The following article was written for our monthly newsletter:
Every place has a purpose. If you walked into your doctor’s office and saw a deep fryer cooking up some fries behind the counter, you’d have questions. If you sat down at your favorite burger joint, and the waitress asked to record your weight, temperature, and blood pressure, you’d probably walk out. The wrong activity in the wrong place!
The central place of ancient Jewish identity and worship was the temple in Jerusalem. For centuries, through all the ups and downs of faithfulness, God’s people gathered there in order to draw near to him. Unfortunately, by the time Jesus came on the scene, God’s people were once again in a bit of a spiritual slump. The necessary commerce that supported temple worship—the selling of sacrificial animals, and the exchanging of foreign currency for pilgrims—had come a little close to the center. Rather than remaining outside the temple courts, commerce had worked its way inside. The purpose of God’s temple was being confused. The wrong activity in the wrong place.
Now, a lot of things went on in the temple: sacrificial worship, music, teaching, dispute settlement, and more. But Jesus didn’t like what he saw. He drove out the merchants and moneychangers, and, quoting the prophet Isaiah, clarified the core purpose of God’s house: prayer. (see Matthew 21:13, Isaiah 56:7) Personal conversation with God, either individually or corporately—what one theologian calls “the drama of divine-human dialogue.” The right activity in the right place.
For the next six months, Burns Church is becoming more intentionally a house of prayer. As we follow the Holy Spirit through the Immerse Project—a guided process to help us gain missional clarity—an important part of our discernment is to press deeper into prayer. In order to include as many people as possible as easily as possible, every first Sunday will be a special Prayer Service. The service will remain mostly in keeping with our usual services, but with a dedicated time of guided, corporate prayer for our neighbors.
We do not see clearly yet the ways God is calling us to serve our community, but we can certainly begin praying for them! And as we pray for them, we believe that the Lord will bring greater clarity to our ongoing mission. Let’s become a house of prayer—for all nations, and for all our neighbors!