Messages from Pastor Ken

Growing Prayers—Weekday devotions by Rev. Kenneth C. Landin

November 3, 2025. Prayer 2078. Networking with Saints

Growing a business, an art, a trade, and the church is all about networking. We network with colleagues, artists, those accomplished in skills, and in completely different businesses all serving the wider community. We learn from each other. We lean on each other. We grow the community together. In church life we call the workers the saints of God. A saint is a person who has been called and set apart as holy committed to and consecrated to the central mission of the church. When we connect with the saints, present and gone before us, we are inspired, uplifted, encouraged, fired up!

Dear God, as the furnace is firing up to meet the call for heat, let my spirit be fired up with the network of saints. Amen.

November 4, 2025. Prayer 2079. Brighter Together

We are staring down at the close of Daylight Savings this year. This means, chilly gray days and cold long nights. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 we hear, “All of us, with faces no longer covered, reflect the glory of God, being transformed into the image of a brighter and brighter glory, this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.” Creating a caring community is all about being real to each other. We must risk being vulnerable. To share our truths about our strength and weaknesses and how we can clearly see each other’s expressions that reveal the need for God’s love and mercy.

Dear God, remove all hesitation in me to meet someone new, to meet a person where they are, and love them. Amen.

November 5, 2025. Prayer 2080. We Are God’s Field

As frost comes in, the last fruits of the summer garden are gathered up. In 1 Corinthians 3:9 we are described as both, “fellow workers,” and, “God’s field.” Our hearts remain enlightened by faith, as if the soil in our garden remains warm from a season of sun at its highest height. There are still a few plants that thrive in late fall such as carrots, beets, and a little spinach green. The church is comprised of people that are both, helping God tend to the harvest of souls, and we are the souls that God is still pulling dense nutrients out of to feed the world. In God every season is the time to grow.

Dear God, make my soul a fertile field, ready for tilling, that when I grow with you in faith, I can grow others too! Amen.

November 6, 2025. Prayer 2081. All Things Held Together

What makes the church a different human institution than so many others that we belong to, is that the church has a central value in the goal to hold all things together. That is God driven, not by human accomplishment. Mortal rulers divide and conquer. Faith formers remember Christ’s love reigns over all already and we remain undivided. Colossians 1:17 affirms, “By God all things visible and invisible are created, all rulers and authorities, and with God before all things, God holds all things together.” The church is to “proclaim the gospel of hope” to the world. That is a message of unity.

Dear God, thank you for reminding me that your work in my heart is to hold all things together, not divide apart. Amen.

November 7, 2025. Prayer 2082. You Sun, Stars and Comets!

Look to the northeast horizon after sunset and behold Comet Lemmon. Discovered earlier this year at Mount Lemmon Survey Station, this dusty snowball leftover from the formation of the beginning of the universe is a frozen time capsule orbiting the sun. It is on the plane of the planets, exceeding the speed limit by 130,000 miles per hour, and glows like a turquoise jewel in the sky. Psalm 148 says the Lord created all things, sun, moon, shining stars, waters, earth and the highest heavens, all creatures and people too. And God raises praise for all the saints. All things are established forever.

Dear God, to us a thousand-year orbit is a long time, but for you, we are all just beginning the trip. Make us shine! Amen.