Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks. My name is Kyla
and I'm the online engagement director here. And we have just finished up a week of prayer
at Trinity where we've been really focused on prayer and this theme of hope and looking at
what is God leading us into in this year ahead. So I'm really excited to sit down here with some
folks who helped to organize that week of prayer. So I have Jessica and Rick and Linda. Yeah, so
thank you so much for joining me. So I just want to get us started by talking about, you know,
why do we have a week of prayer here at Trinity? What do we see as the importance and what are
we hoping folks will take away from that? Maybe we'll start with you, Linda. Okay, well,
our, as a church, we're called to be a house of prayer. And I think it's really important that
at the beginning of each year, we refocus our energies and our priorities back to what we're
called to be. And it enables us to pray the church forward, you know, what's coming up in the year
to come and to be covered in prayer. Yeah, for sure. Anyone else want to add to that? Yeah,
I think that does cover it well. It's interesting, the other week we did, we're doing the Heroes of
Faith and it talked about Enoch. And Enoch just said simply walking with God, but Rob expanded
about how it's easy to not follow the narrow path, right, the white, you know, easily get off track.
And if you're walking with God, faithfully alongside him, you're in step with him,
you're going in the same direction, you're walking closely beside him. And we want to make sure that's
what we're doing as a church. And how do we do that? Because we can't necessarily see God where
he's walking, we have to talk to him, we have to listen. Yeah, we pray. Yeah, for sure. Yeah,
it's just, it's a great time to just re-center and refocus as a church community. And I think
the community part is really important, doing it together. Because when we're together, we
we just, we can collaborate and vision together as a church. So yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I think
one of the really neat things about doing it together and doing it over a week is that, you
know, we saw, you know, the visioning board where people could like draw their prayers and the prayer
wall where people could write things. And it does allow us to sort of build on each other, right?
Like you can look at what somebody had written there the night before or whatever, and you can
pray that prayer as well and then build on it with your own sort of prayer. So yeah, I think that's,
that's really key as well. So your theme for this year was surprised by hope. I'm wondering,
Rick, if you can talk to us a little bit about why that theme? Yeah, we start planning this,
usually in the fall or late fall, like what are we going to do next year? We know what we're
going to do, but we'd like to have a theme to kind of guide us a little bit. So first year we did
Be Still, second year we focused on Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream Speech. And this year when
we were planning the meeting, we sat down and I think Rob was, we often inspired by whatever Rob's
preaching on. We had had Habakkuk, but I think it was more the, we were talking about Scrooge and
how he was despairing and he didn't see a way forward. And then I guess he was surprised by
the hope that he's second chance kind of thing. And we were just talking and Bruce,
it really was Bruce's idea. He turns around in his library while he's so wise and he turns
around and pulls the book out. How about this one? You know, NT writes, surprised by hope.
And then I actually, I'll be honest, I didn't know the book. So I said, okay, well, I'll get a copy
or read it. And it was just, it works really well because, you know, he's really talking about how
how we, you know, it's very much what do we do? We, you know, we need to work with God, but what do
we do on this earth? And so it's, you know, as opposed to don't worry about this earth, it just
kind of keep yourself in a nice little club, nice and clean and everyone be nice. And then you'll
go to heaven somewhere else and don't worry about the earth. That's not a helpful or biblical way
of looking at things. And so we thought, oh, I read that. I was like, this is, this is great for how
we can progress the week. Yeah, for sure. And it very naturally leads us from prayer into action,
as you sort of said. And that, as you have all sort of indicated before, you know, it's this week
of prayer that we spend with God, but also it leads us into the rest of the year. Right. And so,
yeah, I really appreciate it. How the theme also sort of naturally allowed us to do that.
And one of the other sort of pieces that goes in with that, that theme is NT Wright talks about
this difference between hope in a sort of Christian sense and hope as in, you know, we're just sort
of hoping for or wishing for something in the world sense. Yeah, so wondering what are your
sort of thoughts about that? What do we mean when we talk about hope? Well, I think hope is like a
yearning or wishing a desire. Christian hope is the same thing. But we have something else with that.
We have assurance that God has said that he will be with us through everything. And he will answer
our prayers. He's not saying that whatever we hope for, we're going to get. Because he has a plan for
us and he knows what's best for us may not be what we're hoping for. But we can be
assured that he is going to be with us all the way through and that what he gives us is the best
thing for us. Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think the God with us part is really what hits me.
Because we can have hopes and dreams as we say, and it doesn't seem like it's working out. But no
matter what God is with us, God is present with us. And that is really comforting. Yeah, for sure.
And so in light of those facts, in light of this idea that God is with us, that we have this assurance,
how does that change the way that we pray? Do you think? Does it change sort of what we pray about?
Or does it, I think for me, at least at the very least, it changes my attitude to worship prayer?
Yes, yeah. Right? Yeah, I still will pray my hopes and my dreams. But I realize that
it's not always going to be the way I hope and dream. And I say, you know, like, it's in your
hands, God, you know, I trust that you're going to do what's best for me in this situation or
in the future. And there's a comfort in that, knowing that it's not just all up to me wishing
and dreaming, but there is somebody else that's guiding and leading me. And eventually, it's going
to have me where I need to be, where I'm going to be happiest or most content or in most fulfilled
or, you know, on the path to the second coming. Yeah. Yeah. And I think prayer, for me, is like an
act of surrender. Like, your kingdom come, your will be done. So like, when you're praying, you're
just releasing all the things you wish and desire and like, leaving it to God's hands.
Leaving it to God's hands. Yeah. Yeah. For me, the thing I learned this week, that's why I love
to run these things, because you learn, you learn so much through it. And through so many faithful
people, the things they write, the things they pray and they say. But for me, it's the surprise by hope
part, as it's easy to fall into despair and or just look at, you know, everything that's going
on in the world and climate crisis and conflicts. And I just walking down the street, like people
are struggling with cost of living in this community. And he can fall into helplessness and despair.
But even though I'm like, yeah, I know, I know God's got this in his timing. But we can be
surprised by hope today in simple ways. And I think some people gave examples of that. And
that to me is don't stop. Kind of don't feel like you're letting God off and saying, oh, I'm going
to pray. Yeah, I know you've got this God. Yeah, it's terrible, terrible. And it'll be all right
one day. No, say, oh, I want to be bold. I want these things to happen now. I want this to get
better now. I want to be, tell me what to do. What do I do now? Not just suck it up until
until like Jesus comes again, right? But he can get into that if you're not careful, right?
Well, I can anyway. Speaking for myself. There's a homily that people say and sometimes abuse,
but God helps those who help themselves. And it's not giving us carte blanche to do whatever
the heck we want. It's saying that God has a plan and a purpose for this world. And he has a plan
and a purpose for us in this world. And so we are expected to participate in his plan with him,
not against him and not for our own good, but in conjunction with him. Yeah, for sure. Yeah,
one of the things that I really appreciated about anti-raids book, when he talks about this and he
talks about hope, is that it provides this sort of balance between like in what you were saying,
Rick, that it does, you know, we get to go out and we get to do things because we have this hope,
right? We get to, and God is calling us to partner with God in doing those things.
But also those things don't entirely depend on us. No, right? Because we have this hope,
because we know who God is. So we get to go and do the things, but we don't do the things entirely
on our own strength. Definitely not. Right? Yes, that's right. Because if it depended on me,
it's the world's going downhill. Yeah, oh, yes. Real fast.
So thinking back on this week, what were some of the highlights for you? What are some of the
things that you're taking away? Yeah, any any moments that stand out?
I loved the video that we did or that we showed from the Orthodox meme squad. Yes. Strange name,
but it was as it was a video. And if anybody has not seen it, I think it's still on the web.
It is. Yep. Please take a look at it because it is awesome. Like I was just blown away. It was
awestruck. I don't know how you cannot believe in God and in creation when you look at the beauty
around us and the intricacies and and then as well as that, I think when you go into the
visioning room and you see what people have created, what's on their hearts and you see the
prayer walls. And it's I'm always encouraged by the fact that people are still coming to God and
and and they have I learned from, you know, everything that that I see there. Yeah. Yeah. So
for folks, if you if you haven't gone and checked out our website already, you can go and there's
a button at the top that says week of prayer. And if you click there, you can see some of those
those prayers and things that people have been sharing this this video that Linda has mentioned.
And on our social media feed, you'll also find some of those pictures of the visioning board and
the prayer wall that you can see what we're talking about here. Yeah. Other highlights,
things that stand out to you from this week? For me, it's just the community aspect in general.
Like, I find it such a struggle to just sit down by myself, full my hands, close my eyes,
like and pray. Yeah, I just I just it's so hard for me. So doing it in community is so helpful.
And like having the tangible and visual aspects just really helps me. And then just yeah, like
seeing everyone else get involved with it is just really encouraging. Yeah, for sure.
I would never have thought of this. There are things like painting and just tactile
different things that you can do. So that's that's for me, that's something I would never have done.
But what strikes me and has happened every time is we break out into prayers, we put on some quiet
music, and people go around into the different areas. And that's just this tremendous feeling
of peace, peace in that in the room. I just it does. I think a lot of people that have come and
we're not expecting it and they come afterwards and they say, I just I could breathe out. It was
peaceful. Yeah. So that strikes me every time. And I'm surprised. I don't know why I'm surprised
by it every time. But I kind of am. And it's just like, Oh, this is great. Just relax. Yeah. Yeah, I know
there's it can be hard sometimes to sort of carve out time for prayer and to carve out, you know,
to say, okay, especially, you know, it's a whole week, right? And so say, Oh, I'm going to take
an hour every day this week that that can feel like a lot. But as you said, when we actually enter
into that, I think we we receive so much as well. We do. Yeah, I would agree. There is that sense of
peace in the time goes by so quick. I find it's already been an hour. Like, it just it flies. And
yeah, it's just the best feeling. Like, I just feel so calm and like, filled up again.
And as Jessica said, like, gathering as a community. And I mean, I realized that we do that
Sundays as well. But I mean, in a smaller, more intimate venue, I just feel a stronger connection
with the people, you know, the fellow, my fellow Christians or whatever. And that we have,
even though we all have our own problems and our own prayers and everything,
we're there with a common goal. Yeah. And there's nothing more powerful.
Yeah. And we do, as you said, we each have our own, our own struggles, our own problems.
But when you see someone has written on the board the concerns of your heart, right? And you know,
I didn't put that there. Someone else put that there. You feel a little less alone.
Other people are praying the same prayers that you're praying.
So I want to zoom out from our week of prayer a little bit and just talk about prayer in general.
And for each of you, you're obviously passionate about this ministry, passionate about prayer.
And so wondering, has there been moments in your life where you feel like prayer has really impacted
you or has sort of shaped your walk with God in some specific way? Yeah. Any particular
memories or moments that come to mind for you? I would say for me, my mom is also someone who's
really passionate about prayer. And when we were kids, she started this sort of tradition that
before we got on the school bus every morning, she would, we would pause and she would pray for us
as, as we went out to go to school. And some days that felt really chaotic, right? Because you're
trying to get kids to get on their lunch and get everything out to school. But she took that moment
to stop and to pray for us and with us before we went out to school. And that's something that
has always sort of stuck with me. And you're going to do that when you have children, right?
Perhaps, yes. Yeah. I don't know if I've ever had any, any real like boom moment or whatever.
It's just a comfort. You know, like, I mean, being able to bring my problems to God or share
others problems with him to praise him for what he's done and to thank him when he has
answered some of the prayers. We were praying for something in our family for
probably two years. And in December, we got our answer to prayer. And it was amazing. You know,
it was, I mean, so being persistent in prayer and then that teaches you to don't give up.
You know, God's listening and it's, he's going to work through this in his time and in his way.
And then when it does happen, there's such a joy and contentment and it reaffirms your trust in
God too. And that happens, you know, oh, yes, you know, he hasn't been ignoring me. He has been
listening. He's just been waiting for the right time. Yeah. For me, it's in our life group.
We are going to amend the life group on a Thursday morning for I don't know how long that
is trying to think before answered. I don't know. It's over seven years. It might be getting on for
10. So every morning, every Thursday morning at the end of the group, we pray for each other. We
used to, we used to sit in our rooms. It was easy. It was easy. Now it's on zoom. So we pray round,
sort of the zoom. But anyway, we, you know, we'll lift up each other in prayer and look back and
all the, those, all the number of prayers that have been answered over those years are incredible.
You know, there's some we're still praying for. Sure. And then to say there's some things that
we've prayed for all along and we don't know what God's timing is. But and, you know, I, the
guys have prayed for me through lots of things that have happened in my life. We all have, you
know, lost my father particularly was the time where they, they prayed for me and prayed for me
going to do his eulogy and things like that. So we've all had big moments in our lives where we've
been there and prayed for each other. And so that and because we do it every week as well, it helps
me. Like, like Jessica said, I honestly, I'm not, one of the reasons why I've run this,
tried to do this ministry is to help make me be more accountable. And that group helps me
accountable at least every week we pray. And I try and obviously I pray during the week, but
that is definitely a solid accountability time where if you're drifting away, you know, it pulls
you back in. So yeah. So for me, I went to a university in Hamilton and the churches there
every year, they gather together for a conference called true city conference. And this was
a conference from churches all across different denominations, which is really cool. And as part
of that, there's an organization called Greater Ontario House of Prayer, and they would run
coinciding with the conference a 24 seven prayer room. So 24 hours of the day, the prayer room would
be open for people to go in. And so this was when I was first exposed to like this different type of
praying. So it was really amazing. Just to see that and be like, wow, I didn't know you could pray
like this. This is so cool and so helpful. And yeah, so just really encouraging. So shout out to
true city and Greater Ontario House of Prayer for inspiring me. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah. So
obviously we have this week of prayer in January. Obviously prayer continues throughout the whole
year in lots of different ways here at Trinity. But I think Rick, you wanted to share about another
prayer event opportunity that folks can join us in. Yeah, so we'll probably not have one at the end
of this month, but we're going to have the first Sunday of the month. We usually have a prayer evening
at 7pm. But the next event, if you like, is at Good Friday. So we have a slightly different
type. But again, it's an interactive kind of very peaceful time where you can spend time
reflecting on Good Friday after the service. We have a number of prayer stations set up where
you reflect on Jesus' journey to the cross. So it's a bit like the stations of the cross,
but it's not the same thing. Okay. But it's loosely based on that idea. Okay. So that's our next
event. So look out for that. Yeah, great. Well, thank you so much, folks, for joining me. And
thank you for all of the work that you put into leading our community in prayer this week and
all throughout the year. And so hopefully you have also been inspired to find new ways to pray,
whether that's joining us in our monthly prayer and worship nights or joining us in
this week of prayer, whatever it is, I hope that God has blessed you through this time. And
you can go forth and share that blessing with others. And we will see you next week.