Staying and Praying....Together

Reflection: Would we not all agree that being part of a family takes much hard work and commitment?  It takes a lot of patience and a lot of tender loving care. To carry the responsibility of being a family also takes a lot of prayer. 

This is true, too, for the Church family. Those who belong to it know it takes hard work and commitment to keep the church alive and thriving and moving forward.  We know, too, that prayerful reflection and a prayer-filled connection to God is where the church finds its purpose and power to remain as one.
This has been true from day one as seen in our reading this week from Acts 1. In it we see a portrait of the first church “family” devoted to their practice of prayer together.  Jesus has ascended into Heaven and in the in-between time while they wait for the promised Holy Spirit, they find themselves in prayer while preparing for their calling to be the Church.

The Church today remains in an in-between time – as we wait for Jesus’s return and with it the fulfillment of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.  Like the church’s first family, we are not to know the time or the periods set by God.  But wherever we are and whenever we find ourselves in the history of the world, we are to remain prayerfully committed to the work of the Church united in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   

What does the Church’s commitment to prayer look like for us?  Has it led to our Oneness?  How might we pray so as not to be divided? Read! Pray!  Think about God’s word and then come to church this Sunday, one in the Spirit, one in the Lord, with hope for the day when all unity will be restored, and all will know we are Christians by our love.