These words are very familiar to me. I remember hearing them before every Sunday sermon that my Dad preached. I do not remember wondering about their origin while I was growing up. I heard them as a prayer both for the congregation and for the preacher. While I don’t preach on a regular basis in my current role, I believe that this prayer from the Psalms while be part of the regular ritual when I am in a role of preaching every week.

Image via Wikipedia

No matter how you refer to this day, it is one on which we remember the pivotal event in human history – Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, suffered and died in a way that was redemptive for all creation.

I am looking forward to participating in the Good Friday Prayer Vigil at Resurrection. How will you commemorate the day?

Use this link to find out more about Good Friday.

I was alerted to this from the United Methodist Reporter Blog post – Healing Prayer.

Resurrection Online is looking for people to be part of building a Christian community online where non religious and nominally religious people are becoming deeply committed Christians. Here are some ways that you can get involved…

Online

If you are in the Kansas City area, you can connect with missions opportunities at www.cor.org/missions. If you are outside the Kansas City area or unable to participate in those opportunities, will you please consider one of the following opportunities to serve?

• Facebook Moderator: As a Facebook Moderator, you will read and respond, in a loving way to Facebook messages and ensure all comments are responded to quickly.
• Facebook Prayer Partner: As a Prayer Partner you will pray for services while they are live and send daily prayer messages to those connected with the Resurrection Online Facebook page.
• Social Media Editor: As a Social Media Editor you will modify eNote and notes from worship to compose social media posts. You will design social media posts to be conversational and include links in posts that allow further exploration on posted content.
• Tech Admin: As a Tech Admin, you will upload posts from the Social Media Editors into HootSuite and schedule them for publication.

Sign up for these opportunities at http://goo.gl/MpR0g.

In Person

If you are in the Kansas City area, you can get connected with opportunities to serve by visiting www.cor.org/missions. If you are living outside the Kansas City area, you may consider serving in person in one of the following ways:

• Baking cookies for your neighbors
• Donating canned goods to a local food bank
• Helping an elderly person with work around their yard or home.

Will you consider ways to bless your neighbors or serve others in your local community? If you are serving God in your community through Resurrection Online will you please mail Pastor Andrew Conard to share your story?

Image by StefPress via Flickr

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• My District Superintendent is blogging a return trip to Vietnam after 40 years away at The Year of the Metal Dog.
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• 5 Ways to Integrate Stories Into Your Social Media Marketing speaks for itself
• I am not worried about using something NIH – More at The Peculiar Way We Reward Innovation.
• Pray 40 is an opportunity to “pray for the next generation of Christian leaders as they head to college and university campuses.”

Part of the practice of the week at camp was to share a prayer square. Here is the practice of the prayer squares:

1. Choose a strip of cloth from the cross as a part of morning worship.
2. Write your name on the square and carry it with you throughout the day.
3. Return the strip of cloth to the cross as a part of evening worship.
4. Repeat the next day and continue to be in prayer for all those whose names are written on the cloth.
5. On the last day, take one home with you.

This is a cool practice. In addition to the opportunity to be in prayer, I was struck by the power of the entire camp moving forward to the cross. These pictures are from morning worship. You can see the cross in the front covered with green prayer squares and the students moving forward to the cross.

In what ways is your local church inviting people to the cross?

How are people equipped to pray for one another?

These are powerful words.

One of my friends, Ryan, said them to me this week. He indicated that he had specifically been praying for me throughout the month of July.

July was a month of surprises and transitions for me, but I had been able to respond in ways that surprised others and even myself. I had attributed it to catching up and having some extra time in my schedule after the end of clinical pastoral education and vacation. This may be partially true, but I believe that my friend’s prayers were foundational to the goodness in the month of July.

Sometimes people ask, “What would be helpful for you?” My most common response is, “Pray for God’s will to be done in my life and that I might be about God’s work and let me know that you are praying.”

Thanks, Ryan.

• Gathered a (perhaps) comprehensive list of young adult clergy within the annual conference
• Increased awareness of young adults in ministry in the conference
• Created space to share words of wisdom about ministry
• Created space to share dreams for the denomination
• Shared information about 40 Days of Prayer and Exploration 2009

I felt that it was a significant step in encouraging young people in ministry within Kansas West.

Thanks to Jeff Slater for the photos!