Reggie scooted to the edge of his seat and looked up at those seated around him in the circle and his eyes grew wide. I was leading our prayer circle, as I do every Monday at 9:30. I was talking about the amour of God described in Ephesians 6 and asked the group, “How can you ‘put on’ Christ each day?”
In response, Reggie shared a vision he’d once had while in jail awaiting a court date. He was in his cell facing the wall and heard a loud noise very close by that sounded like the clanging of metal. Curious and confused, Reggie slowly turned toward the direction of this noise and was surprised to see a horse with a man sitting on it. “The man”, Reggie said, “was Jesus.” On the ground beside the horse Reggie saw a full suit of armor. Reggie continued, “The man on the horse had dropped my body armor on the ground.” Nate said he was shaken by the vision. Who wouldn’t be? More importantly, he felt like God was telling him. “I am here to protect you, put on your body armor.” The following day Nate appeared before the judge and was declared not guilty. The judge recognized that Nate had no part in the fraud committed by his manager. Nate said, while pointing his finger against his chest, “God protected me.”
I am grateful that I have the opportunity to hear Reggie’s story and others like it during our prayer circle.
Another Monday I asked the group, after reading Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-14, about God’s rescue. One person said, “God rescued me from foster care.” “God rescued me from an abusive relationship”, said another. “I was rescued from drugs and alcohol and God kept my brain from being fried” one person responded with a smile. All these answers were summed up when someone remarked, “God rescued us all from extraordinary circumstances.”
Let me share two ways these stories enrich and enliven my faith.
These stories direct my attention to God’s continued work in the world. I don’t know about you, but with my degrees, middle-class comforts, and mechanistic view of the world, I need stories that tune my heart and awaken my mind to God’s persistent presence and powerful activity in our lives. I mean Reggie’s story sounds like a story of the Apostle Paul’s prison experiences in the New Testament, right? These sorts of stories witness to the fact that God still shows up in our lives.
These stories also ground me in the importance of prayer as a foundational practice of our faith. Luke, a member at COTR, recently shared during our prayer circle that prayer is being in communication with God each day and each moment of the day. Prayer is essential to the Chritian life and our shared life together as the church. When the prayer circle was started in 2023, one member said, “No one ever asked us what we wanted to pray about or told us they wanted to listen. This is a blessing to know that we can share what we’re going through.” Pastor Sarah Smoot has seen the vital role prayer plays in our community. She said, “Prayer circle is a space where people own their personal faith and share that strength in community.”
And I’ve come to see that people recognize the importance of prayer.
This past fall we conducted a community survey at Church of the Reconciler with the goal of understanding what services draw people to the church during the week. We found out that prayer is one of the main reasons people come to COTR.
People know the power of prayer, know they need to be part of a praying community, and know COTR is a place where those things collide in meaningful ways.
If you find your faith lacking meaning or connection to real life situations and circumstances, do yourself a favor and join us on Monday or Wednesday at 9:30 for Prayer Circle.
You can help us continue to be a place that ministers to folks through prayer by clicking here to support all of our ministries.
We’re grateful for your partnership and, of course, your prayers.