A Call to Prayer and Fasting – Good Friday, April 10, 2020

This Friday we invite and encourage the members of Northminster Evangelical Presbyterian Church to join our brothers and sisters in the EPC, PCA, ECO, ACNA and many other denominations and churches in a day of prayer and fasting to cry out for God’s help in addition to a day of worship.  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep the globe and our nation, this is an opportunity for us to set ourselves before the Lord and plead with him to intercede on behalf of His creation.
 
If you’ve been joining us on B90, you’ve seen how, time and again, when the people of God were convicted of their sin and sought His intervention, they began with a period of fasting and then prayer.  While you might consider fasting from technology or something like that, there is something particular about going without food for a short period of time.  The pang and tug of physical hunger reminds us of our deeper, spiritual hunger for God and his action in our lives and our world.  As Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13–14)
 
Setting aside a day of prayer and fasting isn’t something to be entered into lightly.  To help us prepare for this Friday, the EPC has provided several resources which you can find on their Good Friday Call to Prayer and Fasting Resources page.  There is a very helpful Guide to Prayer and Fasting, a suggested prayer list, and a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer that addresses the needs of suffering people in troubled times.
 
Our Day of Prayer and Fasting will conclude with the Good Friday service, streamed live on our Facebook page which you can find at www.facebook.com/npcmh (you do not need a Facebook account to access the livestream).  The service will begin at 7:30pm and is a simple service of scripture, song, candlelight and prayerful reflection.
 
We hope you’ll join us in this day of prayer and fasting, asking God to  intervene in the face of this ongoing pandemic.
 
Blessings,
Rev. David Garrison