If you noticed that the prayer tree was not in the hall as you came into church today, you would not be alone. Moved into storage for the next few months, it will reappear in the Fellowship Walk, and will continue to serve as a witness for prayers of the people. More than 10,000 leaves have been placed on the tree since it was “planted” last fall. Many are requests, and as time has passed, more answered prayers have appeared. Each leaf is prayed for by the prayer team and then placed on the tree. On moving day, a very young boy came into the hall with his mom and said in dismay, “Oh no! You can’t take it down. I love it!” While we don’t know what the tree represented to that little boy, we do know that there was awe involved. Perhaps it was the wonderment of a huge tree growing inside. Perhaps he and his mom had written a prayer. Regardless, it was holy ground for him. That same hour, a man was walking out of the building and stopped to share how many blessings the tree represented as their prayers were lifted over the last months. “Many times, we have stopped at this very table and written requests on leaves.” He smiled as he continued, “Lately we have started to share God’s answers.” God is faithful, and his ear is inclined to the prayers of his children.

All the while the movers continued to disassemble the tree. Having watched and overheard the exchange they murmured “wow.” Who knows what moved in their hearts? Yes, it was a less routine job to take down a tree and thousands of prayer leaves, but they were assigned to that work in this place on that day. Just what will God do? Amen.