Rector's Column for June

The Power and Presence of Prayer

Never doubt the power of your prayers, particularly when we gather as the people of God joined in our common worship, offering our intentions to praise and honor God, to ask for healing and help, to ask for forgiveness and offer repentance, to thank God for blessings of every kind, seek discernment for our lives and community, and lift our song and add our amens as the prayer of our hearts.

Those who sit in the congregation quietly are pursuing the most crucial ministry of God’s people as they pray, lifting up not only their own lives, but those of others - people dear to them, strangers whose need they know of, and even people and events far off about whose need we cannot be sure but whose good we seek. It is no passive service - this being part of church worship - and the silences are as important at what is said or sung aloud.

We do not come to church primarily to improve or divert our minds or uplift our hearts or even to cultivate our souls. We come to give God the honor due to God. In doing this first duty to the Holy One, those other and more personal benefits flow to us as well. Church worship is not a self-help group, a workshop on spirituality, or an experience of theatre for our entertainment. We come to immerse ourselves in the divine Presence and mystery, to be available to God, to be transformed and shaped by God’s love as it is manifest in the beloved community of Jesus Christ. In doing this, we participate in something much greater than ourselves. Currents of mercy carry us along and energize and direct our prayer where it is needed. God makes use of us. God delights in us. And mysteriously the reign of God is built up by this participation.

As summer begins, I urge you to remain faithful in your prayer and presence. As you travel, find church wherever you go and join your prayers with others there. And please try to keep your pledge current as the expenses of life and mission at St. Augustine ’s continue all summer long, and decisions for next year must be made on the basis of the unfolding of this year. Your sisters and brothers in Christ need your presence and the power of your prayers joined with their in church….and carrying them along when they find themselves sometimes unable to pray for themselves. Coming to church not only honors God who has given you everything you have and are, but also is a ministry to your fellow worshippers.

Jennifer Phillips