Call and Response

Dear Friends in Valhalla Parish—

Earlier this week, Lorraine, Chris and I met with the wardens from St. Andrew's in Trail. We met with them as a way of continuing a conversation started in the West Kootenays last year about the shape of ministry in the future. With Rev. Neil's retirement from Trail at the end of May, we wanted to meet with them to pray and to talk specifically about how our parishes might support one another in ministry going forward.

It was a time of meeting with one another, sharing a bit about each parish's hopes and struggles. It was a time of connection, or wrestling, and above all, a time that centered the necessity of praying for one another as we seek to discern some of the ways in which we might become stronger together.

Nothing is decided, of course. This conversation is in its infancy. Both communities will need time to discern and dream and imagine and pray about what God is leading us into. 

And so I want to start this week's reflections with a request:

Would you pray for me? Would you pray for the congregations of this parish? Would you pray for our dear siblings in Kootenay Summits Parish? Would you pray that the Holy Spirit would guide us in the season ahead? 

Perhaps you are already praying for one another, fervently. Perhaps you have committed the congregations of St. Stephen's and St. David's to prayer. Perhaps, as you've looked around, and thought about where we are as a church, and where we are going, you have set aside time in your day, in your week to ask that we would be a people who listen, and when we hear, who respond to whatever God is inviting us into.

Prayer is rudimentary to our faith, and yet it is so often something we take for granted.

I know for my own part, I can get so distracted with the doing that I forget to ground everything in prayer. And yet, it is in prayer that we come to slow down—our thoughts, our hearts, our bodies—making it possible to listen deeply for the whisper of God. 

In times of calamity and anxiety we can turn to increased activity to feel as though we are doing something (anything!) about the situation. And yet, what we Christians are invited into is a life of prayer without ceasing. We learn to pray in our doing and in our being, so that we might grow ever more attentive to the God who is as close as our very next breath. 

Since the beginning of Lent, a number of people have gathered at St. David's at noon on Wednesday to pray. We use the liturgy for Mid-Day in the BAS (page 56), and read one of the lessons and the psalm for the coming week. Sometimes we discuss the lesson, and what we're hearing, or what it causes us to reflect on. And then we pray. We pray for the world, we pray for the church, we pray for our neighbours, and ourselves. 

While I've been hosting a mid-day prayer service online since I arrived in this parish, there is something beautiful about spending this time with folks in person. There is the time to breathe together, to pray together, to share stories with one another. There is time to grow in relationship with God and one another as we share our deepest yearnings that the way of God's love be made manifest through us and others in the world. 

And so, in addition to whatever prayer practice you already have, know that there is also something special about joining with others. Whether you gather on zoom, in someone's home, at the church, or in a coffee shop, prayer can happen wherever, whenever, with whomever. 

If you're ever in Castlegar on a Wednesday at noon, please know that you're welcome to come in and join with others for prayer. 

As you pray in the days ahead, please remember our siblings in Kootenay Summits parish. Please remember those throughout this parish. Praying that we might hear God's call, and that when we hear the call, we will respond, going wherever we are called. 

Every Blessing

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Valhalla Parish Missioner