On Oct. 29, Houghton Wesleyan Church began hosting the annual, three-week prayer vigil that serves as a spiritual backbone for the local community.
“The vigil has now become a part of the rhythm of our church,” commented Pastor Wes Oden, explaining that the event began in 2009 because of the congregation’s “desire…to be a church and community more open to God.” Every year, the vigil has a different theme, often coinciding with the sermon series for the month or the conversations embarked upon in the church’s small groups. According to the October 2017 Houghton Wesleyan newsletter, this year’s theme is “God Who Loves Us.” The inspiration for this year’s theme was drawn from passages in the Minor Prophets books, particularly Malachi and Amos. “[I]t’s not an investment in sacrifice,” continues the newsletter, “it’s an investment in gaining a greater understanding of who God is.”
In order to be a part of the prayer vigil, participants must sign up on the church website for a one-hour time slot, either individually or with a group. A variety of resources are provided for visitors, such as a Bible, a prayer journal, a prayer guide, a kneeling bench, musical instruments, and whiteboards. The church has also fostered a creative, open space for visitors. The quilts and paintings, for example, invite visitors to engage in quiet contemplation.
Nikki Garns, ’18 added that Houghton Wesleyan has three prayer rooms available, each decorated for different purposes. The room with the kneeling bench she describes as “formal.” The “creative room” is the room that contains the prayer aids, and the “relaxed room” is most likely appropriate for children because of its “lighter atmosphere.”
This year will be Garns’ fourth year participating in the 24-hour prayer vigil. She signs up with her soccer and track teams as a substitution for practice in the late afternoon or early evening. “It’s so cool to be in there with my teammates,” exclaims Garns. She loves that she has the opportunity to hear about their struggles and lift up her teammates in prayer. On a larger scale, she enjoys that she has had the privilege of seeing not just her teammates participate in the prayer vigil, but Houghton students and members of the community as well. Amidst the “busyness of campus,” she realizes that spending an hour in prayer is an intentional way of slowing down her day and “bringing God into that.”
Other than slowing down the rhythm of her busy weekday, the prayer vigil has allowed her to contemplate how setting this time aside has changed her prayer life. She says, “It opens my mind to there being different levels of prayer. Initially, when I came into college, it was about bowing my head, but there are so many other elements that are a part of it. The prayer vigil allowed me to see all those different elements at work.”
Bethany Kuiken, ’18, agreed, saying that the prayer vigil is “refreshing” and that “being in those small rooms opens my eyes to the privilege it is to approach the throne. It never ceases to amaze me that ordinary people like us can approach the throne at any time, at any state we’re in.” The prayer vigil even inspired Kuiken and her housemates to refurbish their downstairs closet into a prayer closet.
Oden also commented on how his “understanding of prayer has been enlarged and deepened through these events.” He believes that “Prayer is more than speaking words to God or even sitting quietly before God. It is that, but it’s more. It’s singing. It’s writing poetry. It’s silence. It’s lamenting…There is something about taking an hour or multiple hours to think about God that can’t help but change you.”