This is the weekly bulletin insert from Sermons That Work.
Explore the Way of Love – Pray
Our day to day lives can be hurried and busy. We have so many things to do and so little time to do them. With devices and media asking for our time, so much to do and hear and say – it can make us feel overwhelmed and isolated. It can make our relationships challenging, as we struggle to connect.
The practice of the Way of Love, following in the footsteps of Jesus, tells us that God wants to break through the noise and busy-ness of the world and be able to have a relationship with us – with you. Not as a distant god in a far-off sky, or as a theory or an ideal or a metaphor, but a presence, dwelling with us, here and now. And the way to make that connection is to Pray.
As the Psalmist tells us: “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” Jesus taught us that it is nourishing and strengthening to intentionally take time to pray. The daily practice of making time and space to speak with God, to listen to God, or to simply be with God, clears a pathway for God to enter our lives.
Jesus told us how we can talk with God: We can praise God and thank God for all that has been done. We can tell God about our troubles, and God will listen. We can ask God for healing and forgiveness, and God will help restore us. We can ask God for protection, and face the world with courage. Or we can simply receive God’s spirit, in faith that when we make space to pray, God is with us.
We can pray alone and know that we are not alone in this world. We can pray together, whether just two or three of us or a whole community, and find a whole new level of connection with those who are on the journey with us. As Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
The Way of Love is not a static practice, in which we read a book of rules and perform the exercises to become improved people. It is a dynamic practice, and part of the active process of transforming our lives is opening up the channels of communication with God, giving and taking, talking and listening, like electricity flowing through a cable or streams that connect a river to the sea. We create a connective flow with a God who loves and cares about us, who and where we are on a daily basis, and wants to know how you are doing today.
Are you making a commitment to incorporate the regular practice of prayer into your life? Is there a place where you can gather with others in the presence of the divine?
Learn more about the Way of Love at episcopalchurch.org/wayoflove. You can find suggestions on getting started and going deeper with Turning at iam.ec/ewol.
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Church of the Redeemer
Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world around us. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.
Church of the Redeemer is at 6220 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.
The Episcopal Church welcomes you.