Through Stained Glass: A Mid-Week Reflection-Prayers, Please

Prayers, Please

In 9 hours 9 of us will drive 12.5 hours to Martin, South Dakota.

We will spend 7 days listening and learning to the story of a beautiful and courageous people.

We go to work, sure. But we also go to love and be loved.

We go to see how deep God’s love is and how wide God’s goodness stretches.

We go to experience and celebrate how diversity is a rich and wonderful component of our humanity.

So as we go, as we drive 800+ miles tomorrow, we ask for your prayers.

How can you be in prayer for us specifically?

• Pray for our safety as we drive out, while we are there, and as we return on the 18^th.
• Pray that the 9 of us from church will bond and become a community.
• Pray for those who we will share life with this week—the other churches we will be collaborating with, the children we will lead in VBS, the families who’s houses we will work on, and those in the community who will have outsiders coming in once again.
• Pray for the staff that will facilitate worship and conversations around our faith.

Pray for Ellie and Morgan, Mallory and Hope, Rose and Natalie, Carley, Carrie and me,

Above all friends, pray for transformation—of our hearts. Pray that we walk away not with a few memories and feeling good about the work we have done. Rather, pray that we will be moved by what we experience. That we will come back renewed to work towards God’s beloved community. That we will come back aware of the injustices that happen not only in South Dakota but here in Lincoln, Illinois. That we will come back reassured of how beautiful the world really is.

Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for helping us get here. Thank you for sharing in this journey with us!

As we go, may these words help shape your prayers for us as the week goes on:

May God guide our feet as we join in on an ancient dance this week in a distance, sacred land. May the love of Christ shine brightly above and below us, around and within us, which our paths will be illumined and our faces will shine bright as the sun. May the Spirit teach us once again to sing songs of hope, peace, and love and silence in us all the baggage we bring.

Check back frequently this week. It is my hope to update this blog with photos and stories throughout the week.

See you in a week, church!