Prayer and mission
By Andrew Clouse
Ethel Harder, 86, is a mission worker.
She’s not in Mongolia, Benin, Burkina Faso, or Argentina. She’s in her home in Reedley, Calif., praying for Mission Network workers all over the world while eating breakfast. Every morning, she says, she chooses a worker or a family from Mission Mosaic, the Mennonite Mission Network prayer directory, and asks God to bless their work.
Prayer or action? Which is a more powerful tool for mission?
Jesus prayed in the desert for 40 days before beginning his ministry; the Apostle Paul commands us to pray without ceasing; Martin Luther said paradoxically that his busy schedule did not allow for less than three hours a day of prayer. Yet in our own lives many of us feel lucky if we find a few moments before nodding off at night to say a few God bless ‘ems.
Perhaps we even secretly think prayer is a waste of time. But there can be no Christ-like action without prayer. Prayer gets us out of our own heads, connects us to our neighbors, and puts us in communion with our Creator, who inspires, leads and sustains us. Prayer gives us faith that can move mountains. What if we lived as if this were more than a metaphor?
Overwhelmed and not sure where to start? Try praying. Pray alone; pray with a friend; pray with a small group. Not sure what to say? Try silence. For the contemplatives, prayer is about listening.
Finally, prayer puts the burden on God. As Martin Luther said, “Pray, and let God worry.” We can trust God to lead us.
Ethel Harder knows that prayer and action must work in tandem. One suffers without the other. May our lives be living prayers, pleasing to God. Andrew Clouse
Become a prayer partner—receive monthly prayer requests. www.MennoniteMission.net/resources/Prayer-resources