Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. (1 Timothy 2:1 Msg)
This Lent we were invited to take up the 5-3-1 Challenge: Pray for 5 people every day (specifically people who do not have a church family); invite 3 to a St. Luke’s event (like next Saturday’s Easter Eggstravaganza), and invite one person to join you for worship on Easter. What a great opportunity too. Kent Millard will start Easter Sunday preaching at the sunrise service in Robertson Chapel. You can enjoy a wonderful breakfast in Great Hall prepared by Chef Joseph before or after attending the 7AM, 9:30AM or 11AM services. (If you're coming to 11AM, we do prefer that you join us for brunch after service as the 9:30AM services are getting full.) What a great way to introduce someone to St. Luke’s on the most wonderful Sunday of the year!
But I want to think briefly about the 5 with you. How have you found the practice of praying for the same people everyday through this season? It has been a moving one for me. I am more mindful of my 5 than ever. I think of them frequently and look for ways to be a better friend and influence. Now I haven’t heard or experienced any dramatic things from these people, but I have a feeling I might down the road. If you have had meaningful (even mysterious) experiences praying for your five, I’d love to hear it! Just hit reply on this email!
I am more aware than ever why I want to pray for people and lift them to God. This series has made me think about what I really believe about God and the way a vibrant faith can change everything about life for people. At the heart of such experiences is an encounter with the amazing depth and greatness of God’s love for us. That alone is enough reason to pray for and invite people to St. Luke’s.
Last Sunday I shared about delivering food with Jay Height, the Director of the Shepherd Community Center, to people in the downtown area. He watched the service last Sunday and sent me an email the next morning with a quote from his favorite author, Henri Nouwen. This captures the heart of what I believe God wants every person to know and why we should do all we can to help them know it!
But Jesus came to open my ears to another voice that says, “I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits, because I love you as I am loved. Do not run away from me. Come back to me—not once, not twice, but always again. You are my child. . . . I am your God—the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you, that I cannot stand you anymore, that there is no way back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my own image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but that will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears, and let my mouth come close to your ear and say to you, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.’”
Rob