Pastoral Message – August 11, 2024
PARKING LOT PRAYER NEEDS YOU!
Those who serve in the SSJ Parking Lot Prayer Ministry are looking for a few more parishioners to join the Team! If you haven’t heard about Parking Lot Prayer, then here’s what you need to know:
It is an hour-long weekly ministry that is devoted to PRAYER. It is held every Wednesday afternoon in Mondor Plaza from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm. One or two ministers sit at the edge of the plaza (fondly known as the Prayer Curb) and pray with and for the members of our faith community. We welcome anyone with a special prayer intention to join us and we will pray together for that intention. If there are no visitors, the ministers read and pray over all the petitions listed in the Special Intentions Binder, which is always present in the church narthex. On those pages the anonymous prayer requests of our parishioners are written – everything from health issues to family worries to any and all problems…and also prayers of thanksgiving. The pages are filled with faith and trust in God! We, as ministers, add our prayers to those petitions.
Here are some comments from current ministers about their experiences serving at Parking Lot Prayer:
“As a parking lot prayer minister, I have been humbled by the privilege of praying for the heartfelt prayer intentions expressed in the prayer request binder located in the foyer of the church. In spirit, I join those with these prayer requests in loving solidarity as members of the Body of Christ. It is an immense blessing to be part of this ministry.”
“It is an amazing gift to be a witness to such faith!”
“I can recall on three separate occasions ‘How present the Holy Spirit was.” Each encounter was very intimate and without going into detail of the requests, the appreciation and gratitude the persoexpressed in having someone to pray with who represented their SSJ community were profound. I
experienced an immense feeling of honor that they would entrust me such vulnerability. I believe this ministry is what the ‘Body of Christ’ is all about.”
So if you have an hour to spare for prayer on a Wednesday afternoon, please consider joining our team. For more information, please call the SSJ office at (714) 962-3333, send an email to ssj@ssj.org, or visit the Prayer Curb yourself and speak with one of the ministers.
Thank you!
