Worship Preview 4.12.26. New Series "Heart of the Matter" - Prayer is...

UPCOMING EVENTS: 

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING – Open to the community! On Saturday, April 18th Join Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center staff for a day of learning about how to identify, understand, and respond to signs of mental health and substance abuse challenges among adults. No cost, lunch provided with registration. Registration deadline is Noon on Thursday, April 16th! Register by calling Angie Smith at (620) 212-4404 or email adsmith@sekmhc.org.

FEEDING FAMILIES IN HIS NAME: Wednesday, April 15 - A free, no obligation meal is served “to-go” style from underneath our portico from 5:15pm to 6:15pm each Wednesday, prepared each week by our members as well as several area churches and community groups. We aim to provide 400 meals per week. 

NEW SERMON SERIES “HEART OF THE MATTER.”  WORSHIP THIS SUNDAY: 10:30am. “Prayer is…”  Scriptures: Psalm 31:1-5, Philippians 4:4-23, Matthew 6:1-27. Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching.“Prayer is …” How would you finish this phrase? Prayer is such a personal, and often ambiguous, practice. How can we possibly “pray without ceasing?” Are we not “pray-ers” if we don’t start with “Dear God…” and end with “Amen?” Can prayer be simply an attitude, a heightened moment of attention to our surroundings, or a gasp of gratitude when beauty crosses our path? Prayer is many things in my understanding.

Episcopal Priest Ron DelBene introduces his series Praying in the Midst of Life saying: “Many of us believe it’s up to us to pray in a way that reaches God. I believe we are in the presence of God at all time and prayer is being attentive to that presence.”

DelBene is saying that it is not a matter of attracting God’s attention or achieving access to God’s realm with our efforts, but pausing, focusing, being intentional about our own awareness of divinity that is constantly present. So Prayer is about Presence – God’s and our own… Prayer is about praise and purpose. Prayer is about petition, certainly, and seeking and experiencing Pardon. Prayer is also about protection and persistence. These 7 descriptive words are drawn from the series created by Dr. Marcia Mcfee that I’m drawing from and are her summary of what the prayer forms or template – what we know as the Lord’s Prayer – that Jesus taught his disciples show us about prayer. Jesus had a rich prayer life. Whether it was public prayers and blessings or private prayers on the mountain or in the garden, praying was a deeply connecting practice for him. Even the disciples needed some coaching from Jesus about how to pray, and we’ll hear Matthew’s account of the Lord’s

Prayer and the teaching context of the Sermon on the Mount where it is shared. 

I decided on this new series because in this broken, divided, and often cruel world we need some rhythms we can count on. Our attention is coveted by so many entities these days, and not all for good reasons. There is a cacophony around us vying for our attention and trying to curate our thoughts, our feelings, our time. It is difficult to extricate ourselves sometimes from these competing forces and even harder to remember our own voices and the call of the Divine to come and rest a while. As we celebrate the Resurrection and the season of Easter, we will focus on the practice of prayer as we seek to live a Christ centered life. Prayer was central to Jesus’ ministry and that tells us that “Prayer is…the Heart of the Matter.” 

As I’ve prepared this series, I’ve been revisiting some of my own formative experiences and times of prayer – a prayer room at East Heights UMC in Wichita, standing atop Puye Mesa and walking a labyrinth at St. Francis Cathedral in New Mexico. Receiving frightening or even devastating news… and people who have helped me walk those times… Times of thankfulness and celebration, times of deep grief or incandescent rage, when I’ve had no words at all. All of these are times of prayer. In the coming weeks we’ll explore ways of prayer, look at the lines of the Lord’s prayer, and visit a number of other Scriptures concerning the practice of prayer. As we begin, I invite you to join in the simplest acts of prayer - to simply take a deep breath…. and as we center ourselves in God’s presence, as near as your next breath, encounter anew these words from Paul’s letter to the Philippians:“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:4-7)

Christ is risen indeed! In life, in death, in life beyond death. God is with us! We are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen! Wherever you are on your walk of faith, you are invited to bring your whole self to worship at 10:30am each Sunday. 301 S. National. Blessings on your journey!