RSS 2.0 FeedLutheran Brethren Seminary hosts J-Term every year. It is a time of training for church leaders and a chance for continuing education and renewal for our pastors in the Church of the Lutheran Brethren. Learn more and download and stream the sessions at lbs.edu.
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I Am With You Always / August 2009, Featured Articles
Prayer and Twitter
I always smile when I hear the word "Twitter"; it reminds me of the early morning chatter of the birds outside my window. And for most folks using that social-networking tool, it's just a lot of chatter as they write and read about the most mundane events in their lives: "I'm going out for a hamburger," "The traffic was nuts!" "Words-of-wisdom" that would drive me nuts!
(In case you're wondering what I'm talking about, Twitter is an Internet/cell-phone service where the user sends little messages no longer than 140 characters called "tweets" to her friends.)
That got me thinking. Is prayer like tweeting? For starters, the Lord's Prayer is just seventy-one words long and contains about 360 characters - too long for a tweet. But our prayers aren't restricted to a certain length, are they. My shortest prayers are sometimes just three words long: "God help me!" And my longest prayers are the longings of my heart, inexpressible without the help of the Holy Spirit.
And then who hears my prayers? If I'm twittering, I don't really know if any of my friends are paying attention to what I'm writing. But I know for certain that God not only hears, but He answers my prayers. According to the writer to the Hebrews, "He (Jesus) always lives to make intercession for us."
The CLB Prayer Team uses the Internet, too. We use it to stay abreast of concerns that the people who work throughout the CLB bring. For example when plans were being made for the recent Annual Convention, the Prayer Team focused on topics from Preparation to Speakers to Worship to Deliberations and especially that God's will might be done as we assembled. Or as LB Seminary looked forward to its next session this fall, we prayed for God's work in the hearts and lives of candidates, praying the "Lord of the Harvest to send forth workers."
Most teams have Players; we invite you to join the CLB Prayer Team as Pray-ers. Just send your email to pray@prayclb.org. The more than 150 other pray-ers will welcome you to the team. Thank you for praying.
Shel Sorensen is the CLB Prayer Team Coordinator and serves on the Elder Board at Ebenezer Lutheran Brethren Church in Minneapolis, MN.
More Featured Articles
Sustainability and the Church
In the July/August issue of Fast Company, I ran across a sidebar titled, "Nature's 10 Simple Rules for Survival." As I read the list of "rules" I couldn't help but see if they might help me address church sustainability and survival in a world which has gone just a little nuts. I'm talking about the church world, not just the business world.
Bruce Log
Standing at the headwaters of the Mississippi River was a "bucket list" moment for me. As the 2007 movie of that title reveals, a bucket list is a list of the things you'd like to do before you kick it...the bucket. I'd never thought about it this way, but I'd always wanted to see the spot where the mighty Mississippi begins. And so, on a beautiful day in 2009, here it was.