Prayers of the People

Every Sunday as our community gathers we get a fresh reminder of the our need for one another.

That happens as names are added to the list that is passed from hand to hand among the congregation and then offered up in the Prayers of the People.  It also happens in conversations over coffee after the service. 

This Sunday there were names on the list that refer to situations that are heart-breaking:  the loss of a dear friend to cancer, the death of a wife and mother, the tragic death of a child in Kenya.  There were mentions of illness, and operations and daily struggles of various kinds.

I share the list aloud in the time of prayer but there is much more taking place than that.  People listen and add their prayers and then in the hallways, further conversations lead to a word of support or follow-up action.

Being part of a community of faith offers all kinds of support that makes us more resilient in times of difficulty.  Some times we get to offer that support and some times we get to receive it.  Both of these are a blessing.

The Big Picture

Last month Michael Dowd and Connie Barlow led a workshop in Ottawa on Evolutionary Christianity.  Dowd claims that “science and religion can be mutually enriching forces” in our world.  In one of his books, Dowd quotes Barbara Marx Hubbard’s grateful reflection on the fourteen billion year journey that has brought humanity to our present.

 

“Every entity that ever moved or swam or crawled or flew, every being that reproduced itself, all the vast numbers of species now extinct and presently living who have invented the amazing capability which we have inherited as our eyes, our ears, our organs, our very atoms, molecules and cells – all of these preceding us are represented in our emergence now.

 

We bow down in awe and gratitude for the past.  Without all that came before us, none of us would be awakening now.”

 

There’s a big picture reason to feel thankful this season.