Prayers of the People
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I find myself returning repeatedly to Roger Ross (author of Wesley's Seven Ways) emphasizing to us gathered for a conference on evangelism that nothing will come of anything if prayer is not first and foremost.
I return to it because as we enter the final month of a decidedly ugly political campaign, I feel the tension rising. I don't really want to open my morning email from The Times that outlines the news of the day. One of my friends is an undecided with equal loathing for both candidates. He reflected this week, One side is trying to convince me that their candidate is trustworthy; the other, that their candidate doesn't molest women...indicating that "undecided" is actually "none of the above." Is this the best we can do?
So, I return to prayer.
However, the form of prayer that I find most comforting is one that is not asking anything--no petitions, no intercessions, no pleas or pitches of any kind. Instead, I find myself simply sitting with a word from God from Psalm 46--Be still and know I am God.
I sit with those words. I repeat them. I breathe them.
The words settle me. They center me. I feel their calm affirmation and assurance.
There are words like this in scripture that lend themselves to such prayer--
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last...
I know my Redeemer lives and that at the last, he shall stand upon the earth...
The Lord is my shepherd...
For God so loved the world...
In this love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us...
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner...
Any simple thought or drop of wisdom works. Simply let yourself fall into the idea presented, the hope proclaimed, or the work called for. Let it take root. Let it sink in deeply.
Rev. Ross used the Fall of Jericho as his working model--the Israelites praying circles around the city that stood in the way of the Promised Land. As he works with his congregation, they pray circles around the problems before them--stewardship, how to reach the Nones, developing ministry, etc. It worked to focus them. It opened up their creativity. It led them to ideas no one had considered before. In short, it helped.
So many of us feel real and actual angst about the state of the world at the moment. We are really afraid. The irony of it being near Halloween is not lost on us--the world is scary.
Center on the words from God. Let them bring peace. Repeat them. Sing them. Speak them. Write them. Breathe them.
In them is the hope that all can be well and all manner of thing be well.
I think this is what Paul was on about.
--1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
I find myself returning repeatedly to Roger Ross (author of Wesley's Seven Ways) emphasizing to us gathered for a conference on evangelism that nothing will come of anything if prayer is not first and foremost.
I return to it because as we enter the final month of a decidedly ugly political campaign, I feel the tension rising. I don't really want to open my morning email from The Times that outlines the news of the day. One of my friends is an undecided with equal loathing for both candidates. He reflected this week, One side is trying to convince me that their candidate is trustworthy; the other, that their candidate doesn't molest women...indicating that "undecided" is actually "none of the above." Is this the best we can do?
So, I return to prayer.
However, the form of prayer that I find most comforting is one that is not asking anything--no petitions, no intercessions, no pleas or pitches of any kind. Instead, I find myself simply sitting with a word from God from Psalm 46--Be still and know I am God.
I sit with those words. I repeat them. I breathe them.
The words settle me. They center me. I feel their calm affirmation and assurance.
There are words like this in scripture that lend themselves to such prayer--
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last...
I know my Redeemer lives and that at the last, he shall stand upon the earth...
The Lord is my shepherd...
For God so loved the world...
In this love, not that we loved God, but that God loved us...
Lord, have mercy on me a sinner...
Any simple thought or drop of wisdom works. Simply let yourself fall into the idea presented, the hope proclaimed, or the work called for. Let it take root. Let it sink in deeply.
Rev. Ross used the Fall of Jericho as his working model--the Israelites praying circles around the city that stood in the way of the Promised Land. As he works with his congregation, they pray circles around the problems before them--stewardship, how to reach the Nones, developing ministry, etc. It worked to focus them. It opened up their creativity. It led them to ideas no one had considered before. In short, it helped.
So many of us feel real and actual angst about the state of the world at the moment. We are really afraid. The irony of it being near Halloween is not lost on us--the world is scary.
Center on the words from God. Let them bring peace. Repeat them. Sing them. Speak them. Write them. Breathe them.
In them is the hope that all can be well and all manner of thing be well.
I think this is what Paul was on about.
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