The words roll off our lips so easily sometimes: I will pray for you. We hear of tragic losses or heart wrenching injustice and our intention is to bring them before God in prayer. So, we utter those words, 'I will pray for you.' The thing is, though, that for many of us, we continue through our day and we never think of it again, at least not until we run into that friend again or read yet another article about the situation for which we intended to pray. And, then there are our uncertainties about how well we pray or whether God really hears our prayers or what is really needed anyway and before we know it, we have not only not prayed, we have been paralyzed by our concerns. For quite some time, I kept exhaustive lists of the concerns of friends, family and situations around the world. Not only were the lists exhaustive but I was exhausted by the time I finished praying. That is, until I began to take another approach because I didn't really think that God intended for it to be quite that way. Now, with rare exception, I will pray with a person or for a situation right then and there, wherever it is that the desire to pray occurs. I have prayed in some interesting locations (grocery store, anyone?) but I find that I struggle less with how to pray for someone when I do it in the moment rather than waiting until my next prayer time. And, I find that I no longer need exhaustive lists because the Holy Spirit keeps those in mind who need ongoing prayer, not that I don't occasionally write down some along the way. It seems to me to better reflect the instruction to "bear one another's burdens" to bear it together in prayer rather than on our own.

We'll be considering prayer in more depth on September 12, when we begin a new sermon series called "Why Keep Praying?" based on the book for our new church wide study, Praying in the Dark by Steve Harper. Dr. Harper was the head of The Upper Room for many years, served as professor of Spiritual Formation at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky and was the head of the Orlando campus of Asbury until last year when he 'retired' to be a full-time professor again.

You can find out more about the book and church wide study opportunities on Sunday at Rally Day in the Great Room of the Family Life Center where you can sign-up for all age levels of our new Sunday School year as well as for new small groups forming now. Holy Grounds will be located in the Great Room this Sunday, so even if you have already signed up for a group, stop by and enjoy a cup of coffee around a table with your friends. I'll see you there!