 Spiritual: April 17, 2024 Issue [#12515] |
This week: 24/7 Prayer Edited by: Jeff  
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"Only a real risk tests the reality of a belief."
— C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the official Spiritual Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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24/7 Prayer
24/7 Prayer (sometimes called "prayer chains") can be a great way to pray for something as a community. It's particularly popular activity during the Lenten season, during Christmas, and around other significant religious days. The idea is to maintain a schedule where someone is praying every hour of the day for a specified period of time. Churches will often have sign-ups so members of the community can cover the entire period of time.
Easter of 2023 was the first time I actually participated in one myself (and immediately jumped into the deep end of the pool by volunteering for the middle of the night and very early morning shifts), and I found it a powerful experience, not just because I was setting aside specific time to pray, but I knew I was praying in community; that I was picking up the baton from the person who had the hour just before me, and I was passing the baton to the person after me when my hour was up.
Prayer can be an incredible difficult rhythm to get into when you're by yourself and trying to self-motivate. If you find yourself experiencing that particular struggle, consider joining a prayer chain with some of your friends or fellow members of your faith community. You don't even have to wait for a special occasion or holiday; prayer chains are also great for individual prayers. Someone who's experiencing a medical emergency, financial distress, or even just the down part of the ups and downs of life can benefit from a chain of people praying over their circumstances!
To set up a prayer chain, all you really need is a place for people to sign-up and see who else has volunteered and when. This could be accomplished with a shared calendar or other document, a sign-up sheet, or a specific individual setting it up and managing it for the other participants. And don't be shy about encouraging the other members of the prayer chain! Just like any other sustained effort, there will be high points and low points in the process, and you don't want to see a break in the prayer chain because someone wasn't able to follow through on their commitment because they didn't have support.
Prayer chains can be an amazing experience for a faith community. If you haven't yet, consider giving one a try! You can even start small: twenty-four hours or even less. In Saxony, the Moravian community of Herrnhut started a prayer chain in 1727 that was rumored to have gone uninterrupted for over 100 years... but you can work up to that. 
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
I also encourage you to check out the following items:
EXCERPT: Taylor saw her again. A vision in a flowery purple dress, standing under a tree shading her eyes from the unrelenting sun. He moved closer, wanting. No. Needing to know who she was and why he was so drawn to her. Every step closer his heart pounded harder, throbbing against his rib cage. He felt the sun at his back, a warmth rushing down his spine as he approached. She turned to look up at him.
EXCERPT: As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we talk about Eternity all the time. It means something different for us than most Christians.
EXCERPT: In a quiet corner of a suburban street, where daffodils danced in the spring snow, there sat an old baseball glove. It lay forgotten amidst the vibrant blooms, a fragment of childhood games and youthful dreams.
Nearby, a deaf dog named Charlie roamed the neighborhood, unaware of the changing seasons and the fleeting beauty of the flowers. He moved with a sense of gentle curiosity, guided by instincts that vibrated in the air. But it was the cat, a sleek feline with eyes that held ancient wisdom, who truly understood the rhythms of the world. She prowled the streets with a silent attitude, her presence reassuringly watching the chaos of human existence.
EXCERPT: From my own experiences I’ve found that wisdom of the human experience can be used as a weapon for anything. Here’s the issue with hashing out your life: you can’t possibly do so honestly since there will always be parts that you’ve overlooked.
EXCERPT: Is there any room left in the world for God?
Doctors have become miracle workers.
The government has become the primary provider.
Technology is the source of our future.
The internet is the source of our intelligence.
And we, the people, have become consumers of idolatry and folly.
Is there any room left in the world for God?
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Feedback from "Spiritual Newsletter (March 20, 2024)" about Biblical writing styles:
Hey there, Jeff . I found your newsletter to be humorous and enlightening. Being a Christian myself, I've never tried to categorise the Bible into subgenres so that bit did tickle me quite a bit. However, there is so much truth in what you said. Our mortal minds can never understand the vastness of the Scripture. Categorising the Bible would have been the last on my mind, but now that it's brought to our attention, it did give me a different perspective or a new way to look at how people view it. Very enlightening indeed.
IMHO, "old" earthers have less faith in the word. Consider this: God created Adam on the sixth day, correct? So, on day 7, when God rested, Adam was one day old, correct? But, Adam was an adult when he was created. God created him to be so. Given this, could not God also create the earth to appear as old or as young as he wished?
Nicely written, I have always seen the good book from a similar point of view. Not a book of literal history or science, but stories to feed the soul. Written by human hands for human minds, but with divine inspiration. That’s what I choose to believe.
Hello Jeff . This is excellent. I have many times wondered how people believe that the Bible is the ultimate bottom-line word of God. There are so many authors. God may have "guided" their writing, but it wasn't from Him. God didn't choose the stories to put in the Bible, right? Anyway, thank you for a fabulous newsletter and a great reminder of how to "take" the Bible.
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