Thursday, April 14, 2022

Acts 1:14 “All were constantly devoting themselves to prayer.”

One of the popular ideas years ago was for a group of people to pick a time of day and each day stop doing whatever they were doing and pray for the concerns of the group, both known and those known only to God. Someone shared that she was carpooling with someone in such a group to a lunch meeting and as they pulled into the parking lot, an alarm went off. The person put the car into park and said, “Excuse me, but every day at 12:12   I pray for our group. You are welcome to join me. I will be a few minutes.” And just like that, the person bowed their head in silent prayer. 
 
The lunch meeting was at 12:15. The person made a conscious choice to stop anyway and honor this collective task. There was incredible power for them in knowing that at the same time, wherever the others were, they too were praying for the needs of the community. They may be praying differently, they were clearly in different locations, and yet they were being “all” together. Somehow bound up in the Spirit. 
 
One of the practices of Lent that are intended to draw us closer to God, and each other, is prayer. What does it mean to be constant? How about a simple commitment to a time of day each day for the season of Lent? 
 
Perhaps you will ask a few friends or family to set aside a time to be in prayer “together” like the 12:12 group. 
 
Perhaps you might take home the prayer list from worship and pray for those we have named. Perhaps you will notice how long it takes to do this with intention - does it make you think of those people more clearly? Perhaps you do not know the person. Fear not, God does and when we do not know the exact words, the Spirit promises to intercede. But just saying their name to God reminds us we are all God’s beloveds. 
 
If the weather is nice, perhaps you can pray for the creation you are experiencing, remembering we are all a part of God’s creation. 
 
In a world where we feel do easily disconnected, imagine breaking through those separations  
 
Lord, may the words of our lips and meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you. Amen. 
 
Rev. Carolyn Hetrick