May 1, 2007
My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations…
- Mark 11:17, Jesus quoting Isaiah
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Last week I received a letter with the Tennessee Department
of Corrections as the return address. Artimous said he was covenanting
to pray for us. He had seen a PBS documentary, “Lives
For Sale,” that sheds light on the issue of human
trafficking across the U.S.-Mexico border and highlights ways
of combating trafficking. The documentary holds up Just Coffee
as a good example of a positive way to combat trafficking. I often
receive cards from the Sunday-school groups and women’s
circles letting us know that we are in their prayers.
Mark inviting folks to pass the peace of Christ across the U.S.-Mexico
border at the annual bi-national prayer service and agape meal.
Prayer is central to all of our ministries, and we know that
the prayers of Artimous, the children in Sunday schools, and the
women in circles are instruments of God’s sustenance in
life and ministry. We cherish your prayers.
Last month, Miriam and I were in Hermosillo visiting Gabriel
and Lourdes Mondragon, who are starting a new church in a new
neighborhood. Standing in front of their house, Gabriel pointed
out four homes of people who in the last two weeks had accepted
Christ into their lives and were committed to following him. We
visited the home of Ana who was on her way to the hospital to
be with her mother. “Pastor,” she said, “thank
you for praying for us.”
While they were doing some errands to prepare for a block party
that evening, several children and adults came by asking for them.
At the block party, families from the community came together
and gave thanks in for the life of Gabriel who was celebrating
a birthday. Bathed in prayer, it was evident that the Mondragon
home is a spiritual anchor for their new community.
Miriam and Anna Flor passing the peace of Christ across borders. Last week, when the Lily of the Valley Church was gathered for
its mid-week prayer service, the families present committed themselves
to pray for five of their neighbors, recognizing that God was
calling them to be a blessing to their neighbors. As they were
making this commitment, Reynaldo entered the sanctuary and was
invited into the prayer circle. He had never been to the Lily
of the Valley Church, but came in seeking help in battling the
demons that were tormenting him. The members of the church listened
to his struggles, encouraged him, and then surrounded him in prayer
while laying hands on him.
On Friday, a group from Gannon University was concluding their
weeklong immersion experience with us. As they were reflecting
about concrete ways in which they could “repent and trust
the good news of Jesus Christ,” Maureen said that recognizing
our economic connectedness she would begin “using shopping
as prayer. I will no longer just buy things, but will seek to
buy things that allow me to be in just relationship with those
who produce the goods I am consuming. As I buy my produce, I will
pray for the people who picked it.”
Douglas Key, pastor of the Clover Presbyterian Church in Clover,
South Carolina, told us that every morning, as he drinks his coffee—cultivated,
roasted, and packed by the Just Coffee Coop (a cooperative founded
on the strength of prayer)—he looks at the name on the bag
of the farmer who produced his coffee and he gives thanks to God
for the farmer and the farmer’s family and prays for God’s
blessing in their lives.
Two groups are gathered together in CRREDA, a drug rehabilitation
center in Naco, Sonora: a group of Mexican men recovering from
addiction to alcohol and drugs and a group from a Presbyterian
Church recovering from what one of its members said was “an
addiction to a lifestyle that isolates us from the majority of
the world.” They pray in thanksgiving to God for the healing
that they were experiencing, and they pray for the strength to
continue on the path of recovery one day at a time.
On Tuesdays, an ecumenical group gathers in Douglas, Arizona,
at 5:15 p.m. for the Healing Our Borders prayer vigil. We remember
the lives of those who have died in our deserts seeking to provide
daily bread for their families by calling out their names and
holding up a cross with their names on it. We pray for our countries,
that there might be peace on our borders. A visitor from Tennessee
said to me, “I’d never participated in a protest before.”
I reacted by saying: “I have never thought of the vigil
as a protest, but I guess you are right—prayer is protest.”
Any time we pray “Thy kingdom come” we protest that
we are not satisfied with the kingdom of this world, and when
we say “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”
we make known our desire for things to change here on earth.
Every Wednesday morning we gather in prayer partnership with
the staff of Frontera de Cristo and the pastors of the local congregations.
We invite you to let us know how we can be in prayer for your
lives and ministries.
Paul says that we are to pray without ceasing. May our lives
be a constant prayer of thanksgiving to God and may we be open
to being guided by the Holy One in all that we do.
Mark S. Adams
PC(USA) Mission Co-worker
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 66 |
