Practice, Presence and Prayer

“Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when

they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.”

(Romans 12:14-16 The Message)

These last few months around here have been tremendously challenging as a community. There have been fires, some unexpected deaths, employment issues at the mill, families breaking up, more cancer diagnoses, increased alcoholism and drug use – all right here in Seeley Lake. Friends, we need to be in prayer! Our community has such amazing beauty, people of great generosity and compassion. Yet, there is also a darkness here that hangs about, causing such heaviness at times.

When times get tough, we can start to question why we’re even here. Our tendency can be to either pull up stakes and get out of Dodge, or to withdraw, to pull away from people because things are so painful. It’s times like this when we need one another – the presence of one another multiplies love, multiplies faith, multiplies hope.

With such great heaviness in our community, we also need to be in prayer – not simply for our own sake, but for the sake of one another, for the sake of revealing more of Christ’s presence here in our community.

How do we do that?

• We bless our enemies – no cursing them under our breath.

• We laugh with our friends – laugh until happy tears are streaming down our faces onto our shoes, and our cheeks and bellies ache from the sheer joy of it.

• We cry together as well – not shying away from the pain, but entering into it without trying to make it go away for our own comfort.

• We get along – we let go of bitterness and resentment, those old grudges so entrenched.

• We befriend those who are not on the “club roster” – those faces, hands and bodies that don’t quite meet “our standards,” whatever those might be.

• We get outside to behold the breath-taking beauty and power of the created world.

• We tell our stories in truth – not in order to put someone else down, or make ourselves look good.

• We tell our own stories - not others’ stories.

So why are we here? For such a time as this. These are ways of living together we all can practice. And while we’re at it, we keep our focus on deeper presence with others while being in prayer.