Good morning.  Where is Rome?  That is so good.  I saw it for the first time yesterday.  I knew he was doing the video segment I was preparing the lesson for this morning.  I’m not what you expected.  I get that a lot.  Kyle is not here this morning.  His mother passed away.  He is with family.  We were talking this morning and Nicki said “our normal minister isn’t here today’.  Which would make me abnormal.  thank you.  So.  I’m Jeff Crawford.  I’m the abnormal preacher this morning.  I’m one of the shepherds at Fourth.  We are so glad to have you here.

We are talking about prayer in community or community in prayer.   I’ve been here for I don’t know how long its been.  My wife and I have been here ten years or so I think.  This is a church where you will notice a few themes.  One of those themes in community.  Its a place that tries to be very, tries to be very embracing. We are not perfect but we do our best to do that.  And then it is place where prayer is incredibly important to who we are and our identity.  I see Albert back here.  Some one who has led the way in helping us frame ourselves as a church.  Who puts ourselves in a humble poster and lifts our requests and our petitions to God.

When we talk about prayer, a lot of times we talk about prayer in terms of our individual conversations with our creator.  It is really appropriate.  That is such an important thing in the life of a believer.  But it is not the only way that prayer gets expressed.  And one of the most important things we see when we look in the Bible and when we see the example of the way the early church worked and responded was they had a posture of prayer.  It wasn’t just alone.  It was together.  It was community in prayer.  Prayer in community.

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