We’ve been praying together now for over two weeks three times a day. I have been moved watching our Family come together when their alarms go off to join in the Spirit in prayer. One of the major things I’ve learned in this is that when it is time to pray, you stop what you’re doing and pray. This is good rhythm. I’ve enjoyed hearing your stories about what these times of prayer have meant for you. This time of pause and rest to join the church in prayer has been powerful for me. Where I want to take us in our final week on prayer is what it means to pray as a community. When we think of prayer, it is very personal. I believe I’ve often missed the communal nature of prayer because of how personal I have made it. When we come together in prayer through the Spirit, our prayer joins Jesus’ prayer and we pray with the whole communion of saints who have gone before us and join with us in the presence of God the Father.
What does it mean to pray as a community? When we have a congregational prayer, what is happening in the Spirit? What does it mean to pray together when you’re physically alone?
Spend some time this week reflecting on the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:5-15 in light of what it means to pray this together as a community. Reflect and meditate on each line and what it tells us about being a Family. When you pray as an individual and pray “our Father” and “forgive us of our sins,” how does this plural prayer change the focus of your prayers?
“Though we pray in secret, we always pray with others. We pray “our” Father. We are never alone when we pray because we pray as children who have been taught by the Spirit of the Son to cry out “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6).” – Stanley Hauerwas
We are part of an ancient Family who comes together into the presence of God to be transformed into his image. Prayer has the power of bringing us together in unity as we continually come together in the Spirit.