Cabinet asks for Epiphany prayers

This month, pastors will receive a new prayer guide, created by the Cabinet, to distribute to church members for use during Epiphany season. "A Season of Prayer" is a seven-week guide, beginning on Jan. 7, designed to undergird the upcoming appointment-making season with prayer.

"We've always asked for prayers in the midst of making appointments," said the Rev. Don Nation. "This is just a way of formalizing it and reminding people that, indeed, the process should be bathed in prayer."

Nation, Tazwell District superintendent, coauthored the prayer guide with the Rev. Carol Wilson, Maryville District suprintendent.

The appointment-making process begins in January and February with reviews considering the desires of the local church, needs of the conference, and circumstances of the pastors' personal and family lives, according to the prayer guide. The process continues this year through March 18-23, 2007, which is designated as "appointment-making week" on the Cabinet calendar. Appointments are finally "fixed," or set, at Annual Conference in June.

District offices will e-mail PDF files or send hard copies by regular mail to pastors, who can then make multiple copies, Nation said. The guide may be used in corporate worship or in personal prayer or devotion.

"The Bishop and Cabinet ask our churches and people to use the season of Epiphany as a time of prayer for discernment and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the work of the appointment process," the prayer guide states.

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