January 15, 2018
Greetings in Jesus Christ,
I’ve always considered myself as a person who kept myself aware of the events going on in our world: natural disasters, unrest, trouble spots in the world, and, of course, the plight of the persecuted church. But when I began encountering “The Prayers of the People,” weekly and corporately, a new depth of prayer for the world around me began to emerge in my heart.
I did not grow up Lutheran; in fact, I served in several non-denominational churches before I started serving in the Lutheran Church.
Several years prior to joining the Lutheran Church, I remember visiting a retreat center where people talked about spending the day in prayer. They prayed in the early morning, later morning, lunchtime, afternoon, dinner time, and evening before they went to bed. Each day, they would pray for the world and “sowed the day in prayer.” These faithful believers told me, “The day the Berlin wall came down they prayed, the day the LA Riots took place they prayed, and on September 11, 2001, they prayed.”
Through those believers, I learned an important lesson. I was to emulate this daily life of praying for the world around me. I was to “Sow the day in prayer.”
That event occurred many years before I became an ordained pastor in the Lutheran Church. I can still remember stepping into a worship service at Concordia University in Irvine where a young campus pastor began to passionately lead all the worshippers in the “Prayers of the People.” He prayed over very specific examples of world events requiring prayer.
On that day we prayed for the Christian Church, its members, and its mission, the Nation and all in authority, the welfare of the world, the concerns of the local community, those who suffer, and those in any trouble.
Over the next several months I began to see a greater depth of my own awareness as we prayed on Sundays, or as I scanned the news during the week. I began to see what a formational moment our weekly “Prayers of the People” could be in the life of our parishioners. These prayers really are a moment of discipleship, and it teaches people how to pray for their world. It is a powerful thing that each week we, along with so many other churches throughout the nations, gather together and God’s people pray.
As the church, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to pray for the world around us. If we don’t do it, then who will? Let’s keep the “Prayers of the People” alive.
I love being your pastor!
In Christ—the best place to be,