As we seek to come out of the season of coronavirus as a worshiping, missional body, we will be taking concrete steps forward in the development and activities of the church. Each week in the newsletter, a section will be devoted to the steps that we are taking. If anything is mentioned that piques your interest, please let me, Justin, Katherine, or Erich know. Last week, we took the concrete step forward of restarting a basic children’s program. In the next couple weeks, we will be going on a prayer walk and sending out a postcard…
On Sunday, I announced to the congregation that we would be holding a prayer walk on July 11 and August 8 in the neighborhoods surrounding Cambridge. Because of coronavirus, we put on hold “Coffee in the Park,” and it may be quite a while before it is safe and appropriate to do something that involves close physical interaction. Even though we are limited in the ways we can bless our community, it is still the right time to begin to reach out tangibly.
By coupling a postcard with a prayer walk, we can let people know that we exist and also take a simple, yet very important, step forward in reaching them with the love of Jesus. The postcard will be mailed to the 5000 homes in a 1-mile radius around Cambridge, which is basically the area we will be walking through and praying over.
This is a time in our country when it is incredibly important to pray for people in our community and let them know that the church exists as a place of healing for them. That the world is broken is clear even to those who reject God—sickness, death, fear, murder, racism, rioting, unemployment, and political rancor are all front and center every time we turn on the news. And this doesn’t even include a host of other destructive sins unmentioned by the news, yet prevalent in our communities!
The church engages the pain and brokenness of the world best when it is a praying community. Throughout history, the church has been strongest when it acted as a hospital for broken sinners, not a museum of saints. As you all have heard me say, the church doesn’t exist for us! We come together to give our lives away in worship and give our lives away for the salvation of the world. When we give ourselves away, we paradoxically find that we receive true life in return, but as soon as we settle into thinking that what we do is for our own benefit, we leave the path of Christ.
Our prayer walks will be from 8am to 3pm. We are asking people to sign up for 1-hour time slots using the link that at the top of the letter. You will be grouped with others who have signed up for the same hour and sent out from Cambridge’s parking lot with a map. If you have never done this before, or it makes you nervous, have no fear! Next week’s newsletter will be devoted to how to do a prayer walk. It is simpler (and less awkward) than you might imagine.
In Christ,
Steven+