Pastoral Letter: In the Spring Wind, We Prayed

Dear SUM family,

This past Thursday at noon, I walked over to Eno Memorial Hall for the National Day of Prayer gathering.  Earlier that day, the sunlight coming through the window looked warm and gentle, so I stepped outside without thinking too much about it. It is close enough to walk from the church office, and I started out lightly.  But once I was outside, the spring wind carried far more energy than I expected. I happened to be wearing a short-sleeved clerical shirt, trusting the warmth I had seen through the window. The sunlight was real, but so was the wind.

At first, I sat in the shade and joined the prayer gathering from there. After a while, the cold slowly settled into my body, and I became tired more quickly than I expected.  Eventually, I moved into the sunlight and stood there praying with the others.

For some reason, that small movement stayed with me.  Sometimes we begin the day looking only at the light, only to discover the wind waiting outside. Sometimes a heart we thought was fine becomes tired more easily than we imagined. Sometimes we quietly move from one place to another just to keep standing. And even there, God still gives us a place to stand and pray.

What remained with me most deeply was not the weather itself, but the invitation spoken by the pastor who led the gathering. He reminded us that we had gathered to pray for the community where we live, while carrying different religious backgrounds and traditions. He said that he himself prays in the name of Jesus, because that is his faith and his tradition, while others present may pray from different traditions. Then he gently invited us to pray together while honoring those differences.

There was something quietly beautiful about that moment.

As a Christian pastor, I also pray in the name of Jesus. That is not a small thing for me. The name of Christ stands at the center of my faith, my calling, and my life. At the same time, I do not believe that following Jesus requires me to erase the humanity of my neighbors. Christ calls us to live with conviction, but also teaches us how to stand with humility. That is not always easy. Perhaps that, too, is part of the grace we are still learning.

We live in a time when difference can easily become distance.  A different belief, a different language, a different political view, a different story—any of these can quietly become a wall.  Yet that day, different people stood together in the same wind, praying for the same town, the same neighbors, and the same wounded world.  No one had to become the same in order to stand together.  That stayed with me.

We prayed for the church. We prayed for our local community. We prayed for people who serve quietly in places that often go unseen. We prayed for our nation and its leaders, and for peace throughout the world.

I do not believe prayer is a way to control the world. Prayer is not power over God, over people, or over history. Prayer is the opening of our hearts before God.  And hearts opened before God slowly begin to see neighbors differently.  Perhaps that is where prayer and service meet.

We pray, and then we learn to listen. We pray, and then we learn to care. We pray, and then we learn to serve in the small places where God has planted us.  Peace can sound like a word too large for ordinary people like us. But perhaps peace begins in smaller places than we imagine: in a prayer spoken honestly, in a neighbor treated with dignity, in a church learning to care beyond itself, and in a community where people can stand together without erasing one another.

The wind was still blowing when the gathering ended. The sunlight was still there too.

Maybe many of us live somewhere between those two—not only in warmth, and not only in wind. And there, God keeps inviting us to pray, to serve, and to keep standing together.

This Sunday, we will gather again for worship. May God continue forming us into people who pray with faith, serve with humility, and seek peace with courage—for the church, for our neighbors, for this community, and for the world God so loves. 

Grace and peace,
Pastor DH