2 full years of prayer letters

Dear pray-ers,

Thank-you so much for all of your prayers this month, God has again been faithful in answering those prayers. I am 6 weeks into coordinating and teaching Sunday School, Confirmation, Youth Group and Parents of Teens, various events (trip to the lake, bowling, movie night) and mission opportunities (service weekend in Springfield, TN and visiting a local assisted living facility). Needless to say - with papers on early church history, martyrdom, monasticism, the Reformation as well as formulating lesson plans for peer critique - it has been busy month. God however has continued to bless me both academically and in ministry.

I’m grateful to all my mentors and friends, for the endless amount of encouragement and advice they have given me. I have been just over 2 years since I moved here, for the first time, in 2008 and God needs to be praised for the relationships that he has allowed me to build both inside church and outside, and the joy that those people have brought to my life. Thank-you God for Mack, Regina, Lindsey, Maral, Lesleigh, Karol, Anthony and Jacob in particular!

I’m falling in love with what I believe to be God’s call to ministry in my life, and I realize that it’s early days, but I sense a growing compassion, love and care for imperfect people (including, for myself) – and that’s a God-thing! I’m excited about what the future brings as my heart breaks for those who are hurting right now, whether out in the open or in private.

As I plan for the next 14 months (until the expiration of my visa) both in university and at Trinity Church, I want to acknowledge God’s strength amidst my weakness and God’s ability and desire to transform apathy into affection, and insignificant things into highly significant things. Pray for the teenagers and their families at Trinity Church, may they know that they are loved. May they be inspired to break out of the pressure and routine of daily life and tap-into the greatest that God has for their lives and family.

Pray for Brentwood UMC as they search for a new Senior Pastor. Pray for Mack and all the other staff members in the campus church in Spring Hill as we search for a 7-day venue for church and community activities and meetings.

Thank-you,

Grace and peace,

Emma

Dear pray-ers,

Wow, I’ve done a terrible job with keeping touch this last month, in fact it’s been a 2 months gap and I know that some of you have been wondering what’s been going on! Thank-you so much for all your prayers, it has been an incredibly blessed Lent and Easter period. Things are only beginning to wind down again for the summer period. There is not one think that happened this month that could have happened as well as it did without God. From birthday celebrations to a Confirmation camping trip; from a holiday in California to starting a brand new High School ministry; from having 10 youth baptized to submitting my final assignments in seminary this past week – without your faithful prayers I think I would have completely lost my mind.

These last few months have been some of the best and some of the hardest. In these last 8 weeks I realized that I’d be in ministry for the rest of my life, but I also experienced the pain of what it means to truly love people (both parents and teenagers) who barely love themselves, who are experiencing hurt it their lives and are only discovering how to love God.

So, there is much to praise God for, also I definitely need God to inspire me and to continue to work through the youth ministry and the whole of Trinity Church down Spring Hill. Here are a few points:

• Church-wide Service Day (May 16th) – On this Sunday morning, everyone’s going to turn up to church, we going to praise God and join in Holy Communion and then we’re are being ‘released’ into the community to BE the church; to carry out acts of kindness and services for our neighbors and for our local community. Please pray for safety but most of all that people will experience the heart of Jesus.
• High School Ministry (15-18year olds) – Up until this point I’ve been focusing on building the Middle School Ministry (12-14year olds) however since we’re coming into the summer and kids are already preparing to move up in the Autumn it has been important to begin programming for the older age bracket. There are many challenges ahead but please pray that teenagers will continue to experience God in this ministry, and that love and joy would be the focus.
• Mission trip to Birmingham, Alabama (June 27th – July 2nd) - Please prayer for all the organizing that still needs to be done for this, particularly fundraising. I’m doing this all by myself and I’m starting to feel the weigh of it, especially now as it’s getting closer and closer.
• Related to the point above, I’m inclined to rely on my own strength – which fails me when I’m tired or hungry or selfish or proud – I’m quickly learning that one individual can keep pouring out if they refuse to fill themselves up. However, I seem to always fall into this trap, so please remember me in your prayers as I reconnect with God through prayer and bible reading.
• Finally, an opportunity just arose yesterday to live down in Spring Hill close to the church and right in the community. Despite only being 25 miles south of where I’m currently living, it is a significant move for me. Although it is one that I definitely want to do, it does mean uprooting from the close community of friends that I have in Nashville. Please pray for peace about this transition, which will probably happen mid-summer.

Again, I can never thank-you enough for your faithfulness. For in my weakness and neglect God has blessed me by answering your prayers, many blessings,

Emma

Prayer Letter 19

Monday 1st March 2010

Dear pray-ers,

I’m sitting having breakfast in a little coffee shop aptly called Utopia in Spring Hill, TN on the first day of my 25^th birthday month. I’ve just had Breakfast Club with some secondary school students before driving them to school. The past week has been a particularly busy one in down in Memphis Theological Seminary for classes, and with confirmation, a lunch leadership meeting and youth group on Sunday - I’m feeling a tad sleepy and slightly regretting giving up coffee for Lent – but couldn’t be much happier.

While in Memphis I had the pleasure of meeting Jason Brian Santos author A Community called Taize, the only authorized book about this modern ecumenical monastic community built on the principles of reconciliation, located in Burgundy, France. This community though small attracts hundreds of thousand young people every year, leading me to believe that there is something really attractive, actually more than that – God-ordained about human beings earnestly and intentionally living, working, learning and worshipping together. There’s something in the essence and very DNA of such a community that honors God, living out the values of the Kingdom of God in a world that is often more concerned with creating (or maintaining) divisions. It all seems terribly romantic until we appreciate that such a way of life does mean that conflict won’t happen, it does mean however that we are forced to deal with disagreements up-front. “Well, I don’t so much like the idea of that, so perhaps opting to live in a society that is divided up into fairly homogenous sub-groups is more palatable”…isn’t this what we’ve done and as a result devalued God’s desire for both diversity and unity. Anyway, this is just what has been on my mind…take it or leave it!

Thank-you so much for keeping me in your prayers, this is month 19 and I am truly indebted to your faithfulness. Confirmation for students aged 13-15 so going really well on Sunday mornings both in attendance but more importantly in the quality of conversations. We’ve just completed our weeks on the Trinity, first looking at God, Sin and Grace, then at Jesus as Saviour and yesterday at the The Gift of the Spirit. I would really appreciate your prayers for the next couple of weeks. This weekend the Confirmands are spending Saturday morning with the Bishop of the United Methodist Middle Tennessee Conference, the following weekend is an intense few days of church visits. On Friday we’re visiting a local synagogue and the kids will have a chance to explore our Jewish heritage as Christians who believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah – after all Jesus was a Jew. We’ll also be visiting an Antiochian Orthodox Church and a Catholic Church. It should make for very interesting conversations as we discover what we can learn from these other traditions and find out where we’re similar, where we differ and what makes us distinctive as Methodists.

As for other prayer points, please lift up a thanks to God for peace as regards the school and work balance, I’m getting there slowly over the past months. This has a lot to do with a growing respect and appreciation for taking Sabbath rest. It seems obvious but only for the last 4 weeks have I intentionally put one day aside and not done any work or school related activities…and, though not a miracle cure for stress or busyness, really does help with maintaining perspective. Again, I really appreciate your time and notes of encouragement, thank-you!

Blessings,

Emma