A Passion for Prayer

Our epistle reading reminds us that each one of us is unique. (1Cor 12.1-11)

For as start, St Paul reminds us that God has given each of us different gifts:

"To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, ...to another faith, ...to another gifts of healing, ...and so on."

And later on in this chapter he goes on to mention that:

"...in the church God has appointed those able to help one another, ...those with gifts of administration." (1Cor 12.28)

And there are many other types of gifts. When writing to the Romans, Paul mentions other gifts that people have, ...the gift of serving, ...the gift of generosity, and giving to those in need, ...and so on. (Rom 12.6-8)

One of the reasons that you are unique is because God has given you a unique set of gifts. And why has he done this? Well the answer is given in v7

"...to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good."

We are to use the gifts that God has given us for the benefit of others, ...for the common good.

But each one of us is different in another important way, ...in addition to having different gifts, we each are interested in different things.

For some people their interest goes further than that, ...they have a passion for something.

Many people have a passion for football, ...it doesn't matter how many times Newcastle United beat them, they still support their team with undying loyalty!

My neighbour who lived opposite the vicarage had a passion for model railways. Every cupboard was packed with model engines, and carriages, all in mint condition in their boxes, ...and the attic containing a spectacular model railway layout.

Some people have a passion for cross-stitch, or embroidery.

Others have a passion for cooking, or baking.

Some have a passion for gardening.

We're not born with passions, ...but rather they can be things that grow within us. We experience something which excites us, or interests us, ...and so we want to find out a bit more.

It takes time to grow a passion, ...and if we stop investing the time, the passion slowly fades.

There was a time when I was passionate about photography. As a child I had always been interested in taking photos, I still remember my first black and white photos taken in the early 60's when colour film was too expensive.

When I started work I saved up for a proper 35mm camera, ...and it was then that my interest turned into a passion. I would read magazines about photography, ...I would buy all sorts of accessories, and lenses for my hobby, ...I would catalogue and file all my negatives, and spend hours putting photos into albums.

But as life got more busy, I spent less and less time with my camera, ...and my passion for photography slowly faded. Twenty years latter I'm still interested in photography, ...but I don't have a passion any more.

We can have a passion for God, if we allow that passion to grow.

Many of you were here last Sunday when Bishop Anthony authorised our Ministry Leadership Team. One of the roles of the MLT is to help each of us to develop our passion for God and his kingdom.

Now there are six areas of ministry that the MLT will be particularly focussing on. They are areas that I've mentioned before, but I briefly want to remind you what they are.

The first area is PRAYER, which is all about our communication with God. It includes the way we talk to God, ...and also the way we listen to God. Prayer can sometimes be us simply coming into God's presence, and enjoying being together without any words.

Closely related to that is the area of WORSHIP, which is something that we give to God. In worship we give him our thanks and praise, ...but it's not just something we do in Church on a Sunday. Worship also includes the way in which we offer God our lives throughout the week.

A third area of ministry is COMPASSION. One of the things that marked our Jesus' ministry was the way he had compassion for those in need. When we see the needs of others, (whether people next door, or people in other parts of the world), and also have a desire to help meet these needs, ...then we're working in the area of compassion.

The fourth area is closely related to this, ...EVANGELISM. Evangelism is all about sharing the Good News of Jesus with people. If the area of Compassion is mainly to do with satisfying people's physical and emotional needs, ...then Evangelism is mainly to do with satisfying their spiritual needs. It's helping people to discover that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Area number five is FELLOWSHIP. This is about the way that the members of our church relate to one another. It's about building up a loving community, where people can get to know each other, make friends with one another, have fun together, and to care for one another.

And related to this is the area of DISCIPLESHIP. This too is about caring for the members of our church, ...but in the specific area of helping people to grow in their faith, ...and helping us to apply what we are learning to our daily lives. We do this through our children's groups, ...also our youth groups, ...and also with adults through things like Alpha and Emmaus courses.

These are the six areas of ministry that our Ministry Leadership Team will be particularly focussing on.

They're all important, ...and I hope they are all things that we might be interested in, ...But do you have a passion for any of these things?

If not, do you have a hunch that one day your interest in one of these areas could grow into a passion?

All six areas are important because they all flow from things that Jesus commanded us to do.

- Jesus told us to love God with all our heart, ...and we do this through Prayer and Worship.

- Jesus told us to love our neighbours as we love ourselves, ...and we do this through Compassion and Evangelism.

- Jesus told us to love one another as he loved his disciples, ...and we do this through Fellowship and Discipleship.

They are all important, ...but it's very unlikely that we will ever have a passion for all of them. Rather, just as God gives different gifts to different people, so he gives different passions to different people.

I know of no better way of having a fulfilled life than using the gifts that God has given us, in the area that we are passionate about.

If we can recognise our gifts, then we know WHAT we are good at, ...if we can recognise our passion, then we'll know WHERE to use them.

There have been times in my life that I've done things that I've been good at, but in an area that I've not felt particularly interested in. If you like, I was using my gifts, but in an area for which I had no passion. The result? ...I was bored, and it felt like hard work.

There have been other times when I've been doing things in an area I felt passionate about, ...but I simply wasn't very good at what I was doing. If you like, I had the passion, but not the gifts. The result? I felt a failure.

But if we can get both things right, ...using the gifts we are good at in an area we feel passionate about, ...then that leads to true fulfilment.

During the next couple of years we are going to spend some time focussing on each of these six areas of passion. The one we are going to start with is PRAYER.

Now if you know that your main passion is one of the other areas: Worship, Compassion, Evangelism, Fellowship, or Discipleship. The rest of this sermon is not primarily for you, (so I don't mind if you want to doze off!).

Your time will come in the near future, ...so please be patient.

However, if your passion is PRAYER, (or you have a hunch that it might be prayer), then the remainder of this sermon is particularly for you.

But why are we starting with prayer? Well there are two reasons:

- First, because I believe that we need the things that we're doing as a church to be grounded in prayer, if we want them to be used by God.

- Second, it is through listening to God in prayer that we discover what he wants us to be doing.

Last week we were thinking about how the wise men followed a star, ...a sign, ...and he also wants to lead us today.

Before we came hear, Jan and I felt very strongly that this was where he was calling us. We returned from holiday in May 98, when I was still a curate ant Binley, and I received a phone call from Bishop Anthony in which he asking me if I would like some details about St Christopher's church.

These details had been written by the PCC here. They described the church, and the parish, and also the sort of vicar they were looking for.

I said "Yes please". This was on the Monday, they arrived on the Friday, ...and in between Jan went to a prayer meeting.

During this meeting someone said that they felt God telling them to read a particular passage from the Bible. It was from Luke chapter 13. They looked it up, but no-one in the group could see any relevance of that passage for any of them. They discussed it for a while, but ended up being none the wiser about why God wanted them to read it.

The following morning, I received the details about St Christopher's. On the last line of the last page there was a Bible Reference. It was from Luke chapter 13, and was the exact passage that Jan had been reading the night before.

That was one of the signs that we felt God was telling us to come here.

As we seek to develop the prayer life of our church, we want to learn more about how to listen to God.

The person on the MLT who is going to oversee the area of prayer in our church is Brian Bailey. I know most of you know him, ...but if any newer members haven't put his name to his face... (ask him to stand).

The first thing that we want to do is to agree a vision for where we are going. Brian and I have made a very provisional start. We've written a few words about how the prayer life of our church might look in 5 years time. I would like to read it to you.

Its about two fictitious characters called Peter and Paula...

READ IT

Now you may, or may not agree with this vision. As I say, it is only meant as a starting point to get us thinking, ...but in the near future we would like to agree on a vision that we could work towards.

I would like to finish by drawing your attention to a one-off meeting when we are going to think about this vision. I've mentioned it in the News Sheet, ...it's two weeks tomorrow at 8:00 pm.

It's for anyone who has a passion for prayer, ...or who thinks that they might some day have a passion for prayer. If that's you, ...please try to come.

At this meeting Brian and I will discussing this vision, ...and trying to sense if this is God's vision too.