A House of Prayer for All People

It was almost a year ago when I stepped in our church building for the very first time. It was the end of the last full week in January 2008. The members of your Pastor Nominating Committee and I had been talking on the phone and by email for some time; now, they had asked me to take a top-secret trip here to Mason to meet with them in person. Late one evening during that first jam-packed whirlwind visit to Mason, I finally got a chance to peek inside this beautiful building. I was given a very quick “grand tour” and found myself admiring the architecture inside as much as I had been admiring the architecture outside. (I admit, however, that I quickly got disoriented down in the labyrinthine passages in the basement!)

One of the rooms that was shown to me in that whirlwind tour was the chapel downstairs, around the corner from the dining room. I recall my first impression of that room: “Wow, what a neat space, though it’s unfortunate that it feels so dark and heavy in here. But wouldn’t it be great to use this space for prayer services?”

That concept of using the chapel downstairs for prayer services stuck with me long after that first initial glimpse of the chapel nearly a year ago. Honestly, I had been thinking on and off for a couple of years by that point that I would like to start up some kind of midweek prayer service. The congregation I served back in Maryland didn’t have a dedicated chapel, which made it difficult to conceptualize how I might do that. But this congregation here in Mason does have such a space – a room dedicated to the purpose of small gatherings for worship and prayer, a room that could be utilized to help us all grow in our spiritual walk. That room was a chapel when this building was built; eventually it ceased being used and turned into a classroom and a storage room; in the 1970s it was refurbished as a chapel, with significant improvements to the layout and design. What a gift to have a space set aside for prayer . . . and what an opportunity to be able to use it for that purpose. I have participated in midweek prayer services before on many different occasions in a variety of different settings; I’ve never (yet!) had the privilege of being able to offer one on a regular basis.

After my arrival in May, when I met with the Session to begin talking about goals for the coming year, I told the Session that I would love to use that chapel for prayer services. In fact, I took the Session into the chapel, and led a little worship service in there with them. Following that initial conversation with the Session, word of my interest in using the chapel for prayer services began to spread. From time to time, I would bring it up in other contexts; sometimes, people would bring it up with me. I was pleased at how often I would hear people say things like, “It sure would be nice to use that chapel more.”

Imagine my surprise one day when I heard that there were plans afoot to refurbish the chapel! That was news to me. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a handful of people were tremendously interested in improving the décor in the chapel. Apparently there were other people who felt that the décor could use some improvement (and I don’t think I ever hinted that to anyone!). I have no idea if there was any direct connection between my interest in using the chapel and these new refurbishment plans or not – somehow, God seemed to be laying it on a number of our hearts to do something with that chapel. Faster than I would have thought possible, new carpet, new upholstery, and new wallpaper were being selected. And the money to take care of it all just seemed to magically appear (it was partly financed by memorial contributions from the families and friends of Don Cairns and Edith Hilderbrant, and partly financed by private contributions). What a gift!

By the second week of December, the work was completed. Have you seen it? It’s beautiful! I walk in and think, “What a light and airy place this is!” If you haven’t seen it, make a point of going down and looking in there. Walk all the way in, all the way to the front, then turn around and look out. It’s beautiful! Then, remember to thank Bob Caltrider, JoAnn Caltrider, Barb Gibson, Joan and Don Lockwood, and Kathy Oesterle for their time, effort, and energy – the new décor is their labor of love. What a gift!

Meanwhile, while all that work was going on regarding the physical space, the Session adopted a set of goals for 2008-2009, one of which (near the top of the list) was to “keep our focus on Christ by becoming a more prayerful church.” My vision for a midweek prayer service is one component to help fulfill that particular goal, but it is not the only component. I then went to the Worship and Music Committee with a proposal for a new midweek prayer service, drawing on guidelines for daily prayer from the Directory for Worship in our church’s Constitution, and also some recommended rubrics from our Book of Common Worship. The Worship and Music Committee endorsed the plans, and they went from there to Session. The timing worked out perfectly – the final work on the chapel was being completed right about the same time that the last procedural hoops were getting worked through the proper channels.

And so, now, we begin!

Our new midweek prayer service will begin on Wednesday, January 7, and continue every Wednesday thereafter. The services will begin at noon and last for 15 to 20 minutes. The atmosphere is intended to be one of peaceful calm, reflection, and quiet meditation. It is intended to be a calm spot in the midst of what are, for many of us, very busy weeks – an oasis, a haven, a balm. It is a time for us to slow down, take a deep breath, remember who we are, and Whose we are. It is a time for us to check in, regroup, touch base. It is a time for us to nourish the spirit of God that is in each one of us, to give us the peace and the centeredness and the respite we need to continue our journey through the week, keeping God at the center of it all. There will be some quiet, peaceful, contemplative music. There will be some scripture. There will not be a homily or a sermon; there will instead be time for quiet reflection. And there will, of course, be prayer . . . ample time for prayer, unhurried time for prayer.

The services will be open to all people. Yes, of course, they are open to members and friends of the congregation. But the intent is also to open up our church doors to anybody else in the community who wishes to participate. A lot of people live in downtown Mason, a lot of people work in downtown Mason, a lot of people shop in downtown Mason; these weekly prayer services will be open to anybody from Mason or the surrounding area who wishes to participate. Let the people come from north and south, from east and from west. All of God’s children are welcome here!

In the book of Isaiah, God says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples” (Isaiah 56.7). In its original context, that passage is clearly about inviting non-Israelites, and others who had at times been considered “unclean” or “impure,” into God’s temple. In the vision offered by that passage, there are no barriers as to who can enter God’s house. Any who seek to follow in the ways of God, any who seek to be one of God’s servants, all of them are welcome into God’s house to pray. It is to be “a house of prayer for all peoples.”

May this newly refurbished chapel, and this new midweek prayer service, truly be “a house of prayer for all people.”

Peace and blessings,

Rev. Bill Pinches
Pastor