“How might I pray for you today?”

This is a question I typically ask folks whenever I visit with them in their homes or hospital rooms. I’ve even asked it of our servers when we’ve gone out to eat. You just never know how someone might respond to this open-ended invitation to pray for and with them.

All the churches in the Holston Conference (from southwestern Virginia throughout east Tennessee down to north Georgia) are invited to come together in a spirit of prayer for the communities in which we are situated on the last weekend of this month, August 29-30. The invitation is to pray for “our neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and communities, asking God to guide us, deepen our love for our neighbors, and reveal where the Holy Spirit is already at work.”

The prophet Jeremiah long ago relayed the following word of the Lord: “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer 29:7). Our own welfare, or well-being, is wrapped up in the welfare of our community, and vice versa. We’re all in this together, and this prayer focus is an opportunity to remember and reaffirm that.

We would like to invite you and your family to participate in this prayer focus for our community. We’d like for each household to take one yard sign we’ve ordered and place it in your yard to let your neighborhood know we are praying for them and inviting them to let us know of any particular prayer concerns they may have through our email at prayer@signalcrestumc.org.

You can also walk around your neighborhood and lift up each household in prayer, or you could drive or bike if it’s easier. We also invite you to let the businesses you visit and the schools you attend here on the mountain know you are lifting them in prayer as well and inviting any prayer concerns they may have.

How might you pray for them? Again, we can pray for their welfare, their well-being. And we can pray for their well-being across the following eight dimensions of wellness that the National Institutes of Health has identified:

1 – Physical – our bodily health and wellness, getting enough sleep, good nutrition, regular exercise, etc.

2 – Emotional – our mental and emotional wellness, understanding our feelings, navigating stress, etc.

3 – Social – having healthy and supportive relationships, feeling connected to a community

4 – Intellectual – being curious, learning new things, stimulating creativity

5 – Spiritual – seeking a life of meaning, purpose, and value in relationship to God

6 – Vocational – finding satisfaction in our occupations and volunteer involvement, maintaining a healthy work/life balance

7 – Financial – enjoying sufficient resources to live within our means, plan for the future, and share with others who are in need

8 – Environmental – creating and inhabiting safe and clean environments where wellness can flourish

May God bless you and your neighbors and all our community as we pray together for the well-being of our Signal Mountain community.