Pastor Mark Harkness
Greetings in the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ!
After months of waiting, preparing, packing, and unpacking, I’m finally here in Dixon. And I’m excited to join you all in ministry here. When we join The United Methodist Church, we promise to support it with our prayers, our presence, our gifts, our service, and our witness. Each is important. But notice that prayer comes first in that list. Prayer is essential. Our prayers supporting the church are our prayers for the body of Christ first, and the institution a little farther down.
I want to know your presence and worship together with all of you. Our gifts and service don’t just express our gratitude to God but serve a practical purpose so that we can bear witness to Jesus Christ in this community and the world. Without prayer – without an ongoing conversation with God – listening and speaking – all the rest lose their power.
I want you to know that I have been praying for you. Moreover, I will continue to pray for you. My practice as pastor has been to pray for each household in the parish by name at least once per month. As a surprise for the Church Board, I will also give each of the leaders a section of the list to include in their prayers. I’ve included a schedule so that you’ll know when I’ll be praying for you and yours. There’s no particular order to the list (I used a random sort rather than relying on alphabetical order). I won’t limit my prayers for you to a schedule, but I do want you to know when I’ll be praying for you. If you would, mark it in your calendar so that you can let me know if there is something particular you’d like me to include.
As I pray for each of you, I ask that you’ll pray for me and Susan, the church leadership, and for each other. Don’t worry about what to say or praying “correctly”. Scripture reminds us that although we do not know what to pray, the Holy Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for our understanding so that our hearts may be revealed in accordance with God’s will. (Ro. 8:26-27)