Prayer and Faith-Filled Encounters
I don’t know how many of you have had opportunities to utilize our new prayer gazebo, but if you’ve not visited, please consider doing so soon. Our Renewal Team spent a great deal of time and prayer dedicated to the discernment process of learning ways God calls us to encounter our community. I’m not certain any of us realized how much we would encounter the community when we decided to put a gazebo on the church lawn.
Each day, dozens of kids in the YMCA’s summer programs play, learn about gardening on our church lawn, and in the process, explore our gazebo. It’s been a process for them to learn how to engage with this new structure in their play time. That process is not yet complete. But, there are many opportunities to encounter our community within this structure than just the children from the Y.
Vacation Bible School will take place here in a few weeks. The gazebo sits on the lawn where we traditionally play games. Some have asked if this will be a hindrance, but I tend to think it will be an asset. If the day is incredibly hot, this will be a shady place of refuge where those who come can have a cold drink. If it rains, it might become a place where children gather to interact in less physically active ways, yet still enjoy their time together learning about Jesus’ birth, while seeking shelter from a few showers.
Jeff has shared many encounters where he has engaged visitors in conversations…people who might not ever venture across the parking lot to seek us out. This has become a surprising gift! I’ve visited with church members in this quiet, beautiful space and our Yoga group gathered there for an outdoor yoga session once. They will likely try that again, as it was such an enjoyable experience for everyone!
Some have shared concerns that this space may be used for nefarious purposes. I’m afraid that may very well happen. It is our hope and prayer that this site becomes sacred space and not a place tainted by anyone’s harm to themselves or others. We cannot fully control what happens or does not happen in the gazebo. We can only make ourselves available to represent God when we encounter those who come seeking shelter or a place of quiet rest in this simple, beautiful, wooden structure.
My hope for each of you is that you, too, will go out to the church lawn and spend a bit of time in prayer and contemplation and help make this space sacred. Use the gazebo the way you would like to see the community use the space. Help keep it beautiful by keeping it clean and groomed (once the landscaping is in place). Add your prayers to the prayers of others. Our combined, faith-filled encounters on the gazebo will help set the tone for how we’d like to see this space used. I envision it becoming like vespers at camp Wakon Da-Ho. Even newcomers to camp walk through vespers a little differently than they do the rest of camp. I like to think that all the combined encounters with God in that one spot have made it holy ground…and in these kinds of places, everyone can feel that it is a little bit different, and because it is different, one is forced to act in different ways.
Blessings,
Tracy