Praying Always with All Prayer
The windows of Oxnam Chapel, where we gather to worship at Wesley, are one of the chapel’s most beautiful features. Each window has its own unique meaning, and, together, the windows tell us something about our faith and about what those who designed our chapel hoped and prayed for our community when they designed the space in which we worship. One set of those windows – the widows that run along the upper wall of the Nave give us particular insight into what kind of community our founders hoped that we would be. Each of these windows evokes an image from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians:
In the midst of the windows, at their heart, we find the representation of Paul’s call for the Ephesians to enter into an all-encompassing life of prayer. While this is a call for every Christian disciple, it is an especially important claim on the life of those of us who are preparing for ministry or who are already in positions of ministerial leadership. Prayer sits at the heart of seminary instruction, and it ensures that the intense intellectual and ethical formation of our education stays rooted in the heart of God and the outpouring of the divine love of the Trinity.
It can feel like seminary classes, with their intellectual and spiritual upheaval, are the most overwhelming spiritual test a person could face. But the truth is that our time of study and practice is really a preparation for all of us to embark on a lifetime of drawing close to God’s heart in prayer and discernment on behalf of those with whom we are in ministry. Seminary is the place where we put those habits of “praying in the Spirit at all times” into place, so that we can lean into those prayers and supplications when we go forth into the world outside and into our respective ministries.
As Chapel Elder, I view the chapel as the heart and home of our worship here at the seminary—as the place where we can come at all times to pray in the Spirit. Worship is the place where we meet face-to-face with God and with one another. We are striving to grow ever more diverse in the forms and styles of worship that we practice, and to make the Chapel a place where we can sew together each of our personal traditions to create a unique home of prayer for the students, staff, and faculty who together make up Wesley Theological family. My prayer as I begin this new year at Wesley is that the Holy Spirit will bind each of our liturgical traditions and our identities together in chapel worship—just as those ribbons tie together the armor of God displayed so beautifully in the windows--and that worship will be a place where we can together join in all prayer and supplication for one another, for our school, for our families, for our community, and for our world.
Put on the whole armor of God … so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. (Ephesians 6:11-18).The windows are tied together with ribbons of red, blue, and yellow. All together they signify the purpose of seminary education: to prepare ministers to be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God (I Cor. 4:1). The first window instructs us to “put on the whole armor of God,” and the row culminates in an admonition to, “having done everything...stand firm.”
In the midst of the windows, at their heart, we find the representation of Paul’s call for the Ephesians to enter into an all-encompassing life of prayer. While this is a call for every Christian disciple, it is an especially important claim on the life of those of us who are preparing for ministry or who are already in positions of ministerial leadership. Prayer sits at the heart of seminary instruction, and it ensures that the intense intellectual and ethical formation of our education stays rooted in the heart of God and the outpouring of the divine love of the Trinity.
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| Photo by Kelly Drury |
It can feel like seminary classes, with their intellectual and spiritual upheaval, are the most overwhelming spiritual test a person could face. But the truth is that our time of study and practice is really a preparation for all of us to embark on a lifetime of drawing close to God’s heart in prayer and discernment on behalf of those with whom we are in ministry. Seminary is the place where we put those habits of “praying in the Spirit at all times” into place, so that we can lean into those prayers and supplications when we go forth into the world outside and into our respective ministries.
As Chapel Elder, I view the chapel as the heart and home of our worship here at the seminary—as the place where we can come at all times to pray in the Spirit. Worship is the place where we meet face-to-face with God and with one another. We are striving to grow ever more diverse in the forms and styles of worship that we practice, and to make the Chapel a place where we can sew together each of our personal traditions to create a unique home of prayer for the students, staff, and faculty who together make up Wesley Theological family. My prayer as I begin this new year at Wesley is that the Holy Spirit will bind each of our liturgical traditions and our identities together in chapel worship—just as those ribbons tie together the armor of God displayed so beautifully in the windows--and that worship will be a place where we can together join in all prayer and supplication for one another, for our school, for our families, for our community, and for our world.
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| Dr. Anna Adams Petrin is Assistant Professor of Worship and Chapel Elder at Wesley. |
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