Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. – Philippians 4:6 (NRSVUE)
We had a booth for St. Matthew at Moorestown Day this past Saturday. It was something new for all involved. In planning we spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what we as a congregation had to offer. We weren’t selling something, unlike many of the booths. Having a children’s activity is always a good thing to do, and we considered it. It takes having several people there at all times to do most children’s activities successfully though, and we did not have that many volunteers. Most of the day was me and one or two others. While I appreciate those that were there, finding the right activity to be led by a few people rotating in and out proved to be elusive, at least for this year. (Some ideas are brewing for next year, though!)
One of the important things that we do have to offer as a congregation is prayer. We gather in prayer every week. As we do so, we envision what we think this community can be like. What we are able to do with that is lend an ear to the community, to hear what hopes and dreams they have and what needs they see. We can then incorporate those themes into our prayers to go. Sometimes the most important evangelism is to be there and listen to what people around you are saying and then reframing that into the terms of our faith. With that in mind, we ask people to share their hopes and prayer requests with us. We asked specifically within the framework of our “Live the Love” tagline. We asked them to write out what they would like us to pray for, focusing on the needs of Moorestown, the world, the environment, and in moving to greater inclusion. Not all people were willing to share, but many were. We will be incorporating their requests into our prayers of intercession this coming Sunday.
Many of the prayer requests were quite general: for peace and harmony mostly. That is fine; most people are rarely asked to think in terms of what might be possible so the answers are often general. Yet, simply asking the question at least opens up the possibility of conversation and building shared visions. From a Christian point of view, we talk about that as what God might do among us; others might say it differently. Yet, having that conversation helps us connect with those around us. We may or may not do this activity in this way again, but finding ways to engage in the evangelism of listening is a key task before us as a congregation so that we may effectively witness in the areas in which we live.