The Power of Prayer = The Power of Love = Jesus

A woman who is a member at one of the churches I attend was visiting her Dad at the hospital about two weeks ago when her father was rushed into surgery. After a while on the operating table his heart stopped and the nurse came out to tell her that unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. (Later, the surgeon said sewing together what was left of the father’s aorta was literally like sewing two pieces of wet toilet paper together, they couldn’t do it.) A team was still working on him, the nurse revealed, but it was a legal formality.

The daughter started texting to all church members saying her father’s heart had stopped while being operated on, asking for prayer (her husband who was at the church that evening receieved the text, as we all did). As the pastor told it the following Sunday, the husband got the text, immediately asked for prayer and the whole church hit their knees until a text came in saying Dad had revived. Three times Dad’s heart stopped. Three times he revived, each time after a prayer request was texted by his daughter.

He’s alive today. The doctors are dumbfounded, They can’t explain it as medically it was not possible.

That’s not to say every prayer or even a group prayer evokes a miracle but I do believe Paul Stookey had it about right when he paraphrased Matthew 18:20 in The Wedding Song (which he wrote as a gift for band mate Peter Yarrow’s wedding): “Whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name, there is love.”

That’s one of the most beautiful lyrics ever written I think.

The Wedding Song Lyric

Thought provoking intelligence and innocence working in parallel. I’m not positive the human mind can create that level of art, alone.

But yes, whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name, it’s there alright. The serendipity for us is how that love plays out- b.e.

Bill