Newsletters - Turner Christian Church (OR)

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Welcome to May!

This is always one of my favorite months—and not just because it’s my birth month! I love the month of May because it always feels so hopeful and joyful to me. April is a bit dodgy—sometimes April is sunny and warm like Spring, but sometimes it’s cold and rainy like winter. May, on the other hand, always feels like Spring. In May we can start eating outside, maybe even go swimming. As the days get longer, May is the month when I finally get to do my morning run in the sunlight. School events start to wrap up, and Summer break begins to loom on the horizon. Everything feels hopeful.

This year we get to experience that feeling of Spring in other ways, as well. On the one hand, we are entering a kind of Springtime after the winter of COVID. Our sanctuary is full, our faces are bare, our voices are strong! You’ll see changes to the education wing as we reorganize our spaces for growing ministries—a new youth room, a children’s ministry room, and more adult classroom space! The sign is already out for VBS, and we are really excited about what the Summer has to offer!

But the most important way in which we experience the feeling of Spring is in the afterglow of Easter. The winter of Sin and Death ended when Jesus rose from the dead, and the world has been thawing ever since. The nights can still be long, and we don’t know how long the thaw will take, but we know that Summer is coming, and we live in hope and joy that the Summer of the Kingdom of God is coming for certain! Because we believe in the coming Summer, we can endure the days of rain and clouds that still lie ahead.

Because we know the Summer is coming, we can recognize all the signs of Spring around us and celebrate the warmth of the Son that embraces us now.

I think I am in danger of overusing the word “excited”—I’m constantly talking about how excited I am about the next sermon series, the next ministry, the next season, the next month. But the truth is, I always am excited, because as Christians we are always living in Spring. We are always living in hope, we are always living in joy. In May, it’s just a little bit easier for me to feel it. My prayer is that you will also feel the hope and joy of Easter during this month of May, and throughout the year ahead.

About Prayer!

I love prayer. When I pray, I feel the possibilities of what God might do are endless. I feel comfort, I feel strength, I feel hope and even sometimes, the focus of I can fade away and it becomes all about God instead.

At least, I do when I am praying with other people.

Often when I pray on my own I feel discouraged. I feel the weight of my own limitations, the selfishness of my words, an inability to focus.

When I pray with others-not working through a list, not confined to requests―and we revel in the fullness of God together, my soul takes wings. That might sound corny, or silly, but I don’t know how else to put it. And this is not to insult or take away from list prayers, or the importance of bringing ALL our requests before the Lord, this is just to say that when someone says we’re going to pray for Europe for the next hour, something changes.

There is a power in a community that prays. There is a power in a community that waits upon the Lord together, that kneels before the Lord together, that hears the heart of one another.

A friend once said to me, “It’s hard to have fights with people you’re praying with.” I have found that to be so incredibly true. If a man or woman is making me crazy, but then opens up their heart to God next to me and pours out a prayer for the lost, for the oppressed, for the sick, for their own broken heart . . . how can I object to my brother or sister that goes before the Lord in such humility? When I am angry with someone, but then hear their thoughts of praise, their thankfulness for mercy and salvation, for healing, for redemption in their life and the lives of those around them . . .how can my anger help but subside?

It is in the context of community, in a letter to a whole church community, that Paul writes, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonian 5:16-18) Tucked between an exhortation to “do good to one another”, and an admonishment to not “quench the Spirit,” Paul’s words are commanding us to go before the King of Kings together.

For most of us, that can be a little uncomfortable, a little too personal. If we pray in public, someone might hear that we stumble over our own words, that we’re not good at sharing our thoughts, that we haven’t memorized enough scripture to pray it, that our prayers aren’t holy enough, that sometimes we’re a little bit selfish, that we actually don’t know to pray . . . our list of reasons to pray alone or to not pray can go on and on.

And yet, when we give into our reasons, our excuses, we miss the wealth of what God is inviting us too. We miss hearing each other, we miss encountering the Lord together in that way. We miss watching God shape our prayers as a community. We miss moments of growth, of richness, of healing.

God has invited us to so much more. Why don’t we accept his invitation . . . together?

Our next community prayer night will be led by

Pastor Jack on Friday, May 13th, at 6:30.