40 Days of Prayer & Discernment | Days 13 - 19

Yesterday, as we gathered for Sunday worship via an “online only” experience due to the widespread power outages which have affected our church building, I had flashbacks to the days we worshiped online during the COVID pandemic.

I was reminded of the one-on-one meetings I had with families in their driveways, the Peace Tree Kids drive through event in our parking lot, Carols & Candlelight in our parking lot with a radio transmitter so that families could safely listen and sing along from their cars, and our 2021 outdoor Easter morning service held on the east lawn of our church property.

Our vision statement as a congregation is “Church Can Happen Anywhere,” and in all of these instances (including online-only worship from this past weekend) CHURCH truly took place in locations that many would consider non-traditional.

From March 2020 through December 2021, we didn’t gather together for worship in a sanctuary, but rather we came together in spirit, we used the resources available to us, and we adapted to whatever the current situation was for our faith community at that time.

And these alternative worship methods and “church plant scrappiness” was true for Peace Tree when we originally launched in 2015 - hosting events in parks, meeting for Bible studies in living rooms, and worshiping on Sundays inside a movie theater.

As we’ve journeyed through the Book of Hebrews this month, there have been several moments when the Tabernacle has popped up in our passages. Many of us know that the Tabernacle was the tent in which Moses and the Israelites worshiped God during their exodus, and it’s where they kept their holy items safe during their 40 years in the wilderness.

It served as their mobile temple in the desert and it moved with them as they made their way to the Promised Land, but this wasn’t the first time that God had met God’s people in the wild.

God walked with Adam & Eve in a garden, formed the covenant with Abraham outdoors under the stars, protected Noah’s family on a boat during the Flood, wrestled with Jacob near a river, and called Moses to service from inside a cave.

The ways in which we, as Peace Tree, have gathered for worship, for missions, for Bible study and children’s events and board meetings all changed in 2019 when moved into the building at 9315 E Shelby Dr and merged congregations with our sisters & brothers from CrossRoads UMC.

Owning a building has opened us up to new ministries and outreach opportunities (e.g. pickleball, Dayshore, hosting non-profits in our space), and it’s also added responsibilities for our Administrative Board and congregation in terms of maintenance, insurance, utilities, and debt.

This week, I’m asking our faith community to consider the vision of “Church Can Happen Anywhere.” How are we living into the statement? Do we still have some of that “church plant scrappiness” in our congregation’s DNA? How does our current building on E Shelby Drive support our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ?

I am praying with you and with our friends during these 40 Days for direction and guidance from the Holy Spirit. Please return to this page over the next week to use the prayer prompts written below in your daily meditation and contemplation. Thank you, and God bless!

+Pastor Kris Roof

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August 24 - Consider time that you've spent by the water - a river, a lake, the ocean, or even a swimming pool. Now, consider all the references to water that we see in Scripture - the parting of the Red Sea, the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan River, or the River of Life that flows through the City of God in Revelation. How does praising God in an environment with water impact our worship experiences?


August 25 - Read this passage from Psalm 139 and contemplate our church's vision statement: Church Can Happen Anywhere
7 Can I go anywhere apart from Your Spirit?
    Is there anywhere I can go to escape Your watchful presence?
8 If I go up into heaven, You are there.
    If I make my bed in the realm of the dead, You are there.
9 If I ride on the wings of morning,
    if I make my home in the most isolated part of the ocean,
10 Even then You will be there to guide me;
    Your right hand will embrace me, for You are always there.

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August 26 - Spend time reading about the Tabernacle in Exodus  Have you ever had a "makeshift" worship experience before? What needed to happen in order for you to worship God in that space? How did you utilize the resources at your disposal? Click here for Exodus 25 - 31


August 27 - In Joshua 4, God instructs Joshua to find twelve individuals - one from each tribe - and have them each bring a stone from the Jordan River to build a memorial on the banks of the river. This would signal to all future generations the place where the Israelites crossed the Jordan River while the waters were held back and the riverbed was dry. Have you ever marked a place as holy, maybe with a cross, a flag, or something colorful like a stuffed animal or a poster drawn in memory of a loved one? How long did you stay in that one spot before you moved on? How long did Joshua and the Israelites remain at Gilgal before they eventually moved on?


August 28 - Matthew 27:50-52a states: And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split and the tombs broke open. Why is it significant that the curtain inside the Holy of the Holies was torn in two? Can God be contained by any one building?


August 29 - As stated above, our church's Vision statement is: Church Can Happen Anywhere. Are there any places or locales where you feel like Church could NOT happen? Is there any place on planet earth where God’s spirit cannot be found?


August 30 - Peace Tree took over ownership of the property at 9315 E Shelby Dr in 2019 when we merged congregations with CrossRoads UMC. If the building disappeared tomorrow, would Peace Tree still be a church? What does it mean to be a church without a building? If a congregation didn’t own a piece of property in which to worship or host meals, how else could they gather for learning, missions, and outreach?

This week's Coffee with Kris & Harry will be held at Levee Coffee & Creamery. Feel free to drop by between 10:00am and 12:00 Noon for conversation & prayer.