Message from Rev Phil- June 5, 2020

Dear Friends of South Bay and Picton United Churches;
Greetings on this hot sunny late spring morning.
Today’s Reflection will be on the topic of ‘prayer and the faith journey’; with attention again to God’s Presence with us where we do our living.
May these words be a blessing to you as you travel through these difficult days of social distancing and isolating in place.
Grace and peace with pastoral love and concern,
Rev. Phil

“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11.1 NIV)
“In the same way, God’s Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” (Romans 8.26)
This Sunday will mark the 14th week that we have been unable to gather for worship. During this time, we have also been isolating in place at home – and keeping safe social distance when we are out and about (shopping for necessities). We’ve never experienced anything like this COVID-19 Pandemic.
Over the years it has been our normal practice, each week, to gather with others of our community in our sanctuaries – to sing, to hear words of inspiration, and to pray. For weeks now we’ve been denied this life-giving experience. Yet we want to affirm that although we aren’t able to gather in “God’s house” – “God is with us; we are not alone.”
I’m reminded of the experience of Jacob that we find in the Book of Genesis.
Jacob was running away from a family conflict. He had cheated his twin brother. He had deceived his father, in collusion with his mother. (I’m not suggesting any of us are in these circumstances! 😉) As Jacob runs in terror, he finds himself alone, at night, in the wilderness, with a stone for a pillow. He falls asleep and dreams of a stairway from earth to heaven. He has an experience of God’s Presence with him.
Awakening in the morning, Jacob exclaimed:
“Surely God is in this place and I did not know it!”
Since God was with Jacob in his experience of loneliness and alienation – Jacob who was a far from perfect human being – we can be confident that God is with us as we walk this difficult road.
Jacob’s response to God’s Presence was to set up an altar, made from his stone pillow, and to worship.
We, in our circumstances, isolated and alone as some of us are, can be sure that God stands with us.
The disciples of Jesus asked that he teach them to pray. These were just regular folk – fishermen, a tax collector – not alabaster saints. Seeing Jesus in prayer, they realized their Rabbi gained comfort and strength from his practice. In response to their request Jesus gave them the prayer we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, admitted that he did not know how to pray. He assured the readers of that letter that God’s Spirit, living in us, “intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.”
Although we pray in our Worship Services, we don’t have to be at Church to pray.
Many of you likely already practice a daily discipline of prayer. Some find that speaking the prayers aloud is helpful. The Lord’s Prayer, has been called “The Greatest Prayer”.
It was St. Augustine, in the 4th century, who said: “He who sings prays twice.” Perhaps the thing we miss most about not being able to worship together – is the singing of the hymns. My maternal Grandmother was a devout Baptist who loved to sing her hymns. Even as she was being transported to the Markdale Hospital at age 82, after a stroke, she was able to sing “It is well with my soul”.
May you know God’s Presence with you even and especially in these difficult days. I leave you with St. Paul’s words:
“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (I Thes.5.16-18 NIV)