Prayer highlighted throughout gathering
By Craig M. Kibler, February 9, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. – Prayer was not an adjunct but, instead, was highlighted throughout the New Wineskins Association of Churches’ Convocation at First Presbyterian Church.
Numerous times during plenary sessions in the sanctuary, the more than 500 people were asked to kneel “in humility” and pray to “our Lord and Savior.”
On Thursday afternoon, after preaching and prayer, the Rev. Carmen Fowler, vice moderator of the board of New Wineskins, told the audience, “Some of you may be thinking, ‘Why haven’t we done anything yet?'”
“We have.” Then, to great applause, Fowler said, “We are here first and foremost to praise God as our Lord and Savior.”
The moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Dr. Paul Heidebrecht, told the audience that the small contingent from his denomination “are here to pray with you and for you to be courageous and bold in your faith.”
Welcoming participants to the convocation during the opening plenary, the Rev. Dr. David Swanson, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church, said, “These are challenging days – what’s happening in the Presbyterian Church (USA), what relationships are in conflict.”
He then said, “I just give thanks for the relationship I have with Executive Presbyter Paige McRight.”
The Rev. Dr. Paige M. McRight, executive presbyter of Central Florida Presbytery, first thanked the audience “for the gifts, prayers and volunteers that your churches, among many other churches, have sent to Central Florida Presbytery in the wake of the tornadoes of last weekend.”
She then talked about how she has prayed for the convocation. “As I have thought about and prayed about this gathering and prayed for you, I thought about the history of the Presbyterian Church in North America.”
McRight explained how she comes from a long line of Presbyterians, describing her minister father as a “peripatetic” Presbyterian, and how she had been in the old Southern church and the PCUSA.
Speaking of events she has witnessed, McRight said, “Sometimes, we disagree with equal passion and come to forks in the road. Divorce is costly and painful, but it is survivable.”
Her prayer for the audience, she said, is that they serve as “a church for God’s mission in the world,” practicing “what it is to live in humble reliance on the mercy of God. Trust the power of the Spirit to use us – whatever comes. I pray that God will continue to use the church to do God’s work in the world.”
Summing up, the Rev. Dean Weaver, co-moderator of New Wineskins, reminded the audience that they’ve “consistently offered this one prayer: Say to the Lord that we would not like to get one step behind you as you lead us each step of the way.”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee and Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@www.layman.org.