April 7, 2024
21 Days Of Prayer
As our Board of Deacons at the United Church of Colchester reflected on where we are as a church in our efforts to grow our body, they recalled the advice of Gamaliel in the fifth chapter of Acts:
Therefore in the present case I advise …
if their purpose is of human origin, it will fail.
But if it is of God,
you will not be able to stop these men;
you will only find yourself fighting against God.
2024 is the middle year of our five year strategic plan, and as such is poised to be a pivotal year for our church family. Therefore, it seemed more prudent than ever to seek God's leading in all aspects of our endeavor. To that end, the Board of Deacons called the entire congregation to participate in a 21-day journey of prayer, beginning at the solar eclipse of April 8 and culminating in our annual observance of the National Day of Prayer.
Such prayer journeys are as old as the prophet Daniel. They are a way that we as a body can minister to each other and encourage each other to:
seek the Lord's leading in all we do
learn to pray more effectively
strengthen our prayer culture as a body of believers, and
unite our hearts and minds in the common purpose of serving our God
Our journey has three (3) phases:
Phase 1: Preparation – March 10 – March 24
Members and friends contributed prayers, devotionals, meditations, scriptures, poems, songs and other inspirations for prayer to be used as daily guides under the theme of God's faithfulness. These contributions have been compiled into a daily prayer guide and distributed to the congregation.
Phase 2: 21 Days of Prayer – April 8 – April 28
This phase of our journey begins tomorrow on April 8, 2024 at the total solar eclipse, visible from our community of Colchester, Vermont. During this phase we will pray as a church body using our contributed inspirational pieces as a guide.
Phase 3: National Day of Prayer – May 2
As our last phase, we will join with other Christians across the nation in prayer for peace and unity of heart and mind.
The Daily Prayer Guide
We will post our daily prayer guide over the coming days so you may pray with us as you feel led. As you will see, twenty different people from our congregation submitted twenty-seven completely different contributions to our guide. All have been included – none were omitted.
Obviously, we had to double up here and there, but it just reinforces one of the lessons of prayer - that in God's accounting, the cup always overflows. And just like the puzzle being assembled in our Parish Hall, every single piece is needed and necessary to complete the picture!
As you read and reflect on our daily prayer inspirations in the coming days, you will find a unique compilation of inputs from our unique and varied members and friends.
Some of the contributions are simple. Some are detailed and multi-faceted. Some are scriptural. Some are experiential. Some are original. Others are borrowed and re-purposed.
All, however, are heart-felt. All belong here. All of them help us see and feel more clearly some aspect of the varied ways we communicate with our heavenly Father – the classic Christian discipline we call prayer.
Every contribution began from the same starting point: what inspires you to consider God's faithfulness and pray in response? The results are as different as there are people who participated, and yet, taken all together, paint a wonderful picture of the marvelous ways God meets each of us where we are at.
Read them one at a time.
Read them all together and wallow in the richness of God's faithfulness.
But most of all, let them inspire you – perhaps to experience God in a little different, or perhaps even a new way.
And then ... listen to what He has to say to you.
This is our prayer and step one of our journey.
Board of Deacons
United Church Of Colchester
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