Says my current pastor, the Reverend Dr. Timothy E. Tyler at Denver\u2019s Shorter Community AME Church: \u201cThe mid-week prayer meeting was always a very intimate atmosphere\u201d\u201da place of renewal, love, and connectedness. As a child, when my mother and father dragged me there, I remember noticing that the large crowds of Sunday were much smaller on Wednesday. This group was the spiritual core of the church. The people would testify, petition God, and pray for each other. I finally understood it as a mid-week check-in on your spiritual self. Then you were ready for another Sunday.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
I listen to his words, realizing I like reflecting on such things with my own pastor: as I would on a Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
He reminds me how Methodism itself, including its practice by African Methodist Episcopalians worldwide, finds its origins in the weeknight prayer meetings and love feasts organized by Methodist movement founder John Wesley.<\/p>\n
\u201cWesley said, \u201d\u02dcWe\u2019re still Anglican,\u2019 but let\u2019s go beyond the ritualistic worship of Sunday and meet God in prayer here tonight,\u201d\u009d my pastor explained.<\/p>\n