God of power, by whose word the universe came to be, we pray for the wellbeing of our entire world, and for the welfare of our human family. We pray for all people, everywhere, especially those who find themselves in harm's way because of natural or human-created disaster. Lord in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of righteousness, we pray for all leaders of governments, that they might exercise their authority in a way that reflects your wisdom, justice and mercy. We pray for all citizens, that they may take seriously their rights and responsibilities, whose mindful deliberations and decisions lift up the quality of life for all. We pray for prisoners of conscience around the world, who suffer for speaking the truth to power. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of holiness, we pray for your Church on earth, that it may strongly proclaim the good news of your love and redemption. We pray for bishops, pastors, and laity -- the entire priesthood of all believers -- and we pray that the people of God recognize and honor the gifts of all who are called to labor in your vineyard. And we give thanks to you for all people of faith whose work on earth has ended, who now live with you in eternity. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of creation, sustenance and renewal, we pray that you might bless our good and useful labor, whatever that may be. We pray for all who cannot find work, or cannot find enough work, or who cannot find the right work. We pray that you bless our leisure time, that it may be a source of renewal and connection with you and with others. Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
God of love, we pray for our families, whoever and whereever they may be, and we pray for our circles of friends, that our homes and relationships be places where your grace and care and healing are lived out every day. We pray for all who are alone; who long for caring and connection. And at this time we pray, aloud or in our hearts, for those people and situations close to us, in need of your presence and healing power...Lord, in your mercy,
Hear our prayer.
Into your hands, o Lord, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
I have a confession to make.
There are times, when I'm engaged in intercessory prayer -- in the Sunday morning Prayers of the Church, like those above, or the regular intercessions in the Daily Office, or in my own extemporaneous prayer life -- when I am plagued by a persistent, annoying thought, like a blackfly buzzing around my head: Do you actually believe that any of this is going to happen?
Do I believe, for instance, that the leaders of governments will one day experience some sort of metanoia that turns them into wise, just and merciful statespeople? I mean, I just prayed for that, didn't I? And what about that intercessory line in the Noonday Prayer: For the holy Church of God, that it may be filled with truth and love, and be found without fault at the day of your coming...? Do I think that this is going to come to be anytime soon? Or For a blessing upon all human labor, and for the right use of the riches of creation, that the world may be freed from poverty, famine, and disaster... When's that going to happen?
Somedays it feels like hunting a unicorn: Sweetly idealistic but hopeless; a chasing after fantasy.
But, as Ted Schroeder's essay (follow title link) asks: What would our world look like without the promise of the unicorn? Without that beautiful and elusive goal, just out of sight, luring us onward?
The Reign of God, God's shalom, is like the unicorn. But unlike the unicorn of folklore, the Reign leaves signs -- signs visible through the eyes of faith, eyes trained by the story of salvation to look in the right directions and by prayer to perservere. And so we keep listening to the story. We keep praying. We keep following the path as we are led. We rejoice in each hint that the Reign is near. And every once in awhile, for the briefest fraction of a second, we think we catch a glimpse up ahead...
3 comments:
To answer a couple of your questions: The Prayers of the Church, aka the Prayers of the People, need to be written in a way that make them the most inclusive to the most people in the congregation. These are supposed to be the prayers of all the people lifted up to God. That's why politically partisan petitions, for instance, are not appropriate for these prayers. And we don't want to dictate outcomes to God, either -- we want the best possible outcome, from God's perspective. Hope that helps.
I think the Spirit is moving in the hearts of the people who are hearing the petitions -- each processing them in a different way.
When I pray "for families, whoever and whereever they may be" (those prayers up above are ones I wrote for last week's service), one of the things I have in mind are families whose households are not considered "families" by the Church or by the government; so to me it's an affirmation of the mutual love and service in these families. To someone else in the pew, who's maybe estranged from a family member, it might be a prayer asking for reconciliation with that person. For another person it might simply be a prayer for a loved one far away. For another person, "family" might put them in mind of the entire human family. And for another person...well, maybe the Spirit is giving him or her a little nudge in the direction of greater generosity toward definitions. None of those "hearings" are up to me to engineer. But all of them are valid. That's how the Spirit does her thing, in Christian community.
My particular liturgical pet peeve are the assigned Prayers of the Day that seem to have no real connection to the lessons of the day...that happened just last Sunday, when I was reading the "canned" prayer out of the hymnal and thinking, "Ick." If the cognitive dissonance is too much, I think I'm going to have to go off the reservation, so to speak, and write my own.;-)
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