Connected: Keeping in Touch - 13 November 2025
Louise Gevers
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matthew 6:9, ESV
Many years ago, as a young woman on an overseas tour, I found myself in a crowd, in Innsbruck, gazing wide-eyed at the Golden Roof built by Maximilian to display his imperial status and wealth. Away from home for the first time and taken by the sight, I couldn’t wait to go to the local post office to make a trunk call (remember those?) to share this with my mother. To say that it was by no means a perfect form of communication is an understatement, but we connected, and I chatted happily with her for a few minutes and touched base. Had it been today, I would’ve immediately sent a photo via cell phone, with a few lines to explain.
Connection to the people we care about doesn’t disappear when we’re far away; keeping in touch becomes even more important in helping us to stay close and bonded.
Today, there are many ways to communicate in a world where there are countless devices to keep people connected to almost everything in life, church services included, and yet, curiously, although they’re available, they cannot guarantee the desired success when people are unresponsive or when the quality is poor.
We’ve all experienced the anxiety attached to sending a message, or calling, and not receiving a response, then or later – we’ve been guilty of doing this ourselves – or the frustration of our message not being read or understood properly, creating a disconnect. This destroys the core of communication.
True connection is a deep, reliable bond built on mutual understanding, respect, and responsiveness, allowing for vulnerability and shared experiences, which allows each person to know that they matter.
The most significant connection we can experience each day is to communicate with God – and we need no device; a believing heart reaching out to Him humbly and sincerely is all we need. Jesus shows that “the Father himself loves [us]” (John 16:27) and hears us, because He gives us the blueprint for praying to Him, along with insights into what God values most in us as we pray to Him: "When you pray, “do not be like the hypocrites … go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen ... do not keep babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words … for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matthew 6:5-8, NIV)
This in place, Jesus gives a simple prayer to reach “Our Father in heaven” in which we can speak to Him as easily as we would our earthly father, knowing that His heart is for us. We can acknowledge our needs, recognising that only He can forgive our sins, give us strength against temptation and “deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:13)
Being connected to God is life changing. Have we experienced this vital connection?
Prayer:Teach me, LORD, what you want me to do, and I will obey you faithfully; teach me to serve you with complete devotion.” (Psalm 86:11, GNT) “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10, ESV) Amen