"AROUND THE CLOCK" PRAYER, An Invitation to Intercede for the Rekindle Retreats
By The Rev. Debby Buechner, Deacon
If you have never had the opportunity to participate in a prayer vigil like this, I really encourage you to try it. Several years ago, I was part of a team hosting a retreat. At the last minute, I became ill and was unable to attend. While I was very disappointed that I couldn’t attend the weekend, I realized I could sign up to pray on the “around the clock” prayer sheet. The Saturday and Sunday 2 a.m. time slots were still open, so I signed up for those. I remember thinking, “I hope I wake up and can stay awake to pray.” Both mornings I woke up about five minutes before my alarm and was so energized to pray!
Those two hours in prayer were precious time with the Lord, and I felt so connected to my team during this prayer time. I had a few images I communicated to the leader and was not surprised to find they were very in line with what was happening. And you know what else? After my hour of prayer, I quickly fell back asleep and had some of the best sleep ever. I’m won’t guarantee that this will be your experience, but. . .
You are invited to intercede during the “Around the Clock” Prayer for the OSL Rekindle Retreats! By now you have probably read or heard about the Rekindle Retreats that are planned this year. The first one is scheduled for the weekend of April 21-23, co-sponsored with The Blessing Place of Western North Carolina. You and your healing community members can participate by praying for this and subsequent retreats, even if you cannot attend a retreat.
The conveners for each OSL community should have already received an information packet by email, including a sign-up sheet that can be printed out and posted at your church and Healing Community meeting. It will allow people to sign up to pray at specific times, around the clock, during the retreat. You can use this tool to inform others in your congregations about what the OSL is doing, and it will enable all people, even members of your church that are not part of your OSL community, to pray for the weekends. If you belong to prayer chains or other prayer groups, you may invite them to pray for the retreats. We are pleased that the Daughters of the King chapters of the Diocese of Central Florida will pray for the Rekindle Retreats this year.
Consider this if you can’t commit to a specific prayer time: Some of us wake up in the middle of the night and have problems getting back to sleep. If this is you, why not pray for the Rekindle Retreats during your awake time? You can do this in bed, on your sofa or even on your back porch, and it may help you fall back to sleep! There are slots for this option on the sign-up sheet.
Individuals may sign up for the “Around the Clock” prayer slots via the SignUpGenius online website. The link can be found on the OSL Event Intercession Prayer Wall (see below).
Are you looking for ideas about what or how to pray for the retreats? We have created a new OSL Event Intercession Prayer Wall online as a resource for you. This online discussion board allows you to pray over the posted prayers or share your own. In addition, you can share the Scriptures, images and words you receive during your prayer time with others.
https://osltoday.org/event-intercession/
Please let me know if you or your OSL community and/or church are participating in any of the opportunities for prayer by emailing me at: buechner.debby@gmail.com. If there are words, images or visions received by anyone in your group, please let me know that as well. I will keep a log and let the leaders know. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.