Routine

 

Do you have routines in your life?  Are there activities or interests that you schedule on a regular basis?

Sometime during the season of Lent I added a new activity to my weekly schedule. On Thursday mornings at 8:00 I meet with about twelve to sixteen other people (mostly pastors and ministry leaders from Chambersburg area churches). I’m the only Lutheran. We get together for what is called a Prayer Walk.  Each month we meet in the parking lot of an area church, take some time to check-in with one another and pray together. Then we walk the neighborhood and pray for and sometimes with the residents we encounter.

It occurred to me that we all come from various perspectives and traditions. We don’t focus on doctrine or the theology of worship or denominational branding. We gather as friends in Christ and pray for one another and the communities we are called to serve. 

I’m telling you this, not to solicit merits, but to witness to the basic, simple, and fundamental power of prayer.  Our whole time together is bathed in prayer -- prayers of praise, lament, intercession, petition, gratitude, discernment, etc.  We all pray a little differently. Some are silent, many involve arms uplifted or heads bowed. This weekly gathering has become part of my routine. It’s not just one more activity to check off my weekly list, but rather it has become a central and much anticipated part of my own devotional life.  Honestly, I can’t imagine not being part of this small group of friends sharing life together.

As we all anticipate slowing resuming some sort of less secluded life, I invite you to consider becoming part of a small group. Consider hosting a small group gathering at your home or in your driveway. Join a group that already exists and invite your friends or our new members or someone else in your life to join you. We all would benefit from making routine the central act of prayer and being blessed by the love and support of friendship with one another and fellowship with Jesus.