We pray because Jesus prayed and he taught his disciples to pray. Prayer is a form of intimacy with God which offers us an opportunity to hear him, to praise and thank him, and bring our deepest needs and desires before him. In prayer we encounter the living Spirit of God who speaks to us and works to heal us and shape us into the likeness of Christ.
Last year, after our incredibly successful Raising Up campaign, we broke ground on an addition and extensive renovation focused on the horizontal aspect of our life together: Community. Now that our building project is complete, we’re launching several new initiatives this fall as a part of this community emphasis.
PRAYER GATHERING TO CELEBRATE THE NEW BUILDING
Join us for a special evening of prayer as we celebrate the opening of our new building. Together, we will ask God to use these spaces to make disciples, strengthen His church, and extend the hope of the gospel to our community for generations to come.
Download this Lenten prayer booklet that Rev. Claudia Greggs put together for us, Forty Days with the Psalms, and read through all 150 psalms. We’ll praise God in the morning, acknowledge him at noon and petition him at night. We hope you’ll make this part of your prayer discipline during Lent – and beyond.
Please note that the Psalms translation used in this booklet is found in the Anglican Church in North America’s Book of Common Prayer 2019 and here is a quote from their new prayer book regarding this translation: “The Coverdale Psalter of 1535 (employed with every Prayer Book from the mid-16th to the mid-20th centuries) is one of the timeless treasures of the Book of Common Prayer. It has here been renewed for contemporary use… The numbering of verses in the New Coverdale Psalter in certain psalms may differ from the numbering found in other translations.” (page 268, Book of Common Prayer, Anglican Church in North America)
For helpful suggestions about prayer, download our prayer booklet, Devoted to Prayer.
Compline for Lent
Have you thought about doing something special during the season of Lent? We have a suggestion for you: try praying the brief service of Compline at the close of every day. If you are not familiar with Compline, it is a very brief service (5-10 minutes) consisting of confession, several verses from a psalm, and prayers. Toward the end of the service, time is allotted for freely offered intercessions.
The word, Compline, originally meant “complete” a fitting term, since this service is intended for use when the day is over. You can read Compline every night by yourself, with friends, with your spouse, or together with your children as a family.
Praying Compline is a great way to give over to Jesus any worries or frustrations from the day as it reminds us that God is sovereign and his loving-kindness endures forever.