March 23, 2010: Through Seasons Of Lean Spirituality (Part 2)

My wife says that one of the first things she heard me say when she met me just over a year ago was that I felt I needed a sabbatical.

I remember saying that. I was really discouraged. I was pastoring a small church that I couldn't get to grow. I couldn't get anyone in the church to attend Sunday School or Bible study or prayer meeting. I couldn't even get most of them to show up on time for the Sunday morning worship service! The regard for sacred assembly was so low that one member regularly took the start of the sermon as his cue to walk out and get himself a cup of tea. (For further insight into my long-standing frustration, see the March 27, 2005 essay, "Quiet And Respectful In The Worship Service", where I complain about the fact that 20% of my congregation would leave the sanctuary during the service to take a bathroom break.)

But God brings good out of our grief. It was the barrenness there that drove me to attend a mid-week service at another church, and that is where I met the wonderful servant of God who became my wife.

And one blessing led to another. Now that I attend her church, I have been able, by God's grace, to slake spiritual thirst eagerly and often just by meeting with people for prayer. I have found that praying together is part of the culture of Grace Pointe Church. We pray for each other:

1) During Sunday School
2) At Thursday 6 AM Prayer Meeting
3) At bi-weekly small group
4) At Saturday morning men's fellowship
5) At the monthly vespers Communion service

After the sermon you can go forward and pray with somebody while the rest of the congregation sings. I've prayed with people in the narthex after the service - and I see others doing that too. When our pastor was out sick for a month some people arranged a 24-hour prayer service for him and the church. I'd say that on the average I have about four opportunities every week to pray with like-minded believers. It has been a balm to my soul.

And that is what I recommend to anybody who finds himself experiencing and lamenting a season of spiritual dryness. Go find other people to pray with. Do that as often as your busy schedule permits. If you're in a church where nobody prays together - and for some reason you're stuck there - then go to some other church's prayer fellowship. (One of the guys at our 6 AM Thursday prayer meeting attends another church on Sundays.)

Jesus commanded solo praying (Matthew 6:5-6), and he did a lot of that himself, but even he wanted company the night his soul was "overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death" (Matthew 26:38). He asked three disciples to join him as he prayed. They didn't do a very good job of supporting him that night - they fell asleep - but at least they were there. Be there, be there with others when they pray and when they need you to pray for them. You can help each other a lot that way.