Wednesday Mornings Are Special

As members of a United Methodist church, we expect that our minister will not be with us for more than a few years. Nearly 11 years ago we had a change in ministers. These transitions are always in June. On one of his first Sundays, the pastor announced that from the beginning of his ministry, he and his wife had hosted a weekly Prayer Group in their home. He invited any who desired to attend. The Prayer Group would be held at 5:45 a.m. each Wednesday and would start in September. Yes, you read correctly, 5:45 a.m.

At that time I was semi-retired, ran a small communications system-engineering business out of my home and my waking hours were from about 10 a.m. until about 1 a.m. I am not an early person. I was not too interested in his offer. As the weeks went by, my wife, Martha, and I discussed the Prayer Group, and we realized that we could attend and then return home and take an extended nap.

As September approached, we were excited about the group, and a week before the start of the group, we arose on Wednesday morning, got dressed and started to leave when we realized we were a week early. At our first Prayer Group meeting, there were only five or six, but the attendance quickly grew to nearly 20 with typical attendance of about 15. We meet for one hour. The first 10 to 15 minutes are spent in the kitchen where we socialize and drink coffee or tea. For some reason I took over the job of pouring the coffee. No one gets coffee until they pay in advance — with a hug. Now you see why I’ve continued with this group for the past 11 years. We then retire to the family room where we open with a prayer. We select a leader for each week. The leaders take about 15 to 20 minutes to read from some text or discuss a subject of their choosing. We then offer prayer requests and record each prayer request in a small pocket notebook. At 7:45, or thereabout, we stand, hold hands and have a closing prayer.

When we learned that our pastor was being promoted to a district superintendent, another member of the group volunteered to host the Prayer Group. The Prayer Group continued without interruption. Wednesday mornings are very special to me, and if I miss a meeting my week feels incomplete.

— Merv Norton