Prayer Challenge: Tuesday Morning, Week 2

       Welcome to week 2 of the prayer challenge!  If you missed the start, I'm challenging you to 14 weeks of using the lectionary's Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession.  There are lots of prayers scattered throughout the lectionary (apple/android), and all are wonderful for getting you out of a prayer rut.  The Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession have been particularly helpful for getting me out of my usual "I need, I need!" prayers.    

If you're just now joining us - welcome! Start where you are.  Each week we'll dissect one of the prayers to help us pray more intentionally.  Here goes...

 

Prayer Challenge: Monday Morning

Praying Commonly: Take the Challenge

lec·tion·ar·y

ˈlekSHəˌnerē/

noun

1. a list or book of portions of the Bible appointed to be read at a church service.

Westside Christian Fellowship began using the Presbyterian lectionary several years ago when PastorK wanted to get us all on the same page reading scripture together.  Are we Presbyterian?  Nope.  He admits he chose almost at random, probably because he had the Presbyterian Book of Common Prayer on his shelf.  Either way, it's been a few years.  We started out listing all the readings on our website and then the Presbyterians came out with this handy app (iOS/android) that thankfully ended that feat.  (Shout out to Bob Marshall who came into the office every week to type out those readings.)

If you aren't familiar with a lectionary (I wasn't), it's simply a Bible reading schedule including some repeated phrases to give it form and written prayers.  After using it for a few years, I have a confession...my prayer life has changed, and I love it.

Flash back to teen years:

As a kid I LOVED alone time, was uber passionate about EVERYTHING, and could daydream my way through the longest summer day with the best of them.  I'd sit on the carpet in my room looking out the window (Because then you couldn't see the other houses and therefore it was easier to imagine I was an innkeeper in the middle ages taking a break between another round of bread and ale for my guests.  Duh.) and fill notebooks with my prayers to God.  I'd ramble.  I'd dream.  In those black and white composition notebooks I'd pour out my heart.

Reckless Belief w/ Sowmya

As we continue making our way through Lent, keep in mind the 3 disciplines of the season: Prayer, Fasting and Giving.

Enjoy this guest post on prayer by Sowmya Gali.

“Catch me, Daddy!” When a child is about to jump off the table, he/she expects daddy to catch, a belief that every child has. A reckless belief with which they come into this world, engraved into their DNA. Is it possible to have such faith in our Lord, our Abba Father? In the One who created us?

Honoring Spiritual Seasons: Solitude

This may seem like an odd time to talk about solitude.  December is the busiest month of the year.  There are concerts, errands, visitors, cards, online shopping, laundry, end of year accounting, open enrollment for healthcare (aghh!!!! If I have to talk to ONE more person at Blueshield...).  Whew!  Sneaking off to the Grand Canyon for a little alone time sounds fantastic.  In fact, yesterday I had to wait at the bus stop for 30 minutes for a ride home.  By myself.  It was beautiful.