April, 2008

April 2008 – The Prayer Chest

Ernest Holmes in The Science of Mind, p. 283, wrote:

"No class of people on earth believes more in prayer than we do. Our whole theory is based not only on the belief in Spirit, but in the availability of It – Its immediate response. We even go so far as to say in everyday language: “Pray right and God cannot help responding.”

These are powerful words by the Founder of Religious Science, and yet they beg an important question – what does it mean to “pray right?” Using the spiritual novel, The Prayer Chest, written by New Thought ministers August Gold and Joel Fotinos, we will delve into our core spiritual practice of prayer and will explore secrets of “praying right.”

Talk 1 - The First Secret of Answered Prayer
The novel The Prayer Chest explores three secrets to answered prayer. Today, using the novel as our backdrop, we will look at and begin to embody the first secret.

Talk 2 - The Second Secret of Answered Prayer
Continuing our journey through the novel The Prayer Chest, we will uncover the second secret to “praying right” and ensuring that our prayers are answered.

Talk 3 – The Third Secret of Answered Prayer
The third secret to answered prayer is a place of powerful transformation – a place where not only prayers are answered, but lives are changed forever.

Talk 4 – The Fourth Secret of Answered Prayer (According to [name of your center])
If you have read the novel The Prayer Chest, then you know there are only three secrets to answer prayer. However, at the end of the novel, an opening is left for a fourth secret. In this service, we will explore the fourth secret according to us! Be sure to bring your personal Prayer Chests to service today to have them blessed.

MINISTER’S NOTES: Have your bookstore order a lot of copies of The Prayer Chest. You will sell them! We offered a Prayer Workshop at the end of the month in support of the monthly theme. Between weeks 3 and 4, the congregation was invited to share what their ideas for the 4th secret might be. And in week 4, people were asked to bring their personal prayer chests to church to have them blessed.