From The Pastor’s Desk:
Signals from Visible World to an Invisible One
I really don’t understand how cell phones work. I type something on a handheld computer screen, and then I hit a button (it’s not really a button, just an icon on my touchscreen) and instantly the person I want to communicate with can read what I typed. If they are looking at their phone as I am typing, there’s even an indication to let them know I’m composing a message. How does that work? What’s the medium that carries my message from me to them?
I sort of got how radios worked. At least I could see the giant radio towers at the radio station and I could see the antenna on my car. I learned something about radio waves in my 11th grade physics class, so I know there was some sort of invisible wavelength being sent and received. And landline telephones kind of made sense. We could see the phone wires running into our homes, and see them going from pole to pole along the highway. I guess it made sense that we could transmit sounds down those wires and connect all over the country.
But cell phones remain a mystery to me. There’s something called WiFi and Cellular Data and somehow, we all tap into a network that allows us instant communication with nearly anyone else on the globe.
The great thing is, I don’t have to know how they work to benefit from them. I pay my monthly subscription fee, and my phone allows me to make calls, send and receive texts, and connect to the internet from virtually anywhere. It doesn’t make sense to me, but it works.
Sometimes I think prayer is sort of like that. One of my favorite Christian authors is Philip Yancey. He wrote a book about 20 years ago called Prayer. The subtitle is: “Does it Make Any Difference?” He
wonders if prayer is sort of like using a cell phone: “We send signals from a visible world to an invisible one, in hope that Someone receives them.” Yancey cites a survey that says more Americans will pray this week than will exercise, drive a car, or go to work. Nine in ten of us pray regularly, and three out of four claim to pray every day. Most people pray. And yet, very few people report being satisfied with their prayer lives. Fewer still can express what is happening when we pray. Yancey quotes the late British pastor Martyn Lloyd-Jones: “Of all the activities in which the Christian engages, and which are part of the Christian life, there is surely none which causes so much perplexity, and raises so many problems, as the activity which we call prayer.”
Prayer is mysterious. How does God hear the individual prayers of over 8 billion people? Which prayers does He respond to? Why do some prayers seem to receive affirmative responses while others do not? What things are important enough to pray for, and which things are just too trivial?
I have been a Christian all my life, and a pastor for 30 years, and yet some things about prayer remain as mysterious to me as my cell phone. In the next couple of months we are going to go to the Bible with some of our Prayer Questions. Using Yancey’s book as a guide, I’m going to do a series of sermons on some of the biggest questions about prayer. At the end, whether we understand prayer better or not, hopefully we will recommit ourselves to the importance it plays in our lives.
January Birthdays
January 6 - Brandon Quario
January 7 - Lydia Fleshner
January 11 - Jennifer Heeren
January 15 - Abbie Tideman, Will Cordes
January 18 - Ryan Fleshner
January 21 - Denise Junker, Tom Neal
January 22 - Michelle Eberline, Daniel Shafer
January 23 - Sue White, James Seehusen
January Anniversaries
January 1 - Pastor Russell & Beth Muilenburg
January 25 - Tom & Pat Neal
Janary Greeting and Fellowship
January 4 - Matt & Michelle Eberline, Judy Koenen
January 11 - Tim & Denise Junker, Mark & Jodi Bangasser
January 18 - Gary & Merrie Krukow, Tim & Denise Junker
January 25 - Ken & Ruth Seehusen, Joyce Fecht
January Sound/Projector Operator
January 4 - Tim Junker
January 11 - Ryan Fleshner
January 18 - Matt Eberline
January 25 - Ryan Fleshner
Video Operator Schedule
January 4 - James Seehusen
January 11 - Michael Shafer
January 18 - Lucas Junker
January 25 - Jodi Bangasser
January Praise Team Schedule
January 4 - Praise Team 1 (Denise)
January 11 - Praise Team 2 (Ruth)
January 18 - Praise Team 3 (Kelly/Greta)
January 25 - Praise Team 4 (Denise)