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The Upload

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

I pray that you had a blessed week.

This past Thursday was the annual National Day of Prayer, and I was asked to attend a prayer gathering at Mosaic in Kansas City, Kansas. Now, Mosaic is a faith-based organization that serves people with intellectual disabilities and its mission is to advocate for people with intellectual disabilities and provide opportunities for them to enjoy a full life.

As a pastor, I am often asked to pray at such gatherings, but for this event, although I was asked to offer a prayer, my main purpose was to spend a few minutes talking about what prayer is and explain some ways we can go about praying. Now, when I was first asked to come, I said, sure, I can do that, but as I began to plan for this event I began to wonder how to go about offering my message when the majority of the people I would be addressing have intellectual disabilities. As I prepared, I worried that the majority of these people would not understand or know what I was talking about. So I prayed and asked God to guide me on this difficult task.

Well, Thursday morning came, and as I looked out over the group of about 60 people, I thought, what should I do, I am not sure what I have prepared will work, but as I began to speak, something said, just share with these people what you planned, and so I did. I shared with them how, as children of God, we are all loved as we are and that God wants us to be in communion with him, and one way we can do that is by talking to him and listening to him, and this is what prayer is. I used examples from scripture of how Jesus prayed, and I spoke about how Paul said we should never stop praying and giving thanks.

After I shared my thoughts, it was time to offer a prayer. As I began the prayer, I told the group that there would be a point in the middle of the prayer where I would ask God to listen to the prayers of all who were present, and I told them that when I did this that they could speak aloud if they wanted. Now, there are many times in our own worship services where I or a worship leader will say, “Lord, listen now to the prayers of your people, either in the silence of their hearts or as they are spoken aloud.” Most of the time when I say this, there is silence as people offer the prayers of their hearts, and after a minute or so, I then complete the prayer. So when I said these words on Thursday, quite frankly, I expected silence, but that is not what happened.

There was no silence, only a loud cry of people saying things aloud. Some people spoke very clearly, and many appeared to be mumbling, but regardless of what I could understand, I knew that God was understanding every word. This time of prayer went on for what felt like several minutes, and as it did, I just stood there in amazement, and when the voices finally ceased, I could only say, “Lord, thank you for hearing the prayers of your faithful people. Amen.”

As I drove back from Mosaic on Thursday, I thanked God for opening my eyes and my heart to the people I had just prayed with. I had prejudged these people. I thought they were going to be somehow less than me because of their disabilities, but in God’s sight, they were, and always will be, whole. As I prepared for this event, I thought because the people I would be speaking to were labeled as “intellectually disabled” that somehow that meant they would not understand me, but I was wrong. Yes, these people are different from me, and with their mental capacities they face huge difficulties in life that I will never understand, but prayer and God’s word transcends everyone. These people wanted to pray, and they did so with joy and enthusiasm, and their “disabilities” did not stop them.

So often, we see those who are different from us, especially people with disabilities, as less than whole, but God sees each one of us as whole, unique, and a blessing to the world. My prayer this week is that each of us, regardless of our abilities or disabilities, might come to know that we are called to be a light in this darkened world.

Shalom,

Pastor Dave

Tags: Weekly Word