Dear Friends,
The Apostle Paul reminds people of faith to “pray without ceasing.” (I Thessalonians 5:17) While there are several ways to put this into practice, we are inviting the Friends United Meeting family to participate in a global initiative of unceasing prayer. The COVID-19 pandemic is touching every part of our world, and our members are experiencing its spiritual, emotional, and physical impacts. Our Meetings are pressed to find new ways to worship and provide spiritual support to the most isolated and vulnerable in our communities. Our medical personnel and scientists are laboring to provide medical care and a cure for the coronavirus. Therefore, as we strive to live out our faith as the Body of Christ, we are requesting all FUM members, Associations, and Yearly Meetings to unite in unceasing prayer.
On the downloadable Unceasing Prayer Timetable, Friends will notice each Yearly Meeting, Association, and group is assigned an hour to pray each day. We suggest clerks, superintendents, or secretaries identify a minimum of seven individuals and assign them one day each week to pray during the assigned hour. Of course, more praying Friends are welcome. Please email us at pray@fum.org to let us know who is assigned to pray, and specific prayer concerns about how the coronavirus is impacting your members, Meetings, and communities. FUM will assemble and distribute a weekly prayer list. To protect the privacy of our members, FUM will not provide individual medical updates unless we are granted permission by members to do so.
Let us organize to begin this prayer initiative on the week following Easter. May Friends sense God’s loving mercy and the power of God’s “unceasing” presence as we unite in prayer. There are many verses from the scriptures that suggest we should pray for one another and care for our brothers and sisters and share from what we have and give to those who are struggling. The New International Verson of the Bible lists 367 references for prayer and praying. We remind everyone of a few: Numbers 11:2; 1 Kings 8:28, 59; 2 Kings 20:2; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Ezra 10:1; Nehemiah 1:4,6; Psalms 4:1, 17:6; Jeremiah 29:12; Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:25; Luke 18:1; John 17; and Acts 12:12. So, please do not give in to anxiety or despair; remember, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they do comfort me.”[Psalms 23]
Grace and Peace,
Ron Bryan
Presiding Clerk
Richard Sitati
Assistant Presiding Clerk—Africa
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