Invitation to Prayer

Faces of Children is an ecumenical prayer ministry under the auspices of First Presbyterian Church of Midland, Texas. Our mission is to initiate ministries of prayer for children in churches, communities, and neighborhoods. In doing so, we seek to provide an opportunity for people of God to join together, learn about children and their needs throughout the world, and celebrate Christ's love (especially as it relates to children).

Epiphany

“The wise ones hurried from the East.
They are the wise of the world.
They are the ones wise in science, for they read the ‘intelligent design’ of the stars.
They are the wise ones of the economy, for they come with gold.
They are the wise ones of politics, for they sought a king.
They are our delegates, as we stand carrying all the learning of the academy,
of the market,
of the laboratory,
of the halls of power.

They came, tenaciously and eagerly and regally.
They came and bowed down before your foolishness.
They sensed the contradiction
between his vulnerability and their sagacity,
between his innocence and their calculation,
between his exposure and their many concealing robes of power

They worshiped him!
They recognized that he called into question all that they treasured,
so they yielded their best to him,
their preciousness,
their secret potions,
their rich perfumes.

And we stand alongside them with
our wealth,
our control,
our smarts,
our sophistication,
our affluence.

Give us freedom like theirs
to yield,
to worship,
to adore,
to have our lives contradicted.

Give us grace like theirs to embrace the foolishness of the child,
that the first will be last and the last first,
that the humble will be exalted and the exalted humbled,
that we may lose the world and gain our lives.

Give us the imagination like theirs
to go home by another route
on the path where foolishness is wisdom
and weakness is strength
and poverty is wealth.

Make our new foolishness specific
that the world might become —
through us — new.”

Prayers for a Privileged People, by Walter Brueggemann

A message from Chris Laufer, Coordinator, Faces of Children

Greetings, Faces of Children Prayer Partner,

Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer for children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, and also for those who harm them. Your prayers are indeed gifts of love!

We will meet on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, at 11:30 a.m. to pray for the children of our local and global community. The Midland Faces of Children prayer group meets in the Bride's room at First Presbyterian Church-Midland. Please join us for this time of prayer, and afterward for lunch ($5) and a time of fellowship.

If you have requests about children, those who care for them, those who have authority over them, or those who harm them (the really hard prayers to say sometimes), please send them to me at at claufer@facesofchildren.net, or give me a call. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer for the children of our world.

Thank you for your prayers for the children of our world!

Christmas and New Year’s blessings to you and those you love,

Chris