Who enjoys waiting? Waiting in a queue for something? We all know that feeling when we have to choose a queue at the supermarket because it always feels like the queue we choose will be the one that will take the longest for some reason.
The essential thing about the Christian pilgrimage is that it is based on waiting on God’s agenda and not on our own. It is also about tenacity and perseverance and discernment.That’s where prayer comes in. Everything must be grounded in prayer. Through prayer and study one is fed spiritually to meet the demands of ministry and community living.
Throughout Christ’s time on earth He surrendered Himself to the will of the Father. We never see Jesus in the Gospels as being locked away from the world. He took time to be in quiet and away from the crowd in order to spend time in prayer but He is also totally engaged with the nitty-gritty of life. The challenge is again to keep the balance between interaction and service to the local community and study and prayer.
Contemplative prayer must be at the centre of any organisation and anything that we do. It empowers us completely. How a community balances a ministry to the surrounding community and also keeps those aspects of prayer is related to how those in leadership of the community manage that interplay between ministry, outside influences, contemplation, silence and prayer.
Waiting can feel unproductive and in this age of continuous busyness and high productivity, it is perhaps not something that we enjoy. However perhaps it is in learning to wait in prayer that we find abundant life.
Passages for Study:
James 5:7-11
Proverbs 8:32-38
Luke 2:22-40
Psalm 5
Luke 12:35-40
Psalm 27
Hebrews 6:13-20
No comments:
Post a Comment