Praying For You

I just returned from Camp Wyoming, our church’s camp up in Jones County. This trip was for an overnight retreat with other pastors and elders in our presbytery. Our group is called RTA4. RTA stands for Reversing the Arrow. 4 means that this is the 4th such group that has formed in the last 5 years under the guidance of our General Presbyter Harry Olthoff. So the goal of the group is to support leaders within the presbytery in our efforts to reverse the trends of decline that so many churches have experienced over the last several decades. But reversing the arrow is not just about getting more people on the church rolls. It is about something far more important. It is about helping churches be faithful in the way that we go deeper in our experience of Christ AND in the way we reach out in new ways. It’s about helping all of us be more faithful individuals who live out our faith each and every day—outside the church walls. RTA is important to me because it is a place to share ideas and learn from others and receive support so that I can be a better leader and more faithful pastor. It also helps me to grow as an individual, a husband, and a father. We are all a work in progress. Like an old singer from Texas puts it: “I’m just an old lump of coal, but I’ll be a diamond someday.” There are people around who pray for me and for you. Please know that you are loved and supported in many ways—even by people you may never meet. Getting Reversed, David

Scattering Ourselves for the sake of the world

The last time we held our monthly worship service at Carrington Place, Sam, Sarah and Sophia were with me. As I loaded them all in the van after the service, I place my Book of Common Worship on the top of the van. (The Book of Common Worship is the Presbyterian worship resource that contains worship services, prayers, psalms, etc.) I placed it up there and thought to myself: better not forget that. Minutes later, the kids heard something and said "What was that?" I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw paper flying all over Mulberry Avenue. My book suffered a few creased pages. But the book also had a few inserts with prayers or scriptures--all of these began to fly around with the wind.

I remember thinking that I needed to get all these bits of paper up: What if someone picked up the funeral service template? What if someone thought that these bits of prayers had been irreverently discarded? Is it right for prayers to litter the landscape? As my kids looked on from the van, I chased Psalm 23 (King James Version) and kept after the abbreviated Thanksgiving Prayer Over the Water that I sometimes use at baptisms. That prayer I had prayed at First Presbyterian Fort Worth in June 2006 didn't get away.

But why not? Why not scatter our prayers up and down Mulberry? Why not let our prayers blow over the road and hang on the fences and hedges? Many people have no reservation about blasting awful music awfully loud or spewing profanities as they drive around town. Many people drive around with little awareness of their surroundings. Why not be more intentional and more present?

And that is when it occurred to me that we already do this with our deacon prayer card ministry. Deacons spend hours composing prayers on postcards and mailing them all over the place, littering the community and the nation with words of grace and peace and healing and hope. I can't think of a better way to be "green" than to spread our prayers all over the road and lawns of the town. Shred your prayers into fine bits of love, roll down the window and let them fly all over. Your neighbors need to hear the good news--that the Kingdom is among us.

Scattered, David