Why We GatherSample

Prayer

Remember Paul’s letter to Timothy in Ephesus? The church there had fallen into bad teaching and a number of destructive habits that were damaging the relationships within their community. As you can probably imagine, a church in this position requires a multifaceted solution. Reestablishing the words of the faith and sound doctrine were essential to correcting the divisive teaching in Ephesus, but it’s interesting that this wasn’t Paul’s first step.  

My mother has an incredible story. Her great grandfather had been a faithful and deeply prayerful Christian all his life. Unfortunately, in the final days of his life, only one of his several children had chosen to acknowledge the lordship of Jesus. Upon his deathbed, he said to his only Christian daughter, “The mantle of prayer has passed to you.”

Though he never saw the fruit of his faithful prayers, nearly all of his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren came to love and serve God in time, with many of them going into various positions in church ministry. 

Prayer is powerful. Prayer changes the world. Prayer is something the Church does together.

Paul writes:

“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.(1 Tim 2:1-4; NRSV).”

Paul then goes on in verse 8 to write, “in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument (1 Tim 2:8; NRSV).” What follows in regard to men and women in the Church is a difficult passage to decipher; however, what is clear is that Paul’s first instructions through Timothy to the Ephesians is to restore communal prayer. His expectation is that prayer would happen in every place as part of a group effort to revive a community. 

Paul felt that praying together was the first priority for this community of people that were struggling to remain peacefully united. During times when our unity is challenged in any way, perhaps we would be well advised to intentionally join together for prayer. We may find that as we come together to offer our supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings, we will be drawn more deeply into our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. 

Right now, many people are experiencing the loss of familiar community as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the future, it’s possible that something else may come along to disrupt our sense of togetherness again. So, let’s make time during this season to solidify our commitment to unity in prayer. Prayer can be a deeply enriching private practice, but it has a uniquely powerful effect on our community when we do it together.

Reflect:

Take a moment to recall a time when your needs or prayers were met in an inexplicable way. 

Take a moment to recall a time when you found peace and comfort in prayer.

Take a moment to recall a time when your burden was eased just by sharing it with someone who prayed over it with you.

With these things in mind, what do you think prayer does for a community?

Respond:

Make a list of things you are grateful for or have need of. Share it with your group. Lifting up holy hands, pray together over these things.