A new beginning - the Priority of Prayer

The dawn of a new week and the beginning of a new chapter in my life. That's what today is for me. Yesterday I was officially installed as the Lead Pastor of my church. I was honoured by all the kind words and well-wishes that I received but as much as it was a warm and fuzzy environment there were some serious things that needed said. I had the opportunity to share with those in attendance  the ways that I believe God is calling us to be the church in this next season of ministry at Estevan Alliance Church. Over the course of this week I want to share with you the five priorities that I outlined for our church in my address on Sunday and perhaps elaborate a little bit for the purpose of this blog. Of course I will be continuing to list Transformers as well and tomorrow keep an eye out for the eBay listings starting to appear tomorrow.

The first priority of the Church: Prayer
I believe that we are called to be a church that prays. And not just a church that prays, but a church that prays together. We are called to be a people of prayer: A people defined by prayer, A people led by prayer. Prayer is not supposed to be one more thing that gets tacked onto our already busy schedule as a church family it should be the thing that drives the schedule. In Ephesians Paul reminds us to:

 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”Ephesians 6:18 (TNIV)

We are called to stand in the gap for each other, for the ministry, and for the people of the world. We are called to be a church that prays. The Lord says through the prophet Isaiah that “My house shall be called a house of prayer” Together - we are the house of God.

To that end I want to encourage you to commit yourself to corporate prayer. There are several opportunities already happening on a regular basis that you can be involved in. For years there has been a group that has faithfully met to pray on Monday nights at Estevan Alliance Church. Abraham’s Prayer Group has been a cornerstone ministry for Estevan Alliance but I have to be honest, it’s not as well attended as it should be if we are to be a church that makes prayer a priority.

There is also an opportunity to pray every Sunday morning at 9:00 in the fireside room. A group of us gather together to pray for the service and seek out God’s blessing for this church – you are all welcome to come – none of these groups are elitist or by special invitation only, please join the prayer times. 

There is also a group of mothers who gather together to pray for the schools in the city and for the children who are attending them. If you are a mother who is interested in that please talk to Nicole Gibbons and get involved with praying. And I’m going to give you one more opportunity. Perhaps Monday night isn’t a night that you’re available for Abraham's, or perhaps Sunday mornings are too crazy with the kids to come before the Sunday school hour to pray, or maybe you’re not a mother so you wouldn't really fit into the ladies group. If any or all of these describe you then I'm asking you to join me in a new prayer endeavour.

I’m committing for the next 3 months (and beyond if people start to join me) to be in the fireside room praying every Tuesday morning from 7:30-8:30. There is no agenda, no format - I will just be there praying and I would love for you to join me. I will be there with the coffee will be on and I will be praying – alone or with anyone who will join me. If you’re a morning person or if you can stop in before work I’d love to see you there.

If we are serious about being a church that is interested in building the Kingdom of God, if we are serious about being a church that is salt and light to our community, if we are serious about being a church that God can use to bring the gospel of reconciliation and restoration to a world that is desperately in need of Good News - then we must be equally serious about prayer. We must understand that as a preacher I recently heard said it - Prayer is not something we do in preparation for ministry - it IS the work of ministry. I'd like to urge you to take this challenge seriously if that's the type of church we want to be.

...And now for something completely different - I present Ultra Magnus.

This is Transformers: Robots in Disguise Ultra Magnus. He's missing a few pieces and looks a little worse for wear (too much white plastic on this figure - it discolours over time). Ultra Magnus in the narrative of this series was the brother of Optimus Prime and was a formidable warrior back on Cybertron - even more formidable and decorated than Optimus Prime. However when the Autobot council needed to choose a new leader - someone upon which to bestow the powerful relic, the matrix of leadership - they chose Optimus and this infuriated Ultra Magnus who left Cybertron in disgust vowing to one day take what was rightfully his.

Yeah, that sword is the hope of Children

Eventually he tracked down Optimus Prime on Earth and tried to steal the power from Optimus Prime - surprising to both of them when the energy transfer begun what occured was a merging of their two forms to create the most powerful Autobot ever - Omega Prime. Ultra Magnus reluctantly helped out Optimus a few times afterward but always wanted to keep his distance. Eventually in the final chapter of the series they reconcilled and worked together to defeat the powerful Decepticon leader Galvatron using a sword forged from the power of hope of all the children on Earth (seriously I couldn't make this stuff up!).

Ultra Magnus (like the Optimus Prime I posted on Saturday) is what Transfans like to call a Partsformer. Partsformers are figures that don't really transform so much as they disassemble and reassemble in a different configuration. They are common for combiners because doing combined modes are really difficult to truly transform. Ultra Magnus as a figure really suffers for his combined mode with Optimus Prime. It's bad enough that his vehicle mode is a car transport truck which is 75 percent hollow (another real challenge for engineers making a satisfying transformation) but his arms and legs need to detach so they can be worn on Optimus Prime in the Omega Prime configuration. Because of all the partsforming I've lost a number of small pieces from this figure and combined with the discolouration will probably have to be sold in an AS-IS auction.

Until tomorrow,
Chris