Of all the commands in the latter portion of 1 Thessalonians 5 the one to "pray continuously" causes people to do a double-take. How can one possibly pray continously? If we want to adhere to this New Testament imperative do we have to give up the daily tasks of life and go live in a monastic community (not that there's anything wrong with that)? Not at all. As early as the 5th Century Christians had taken this imperative and formed a prayer practice designed to undergird all of life. It's called The Jesus Prayer.
Lord Jesus Christ,
Son of God,
have mercy on me,
a sinner.
This simple prayer affirms the identity of Jesus as the divine Son of God and our Lord, and also our need for mercy as we stand in front of this God-man we call, "Lord." When learned well, this prayer becomes part of our heart and lives in our very breath - we literally will never stop praying.
The effects of this prayer are many. After all, when we continously praying our own need for mercy before the divine Son of God it becomes more difficult to deny that mercy to others. Given our short window for this discipline, here is how we'll practice the Jesus prayer for the remainder of Advent.
Practicing the Prayer
Three times a day set yourself apart so that you can practice this prayer. Morning, noon-time, and evening are good points to do this - if you have children you can practice it after they go down for the night.
Practice breathing. Breathe in through your nose and then slowly breathe out through your mouth. Do this for a minute or so before beginning to say the prayer.
Begin to say the Jesus Prayer. Breathe in through your nose and then say each line as you exhale (in other words, take four breaths). Say the prayer 20 times.
If you practice this prayer beyond the Advent Season you can increase the number of times you go through the prayer at your set times. As the prayer becomes more embedded into your heart you may also want to start keeping a journal on how you are both experiencing God's mercy and offering it to others.
As we close out our week of spiritual disciplines we're going to look outward. First to our church community, and then to our surrounding neighborhoods. Church communities, after all, don't exist for themselves - they exist for the life of others.
Community Prayer
Heavenly Lord,
You exist eternally in community as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
As we draw near to each other in community, we reflect the love in which you exist.
Give us patience for each other,
that in you love we might be bound as one.
We also recognize that we are not called to community for ourselves,
the purpose of the Church is to live out your communion in the world.
Give us eyes to see our neighbors.
Grant us hearts which show empathy for other.
Bless us with ears to hear the needs of our towns and neighborhoods.
That we might, by the wisdom of your Holy Spirit, draw others to you.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit we do pray. Amen.
While the Central Baptist community has done an admirable job keeping the church grounds accessible during the recent snow storms, the combination of freezing/re-freezing and reduction of parking space is an inevitable result of the weather we've been having. For this reason, Central Baptist is encouraging anyone who feels that they are unable to navigate the ice around the church building to remain home on Sunday, February 14th. We will, however, be holding our worship at 10:30 as scheduled for anyone who feels able to come.
For people who feel shut-in tomorrow we want to continue to minister to you in the following ways.
We will be streaming worship live on the internet tomorrow morning at Central Baptist's ustream channel "Joining the Story." Click on the link in the 10:30 AM hour to watch the stream. Alternatively, we will embed the show in this announcement.
If members of the Central Baptist community would like to receive communion this week, please leave your name and phone number with the church office.
Thank you all for your prayers and support, we hope we see everyone in worship somehow tomorrow!
This past Sunday Central Baptist Church held a celebration of baptism which welcomed two new members into our fellowship through the reaffirmation their baptismal vows by immersion. Thank you to all who were able to attend this celebration, you made it a truly special evening - and congratulations Bob and Amanda!
Regional Restructuring
Saturday, 10 April 2010 07:19
Today, April 10, at 1:00PM Central Baptist Church hosted a presentation on the proposed regional restructuring for ABCNJ. The presentation explored our current structure, the problems facing it, and the proposal for a new structure. The presentation was streamed on ustream.tv and the video has been archived for people to watch at their leisure. It is embedded below.
To read the full proposal from ABCNJ, click here to download a PDF.
After reading the proposal, the region would love to hear your input by filling out this survey.
