The Boy to My Left.

One of the cool things about life -and ministry, for that matter- is that every once in awhile you get to walk through a good dream. You get to experience something amazing.

Back in 1958 the people of Trinity United Methodist Church moved from downtown out to our present location on East Jackson Boulevard. (Don't worry...this isn't going to turn into a long history lesson!) When they settled out here they dreamt of a worship space and a youth center/ community center. It took us until 1999 to get the sanctuary built, and then people started thinking about that community center...that youth center.

About 18 months ago we moved into a really cool facility. Designed by a firm working with a team of laity, the Trinity Life Center is really cool... hardwood floor, scoreboard, classrooms for little kids and adults, a large lobby or gathering area, a youth room that meets the needs of adolescents, and super acoustics. The really great thing is our church understands that this is a tool for God - to reach and serve the community. Our Upward Basketball and Cheerleading ministries bring about 2,000 to God's house every Saturday. One-third of those folks are not connected to a church.

People dreamed the dream. God worked in them to make the dream a reality.

So this weekend we were blessed to have Bishop Michael J. Coyner join us for services of consecration. He drove all the way from Indy to spend Saturday night and Sunday morning with us.

All four weekend services were in the TLC. Lighting and sound were nearly perfect...no real glitches. Our Chancel Choir was rocking, and our Praise Team was "on." Our food team had coffee and homemade cinammon rolls!

Do you know what the coolest part of the services were? As much as I loved the music, it wasn't the choirs or music teams. As much as I respect our Bishop, and was blessed by his preaching, it wasn't the Bishop sitting to my right. No, it was a 7th grade boy who was sitting to my left.

The boy to my left first showed up at Trinity about three years ago. He was a neighborhood kid who was often on the edge of trouble. A guy in our church named John invited the boy to our mid week meal and program. Then, John invited the boy to worship.

Now, the church has become the center of the boy's life. He spends Saturdays at the church helping with Upward Basketball. He helps sweep up bread crumbs after Communion on Sunday morning, and he works the sound/lighting board during our services when needed. Life is tough at home but Trinity has become another kind of family for the boy.

During that moment in worship, when we prayed the Lord's Prayer, I heard the boy to my left praying the prayer. He knew every word. After it was over the boy leaned over to me and whispered, "Do you know every word to that prayer?" I said, "Yes, I do." He beamed at me and quietly said, "So do I."

I don't know what kind of price you put on moments like that, but I think it was worth the $3.5 million it cost God's people to build this brick instrument of grace.

Disconnected Prayers.

People this time of year joke about Christmas letters and fruitcake. Folks roll their eyes and grumble about both. Okay - I'll grant you that there are some bad Christmas letters. Full of so much boasting and bragging that you can barely make your way to the end of the note. And there are some bad fruitcakes. Still, I like them both...Christmas letters and holiday fruitcakes.

So I've been reading notes from friends. It's been fun -mostly- hearing what they're up to. How life is going for them. There have been a few stories of pain and loss, too.

One note nearly dropped me on the floor, though. It's from a friend I have known for over twenty years. She is a pedal-to-the-floor Jesus follower. She talks a lot about the Holy Spirit. Some might say she's a Pentecostal Christian in Methodist clothing. My friend is more conservative, theologically, than me.

She has been a tremendous blessing to me. She has offered words of encouragement to me in my life and ministry. She has prayed for me and with me. She has loved me better than I deserve.

Last year, in her Christmas letter, she said she wasn't sure their church's new pastor was going to get the job done. Because he was so unlike his predecessor. I sent her back a note and reminded her that God wires us all differently, and that every pastor -no matter how much we may love and respect them- has weaknesses. One pastor goes and another pastor arrives - the strengths of one complementing the weaknesses of the other.

So this year I open up my friend's Christmas letter and she says something like this: "I meet with Pastor Devon and Pastor Sandy every Sunday between services and pray for them. Still haven't made up my mind but continue to support him."

Okay. Does this strike you as odd? Should I be thankful that my friend, despite her reservations about the lead pastor at their church, is still praying with him...and for him? Or should I be bothered by the disconnect of a person who prays with a pastor, week after week, but is still leaning back, withholding judgment, and not sure?

The New Testament -1st John- says people will know we belong to God by the way we love one another. Jesus says the same thing in John's gospel. Praying for one another, tossing around the Holy Spirit's name, and then waiting to say, "Naw, you don't meet the qualifications I have for a (fill-in-the-blank) just right friend...neighbor... teacher...counselor...youth director...choir director...pastor...Jesus-follower" strikes me as evidence of a critical spirit and love that is conditional to the extreme.

Love doesn't mean we don't hold one another accountable. Christian love doesn't mean we shut off that part of our mind that utilizes wisdom to evaluate people and situations.

But to show up, week after week, praying for someone while inside we are still gathering information, still weighing the evidence, still seeing whether they match up with the list of qualifications we have put together for a parent, friend, coach, teacher, or pastor -there is a disconnect here.

I'm going out on some thin ice, here, but I think my friend's prayers are shallow. Only half-real. It would be more loving, more courageous, more faithful, and more prayerful if my friend would ask to sit down with her pastor. Talk honestly with him about her struggles...her concerns...and risk some honest communication. Take a risk and get to know his heart...how the world looks from where he sits. Now that would be a prayer.

When you pray for people, when you tell them you're pulling for them, when you say they can count on you, are you telling the truth? Or are you just settling for the appearance of prayer...friendship...support?

To support someone is to risk honesty.

That's where it has to start.

If You Post It, They Will Pray.

You can now submit your prayers to God on-line.

You don't have to go to a mosque.

You don't have to go to a synagogue.

You don't have to go to a church.

You don't have to risk getting close to another living soul -in person.

You can go to prayabout.com and ipraytoday.com and post your prayer requests. There have been toll-free long distance services, according to the article in today's New York Times, where you could ask strangers to pray for you.

Now there are prayer networks on the internet. The sites, according to the story by Allen Salkin, are not all Christian. But they share a common belief that "the more people pray for something, it has a better chance of happening."

The most common prayers are, the article says, for physical healing. The second most requested prayers are for inner peace. Over the last few months the number of people requesting prayers about financial concerns have increased sharply.

The founder of prayabout.com, Rodger Desai, is quoted as saying: "The Internet is a perfect place to create a market for support and hope."

There are good things about this phenomenon. The fact the web sites exist is a confirmation of the spiritual hunger that can turn us all towards God. It is encouraging to see people recognizing the power of prayer, and to witness people caring about one another.

But a "perfect market for support and hope?" It seems pretty clear to me God had a better idea when God created the church. On our worst days, I know, the church is like a bad web site that deserves to crash. And we do. We mess up. We talk of grace and mutter words of judgment about one another. We talk about loving the world, feeding the hungry and welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked, and then we can get so caught up in our own stuff that we are blind to the neighbor in need. So we have our bad days. But we have a lot of good days, too.

A lot of good days.

Approaching the sanctuary this morning I was approached by a woman who dissolved in tears. She was whispering into my "bad" ear and I had to turn my head to catch what she was saying. Her newly born grandchild was having physical complications, and was being considered for transport to a regional medical center. I wrapped my arms around her, I listened to her, and others quietly approached. She was surrounded by grace. Offered by living, breathing people.

After worship I noticed people standing around, in clusters, talking... listening...laughing. Toddlers were toddling...friends were telling friends they would be praying...a couple now living 3,000 miles away came over and we talked. They told me about their new life...their new chapter. There were these clusters of caring all around the room.

There is something in the human heart that hungers for real community, I believe. Person-to-person pray. In person. Doesn't matter how big Google gets...whatever the internet can do pales in comparison to the prayer support of the smallest, most rural gathering of genuine Jesus followers.