introducing the not one sparrow prayer group
A little over a year ago, we launched a companion animal suffering and grief support group on Facebook with the help of moderator Denise LaChance. A number of personal experiences and losses shared by others led into that group, which has been a personal and compassionate resource available to not one sparrow community members and other friends we've met along the way. I hope you'll look it up if you haven't yet.
Similarly, the idea and need for a more general prayer group has been building as well. A couple of you thoughtfully approached me with the suggestion several months ago now, and while I was grateful for it, I kept waiting for the time and right person to come along and take the lead, a trusted friend who shared not one sparrow's values and mission, who also had a passion for prayer and the time to keep up with the group. I'm still hoping and praying for such a person, but have come to a point where the group cannot be put off any longer in the meantime.
So often as Christians, we're aware of how vital a role prayer is supposed to play in every aspect of our lives and in the world at large, but it still gets neglected or de-emphasized for seemingly more urgent demands on our time and energy. That certainly goes for me. Now, I know there are some who seem to be specially gifted and even called to a ministry of prayer, but on some level, perhaps more so than many of us currently practice, it needs to be an integral part of our spiritual and practical lives, including our concern for others and God's creatures.
Here's some of what the apostle Paul had to say about how we're not only called to pray, but how much comfort it can bring us:
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:18, all passages NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26)
The bible has much more to say about prayer, but isn't that last verse from Romans especially comforting? I know there are so many times when I feel overwhelmed by the realization of the staggering scope of animal suffering in the world, whether ongoing institutional realities like factory farming and the euthanization of homeless pets which affect millions of animals each year, or more temporary disasters and cruelty such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill which affected entire ecosystems or the millions of pigs recently buried alive in South Korea after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Sometimes I feel my heart sink just at the news of one animal being neglected or cruelly treated, not to mention the suffering or loss of the animals in my own home or community.
More than a few friends have communicated something very similar, and wonder what to do with those feelings of helplessness. I'm never quite sure how to respond, except to suggest that the only place we can really bring those feelings is to God, crying out for justice and comfort for the animals involved, and for peace of mind for ourselves. But I need to take my own advice more consistently, and be more intentional in my own prayer for the suffering of God's creatures.
Hopefully that prayer, as others have recently reminded me, will lead me to care even more and look for ways to help in whatever limited capacity I can, even if it's simply signing a petition or writing a blog post. And hopefully, when I'm able to share these burdens and prayer requests with God and with others, I'll be comforted knowing I'm not alone in caring, and that God listens and cares even more than I ever could. As theologian Karl Barth once wrote in a powerful little book on the Lord's prayer,
(God) invites us to participate in his work ... If we pray, "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, " we place ourselves at God's side, nothing less than that. God invites us to join his designs and his action. ...
Therein is the true collaboration. God invites us to address ourselves to him while understanding that his cause and ours are intimately united, that our cause is comprehended within his. (Prayer (50th Anniversary Edition), Westminster John Knox '02; pg 27, 30)
Sometimes, if not much of the time, all we can do is pray. But prayer is not at all a last resort, a last ditch effort. In fact, it's the first thing we are always asked to do, and can do, and it's the vital glue which undergirds and upholds everything else which we will ever attempt.
I hope you'll join the new prayer group on Facebook. Please feel free to leave prayer requests for your own companion animals, for the people who love them, and for other issues of animal suffering which are weighing on your mind, large or small. We'll collect the requests posted publicly by category, perhaps even for occasional reminder, and if you have a more private request we'll provide a way for you to get those to us as well (you can always email also). Please check back or write down some of the other requests you find there so you can pray with others, and maybe even leave a note for the person you're praying with. It would be wonderful for genuine friendships and community to grow out of praying together, and perhaps we'll find additional ways to encourage both as we go along.
One last note, as you pray for other requests, I could really use prayer for myself and for not one sparrow. These past years have been tremendously rewarding, including the honor of getting to know many of you as friends and collaborators in the cause of God's creatures. But it has been a very difficult time as well, with many stresses and discouragements. Please pray for wisdom and for grace for me, and that God would provide for a more stable administrative and donor structure for not one sparrow, so I can continue to concentrate on the work itself and help provide for my family in the process, perhaps even take on other outreach programs and staff at some point.
Thank you, always, for your friendship and for caring and praying with me and with not one sparrow.
(photo copyright Varina And Jay Patel/123rf.com; drawing courtesy Ali Beem)
February 22, 2011
Reader Comments (2)
I will join the group, and my prayers are with you. Non-profit work and fundraising is draining, in spite of the passion for the vision.
I would be very happy to learn more about what you need for someone to moderate the prayer group--I write/post prayers twice weekly for RevGalPrayerPals ( a ministry of RevGalBlogPals), and I am a volunteer chaplain for an animal rescue organization...besides being caregiver (and receiver) of a menagerie of dogs and cats....
email me at karlajeanmiller at gmail dot com.
Karla, it's wonderful to hear from you, and thanks very much for joining our prayer group and your participation there already. Thank you as well for your prayer and encouragement for me and Not One Sparrow specifically, and for your offer to help with managing the group. Since writing this post early last year, I've been able to manage administrating our prayer group ok, without the real strain on my time that I wondered if it might be. But thank you again, and I do look forward to connecting with you further. I also really admire the work you do with the animal rescue organization and your own cats and dogs - gratefully, Ben