It’s that kind of epiphany that I want to talk about today. In Presbyterian circles, we don’t share often enough those moments of great closeness to the divine. Perhaps we’re afraid of sounding a little too off in the head. We like things that sound logical and make sense, but there’s much about God that is neither logical nor sensible. Take prayer for instance. We’ve studied prayer. We’ve charted brain waves and watched to see if people who are prayed for heal any faster than people who are not. But in the end, prayer is still a great mystery. What “works” or fails to work about prayer is still incomprehensible to the human mind. But, last I checked, Presbyterians still pray, or maybe have it on their “to-do” list anyway.

In these last few months when the Session has been working on important things like staffing issues, and budget, and improved communication and the like, one might think that plans become of ultimate importance. How we do business as a church is important indeed. But another, far less tangible thought has persisted in my mind. There are things we need to do – sure, and I’ll tell you about those in just a minute. But we also need to pray. We need to become a church that prays. I need to pray – more, with humility, and attentiveness. And it’s been interesting to me that I’m not the only one in this church having that thought. In conversations, people from this church have mentioned prayer to me more so than ever before, and it’ s been mentioned in such ways that let me know that only God can be doing this nudging. A few months ago, I picked up Philip Yancey’s book on prayer, and as a Christmas present this year, I received a book called “Eat, Pray, Love.” It’s a theme that won’t be ignored, and I can tell you exactly how I know. One of the things I hate most in this world is getting up early, and I’ve been, without complaint, getting up an hour earlier to have some quiet time in prayer before the rest of my family gets up. That is a miracle! If not a miracle, at least it’s an epiphany about the power of prayer.

Therefore, my own commitment to this year at First Presbyterian Church is to prayer – first and foremost. I want to ground everything we are doing by seeking closeness to God. I want us to say each others’ names in prayer. I want us to listen for God’s voice in our prayers. I want to worship with prayer and uplift our meetings in prayer and hold this church inside the very heart of God at all times. I don’t think there’s any more important thing for us to do for this church than to pray for it to be centered in God. That has been my inspired understanding, my profound realization, my epiphany. Prayer is the powerful means of grace that we cannot ignore.

I believe that we will be amazed by all that can happen here when we are surrounded and uplifted by this community committed to prayer. As I mentioned already, we have some work to do this year. The Session is committed to reading and reflecting on this book, “Congregational Fitness.” Our hope is that the book will help us to examine our rules of engagement as a congregation, and therefore, improve how we communicate with and ultimately care for one another. The Leadership team is also in conversation with Craig Hendrix, an Organizational Developer who will be proposing a process to help us define our mission and clarify our organizational expectations. In order for the Session to do this work, we will need your input and we will ride on your prayers. We need God to help us focus as we envision the possibilities we have for ministry together. These are things that require not just good planning and leadership, but will require keen listening to each other and to God. Could we do these things without prayer? Sure – organizations undergo developmental regrouping all the time. But we are the church, the Body of Christ. We need to enter a season of prayer for where we are now and especially for where we are going.

It isn’t easy to ask the hard questions about purpose and intentionality and compassion in our church. In an age of insecurity, the last place we want to feel any level of doubt is at church. This community is our refuge. But remember, God has led us to this point. God will not abandon us in the future. With much prayer, we will hear clearly and distinctly how to make a difference right here and right now. Look, epiphanies don’t happen so much in the quiet times. Jesus was born into a time, not unlike our own, that was dangerous, insecure, and in desperate need of God’s love. Saul was converted, not from Methodist to Presbyterian; he was converted from beating, torturing and killing these new Christians to being the voice to take Jesus’ message of hope into the known world. People pray fervently when there’s much to be anxious about. In the Zionist prayer from Isaiah, the prophet imagines God’s hope as a shining light in a time when darkness covers the earth and thick darkness threatens to overwhelm God’s people. He prays for a turn-around the likes of which seemed impossible. It’s Zion, the Holy City that will be seen as a beacon for all peoples. Sons and daughters will return there. Nations will send great gifts and it will be covered with a multitude of camels.

That metaphor both made me laugh and made me cry. I absolutely believe that it is through prayer that we can imagine our own scenario of being “covered up with camels.” What would it look like for us to embrace God’s light for our own dark times? What can we lift up about our congregation’s history that will help that light grow? What would make us feel holy as the family of faith that is First Presbyterian Church? Imagine if you will, Oak Ridge, covered up with camels. What do the camels represent now? How do we picture such abundance and hopefulness?

It’s a stretch, I know. It’s easier for us to stay stuck in our fears and complain about our problems than it is to allow the epiphany mindset to take hold. Epiphanies are dangerous. The Magi chose not to take their news back to Herod for fear of Jesus’ life. Paul’s conversion changed his outlook completely and landed him in prison several times. Being covered up in camels sounds a bit daunting. But when we have the epiphany that First Presbyterian Church has a mission to be here spreading the good news of Jesus Christ on the corner of Oak Ridge Turnpike and Lafayette Drive, we will not be able to abandon that mission.

Someone asked me this week, “How do we celebrate epiphany?” And my answer was, “Have one.” I hope I didn’t sound too flippant because I really was sincere. We need to start 2008 with an epiphany, an inspired understanding, a profound realization that God intends us to be the light in the darkness. God wishes for us to be a church and a city covered up in camels. God wants this church to pray, and laugh, and dance, and inspire hope in every life it touches.

I’ve been here 5 years now. I’ve seen you in times of joy and celebration like after the Belize Mission trip. I’ve seen you in sorrow as beloved members of this church have entered the church triumphant. I’ve seen you hopeful and I’ve seen you distraught. Perhaps now that we’ve known each other 5 years, you know that I’m human and that I experience some of the same dreams and some of the same fears as you do. I can’t tell you in advance what exactly prayer will inspire in this congregation. All I know is that we’ll need to lean on God as we enter into some deeper conversations about who we are and who we want to be.

So I invite you to pray with me this year. I hope to multiply the ways that we pray for each other and with each other here at the church, and I hope that you’ll add your own twist on this theme to your prayer practice at home – whatever that practice might be. When Janet Swift led devotions at one of our Session meetings, she handed out inspirational sayings to each of us as part of our prayer. Mine was, “Prayer changes things.” Prayer will change us and move us closer to the divine. Let us hold one another in God’s light as we move toward that sacred space.

Amen.