn

 

WORSHIP SCHEDULE

• 8:30 a.m. Traditional service in Sanctuary and child care in Rm 15
• 10 a.m. Traditional service in Sanctuary
• 10 a.m. Youth and children’s Sunday School and child care (except fifth Sundays)
• 10 a.m. Livestream premieres on YouTube and Website

To access our livestream service:

• From the main menu on our website click “Worship.”  -OR-
• Go to YouTube and search for UMC St. Mark’s Oro Valley or use this link.