This Sunday we are beginning a new series entitled “Lord Teach Us to Pray.” On the surface, I suppose that might sound a bit elementary. After all, many of us have been Christ followers for a long time. Surely we know how to pray. And yet, the disciples, who had grown up in the Jewish faith, very likely praying every day, made the same request of Jesus. In Luke 11, they saw Jesus praying and directly asked of him “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Prayer is at the very heart of our spiritual lives. Like worship, prayer brings us into the presence of God. Prayer is our connection, our communication, with God. And I believe we, like the disciples, want to grow in our knowledge and practice of prayer. On the one hand, prayer seems very simple. Some of us grew up saying our prayers as soon as we were old enough to speak. It was a humble prayer that began our journey of faith. But it is also possible to grow deeper in our prayer life, stronger and more confident. And, as Jesus did for the disciples, I believe He can teach us to pray as He prayed.
I believe this is going to be a powerful and practical teaching series. It is the kind of series that you are not going to want to miss a single week. If you are able, I would love for you to join us in person. But if you are not able to be with us in person, or if there are any of the weeks that you will be away, I would definitely encourage you to join us online.
On Pentecost we celebrated 7 baptisms with more to come in the next few weeks.
Also, as we head into the summer, there are a couple of special events I want to make you aware of. First, I am super excited to say that Soulfest is back! The dates of Soulfest, New England’s premiere Christian music festival, will be August 5-7 (with student camping beginning Aug 3). For more information or to register for student or family camping, go to this link.
I am also very excited to share that Rock Day Camp is back. This year we will re-introduce the program with one combined week at our Plaistow location August 16-20. Because we are combining into one week, I am certain the program will fill out very quickly. So even though it seems to still be a ways off, I would encourage you to register immediately. Also, this is a great outreach opportunity So if you have friends or neighbors age 5 through 8th grade, be sure to send them this link and invite them to check it out.
Have a great week and God bless. I look forward to us being together this weekend in person or online for this great new series “Lord Teach Us to Pray.”
Love you all,
Pastor Steve