Pray For…

This Sunday is our final Sunday before we venture outside for the summer gazebo services (it’s also our Mid-Year Business Meeting!). I’ll be doing a sort of one-off sermon on our role as the church in the world, to prep us and hopefully inspire us for our gazebo services.
 
I love our time at the gazebo, because it gives us a chance to take the church outside, and into the world. It gives us a chance to be more of a witness in the community. It gives us a chance to declare the good news of Jesus within earshot of people who might be walking their dogs, playing on the playground, or traveling the Hudson Trail. It gives us a chance to engage with folks who might never step into a church building. It gives us a chance to give a different experience of what the church can be like. It gives us a chance to connect with folks we would never connect with otherwise. It gives us a chance to share the life-giving love of Jesus with those who might not know it or have experienced it before. It gives us a chance to share Jesus in unexpected places, and for people to find him as well.
 
And so, as I asked you last year at this time,
 

we should pray for the services.

And so that’s what I’m asking you to do today, and then hopefully, through September 6:

pray for the gazebo services. 

 
What can you pray for, specifically? How can you pray? I’m glad you asked. 
 
Here’s some ideas:

• Pray for that person who is struggling right now to find their way to the right gazebo service.
• Pray that (even just) one invite card would end up in the right hand.
• Pray that Jesus’s reputation would be made greater because of us.
• Pray that the weather will be favorable.
• Pray for the person who has quit church but is feeling called to Jesus still.
• Pray for our volunteers to be filled with the Spirit.
• Pray about how you might volunteer.
• Pray that our kids’ invitation to their friends will bring out more and more families.
• Pray that our dog ministry, bagel breakfast, and prayer-stop (details to come) will bear fruit.
• Pray for the person who desperately needs to know that the church can be life-giving to discover that in and through us.
• Pray for that person who needs to hear that Jesus loves them to hear that message in a way that connects with them.
• Pray for our witness in town.
• Pray for the Spirit’s powerful presence.
• Pray that people would come and see Jesus.

 
Please commit, daily, to praying for the upcoming gazebo services – for at least one of these listed above.
 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18