3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
-Colossians 1:3-12, NRSV
Thursday morning, 10:00 AM. Brew the coffee. Set out a few snacks. Grab the greeting cards and a pack of stamps. Page through the prayer cards. Why? It’s time for Prayer Team. Every Thursday morning at 10:00 AM, we gather around a table to review the prayer cards offered up each Sunday in worship, and to pray for all of the joys and concerns listed there.
At least, we used to gather around a table. Now, coronavirus has prevented that. But it hasn’t prevented us from praying, and it hasn’t even prevented us from gathering as a Prayer Team. Now, every Thursday at 10:00 AM, we gather via Zoom. Now, every Thursday at 10:00 AM, we engage in a socially-distant encounter with the God who is never distant.
“We have not ceased praying for you,” the apostle Paul writes in this letter to the Colossian church. We have not ceased praying for you. Friends, the Prayer Team of Wesley Church could easily echo those words. Throughout this season of coronavirus-related shutdowns, they have not ceased praying for you — for your joys, your concerns, your health, your safety. In fact, they’ve never prayed harder for you. We have not ceased praying for you.
I hope you have not ceased in praying, either. Social distancing guidelines and stay-at-home orders have limited our access to so much… but they have not limited our access to God. I’d argue that times like these — times of crisis, times of anxiety, times of sacrifice, times of confinement — are times when we can learn to depend on God’s constant presence all the more.
Keep on praying, church. And keep on sharing your prayer concerns, too. Since we can’t offer up our prayer cards during worship, you can use the digital version on our website (just visit https://wesleychurch.com/prayer-request-test/). Keep on praying, and use this time of social distancing to grow closer to the God who is never distant.
After all :
Our God is bigger than coronavirus.
Our vision is bigger than coronavirus, too.
We are people blessing people.
We are Wesley Church.
Blessings,
Pastor Candy
Want to know more?
- Learn about our church and its ministries: https://wesleychurch.com/
- Make a gift to support our mission: https://wesleychurch.com/giving-2/
- View our recent messages: https://wesleychurch.com/sermon-message-on-video/
- View previous devotionals: https://wesleychurch.com/pastor-candys-devotionals-2/
