prayer

  • Collect/Prayer of the Day

    The Collect/Prayer of the Day is one of those moments in the service that gets overlooked. In some congregations this is said by the pastor/priest/minister. In other congregations, the entire congregation participates. 
     
    The collect of the day is generally a summation of the worship service. It tries to give thematic focus to the day. The collect is kind of like the 60 second intro before the theme song for a sitcom. The early seasons of Seinfeld were great at this. Jerry would appear on stage doing stand-up comedy and his jokes were always connected to the themes the show was about to unfold over the next half-hour. This brief intro and summation reminds you what you've come to participate in. It gives you a preview of what's to come in the show. Likewise, the prayer of the day gives you a preview of what's to come in the readings and the sermon. It sets the tone as quickly as possible for the service.
     
    Collects are made up of five parts. Not all five parts are always included in every a collect.
    It begins with the address. We name who we are talking to. Examples include:
    • Lord God,
    • Almighty God, 
    • Lord Jesus Christ,
    • Heavenly Father,
    • Holy Spirit,
    The second part is an acknowledgement of God's power, knowledge, or ability to do anything and everything. Examples might include:
    • You are the author of life.
    • You are the Good Shepherd.
    • You have given us every good and perfect gift.
    • By Your providence the world is sustained.
    The third part is the bid or the petition. It's the thing we're actually asking for. Examples might include:
    • Grant to your people the peace that passes all understanding,
    • Protect all of the sheep of Your flock, seek those who are lost, and bind up those who are injured,
    • Strengthen us to share Your good gifts with our neighbors,
    • Help us to be good stewards of Your creation, 
    The fourth part is the result we desire from the petition. Examples might include:
    • So that we may be able to serve You with pure minds.
    • So that all Your sheep from every tribe, nation, language and people will praise Your name.
    • So that they may be blessed by Your grace and generosity.
    • So that together with all creatures, we might live in peace and quietness.
    And the fifth part is a conclusion that typically names the other two persons of the Trinity not being addressed. The Father is most frequently addressed, so it usually goes:
    • through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
    And that's it. Can you guess what is coming in the readings based on these example prayers? Maybe, and maybe not. But hopefully if you were to go back and look at the prayer of the day after the readings and the sermon you would be able to see the common themes being drawn for the day.
  • Daily Devotions. Day 9, Faithful in Prayer

    Image may contain: nature and outdoor, text that says 'Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer ROMANS 12:12'

    For the past two days, we’ve been looking at Romans 12:12 which says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Being faithful in prayer is one aspect of the Christian life that has not been affected by the shelter-in-place order. Prayer can continue from your home just as easily as anywhere else. God is listening wherever you go.

    Continue to pray for those who are sick, those who are lonely, those in essential professions such as healthcare, those who are in danger of losing their jobs. Keep praying.

    Continue to pray for churches, schools, your favorite restaurants as these are all facing unprecedented times right now and it is unclear how long this will last. Keep praying.

    Continue to pray for researchers and scientists and manufacturers who are all working diligently to develop tests and equipment and medicine to battle this virus.

    Keep praying friends. The Lord delights to hear your prayers. He delights to answer them too.

    God’s blessings on your day. Keep the faith.

    Pastor Andy

  • Prayer of Thanksgiving

    The Prayer of Thanksgiving immediately precedes the Words of Institution (or Lord's Prayer, depending on which setting of the Divine Service you are using). This is a prayer that prepares the congregation for the reception of the Lord's Supper. In this prayer, the congregation prays for forgiveness, renewal, and strength.
     
    This prayer is essentially a mealtime prayer on steroids. It's a moment of being gathered together, a moment of recognizing God's mercy and grace, a moment of preparation for the gift we are about to receive.
     
    I imagine the Prayer of Thanksgiving to be like that moment on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning as you sit ready to open the first present. The air is filled with excitement and anticipation. You are more prepared than you ever been to receive this gift in front of you.
     
    Of course the Christmas gifts we receive may be glorious or disappointing. But we are never disappointed by our Lord. His gift of the Lord's Supper always delivers forgiveness, life, salvation, renewal, strength. It is a gift we can always count on and be thankful for. 
     
  • Prayer of the Church

    The prayers are a time when the congregation brings its burdens before the Lord, and often before each other. Prayers are shared for the sick and dying, the grieving, the hopeless and the helpless. These are the prayers most often requested in my experience. Prayers about an upcoming surgery, recovery from illness, the death of a loved one. 
     
    But prayers are also made in thanksgiving. People often request prayers as they celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, and other occasions. They give thanks when healing has occurred, when jobs are found, when life is good.
     
    Prayers are made for leaders in the world and the church. Prayers are offered that relate to the Scripture readings for the day.
     
    The prayers I hear the least, and the prayers I pray the least, are when life is neither good nor bad, when life is humming along at the status quo filled with stress and exhaustion, but lacking in crisis situations. People often don't request prayers to feel more rested, to have more energy, to have more satisfaction with their work, or to have a crisis situation come up so that they will appreciate the routine and status quo more.
     
    Yet, if you think about the Lord's Prayer, what is it other than a prayer for an ordinary day. Give us this day our daily bread. Give us what we need to survive another day of the status quo. 
     
    One of the biggest lies the world tells us is that we are missing out, that we deserve more and better, that we won't be satisfied until we upgrade everything. 
     
    But this is a never ending striving after the wind. It depletes our satisfaction far more than enhances it. Such tireless striving robs us of the ability to enjoy what we have, to notice and appreciate, and pray for the mundane, for daily bread.
     
    I'd love to see more mundane requests. Because, let's face it, what we consider mundane are some of the greatest blessings we have. Thank you God for my ordinary, mundane car. Thank you God for the technology to communicate with my friends around the globe. Thank you God for my health (even when I'm not taking the best care of my body). 
     
    Thank you God for roads and grocery stores and books and air conditioning and fingernail clippers and indoor plumbing and sunsets and music and stories and flowers and coffee. 
     
    You see, our prayers of thanks for and dissatisfaction with the mundane reveal the total and entire point of prayer: all things are dependent upon God. 
     
    Comedian Kathleen Madigan once joked about the USA's deficit and debt, saying that she'd be more likely to act if the deficit wasn't some astronomical number beyond her comprehension, but was something ordinary...like mashed potatoes. Ordinary things are taken for granted until they are taken away. Then, we don't know how to handle it.
     
    So let us thank God today for mashed potatoes. Let us thank God for the ordinary. Because let's face it, ordinary just means things we have gotten used to, and every ordinary thing is an absolute marvel.
     
  • The Lord's Prayer

    I have written several pieces on aspects of the Lord's Prayer (including the upcoming devotional we will go through together this Lent), but as we consider the Lord's Prayer's place in the worship service one of the things that stands out to me is how the prayer is introduced. The pastor says, 
     
    "Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:"
     
    I always find the word "kingdom" fails to get across what it should. On the surface, this sounds like, "Lord, remember us up in heaven." But as Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven, He is not talking about a place. He is talking about an activity. We don't have a useful word for it in English. It is the kinging of God. How God reigns and rules. 
     
    As we introduce the Lord's Prayer, we are saying, "Lord, in Your position as King, as You rule and reign over the world, remember us and teach us to pray:"
     
    It is worth noting that Jesus gives this prayer at the request of the disciples. They want to learn how to pray. The Lord's Prayer is what Jesus gives them. The disciples are like children with a parent. Can you remember a time when you asked your parents to teach you something? Can you think of a  time when one of your kids asked you to teach them something?
     
    I'm reminded of the scene in A Christmas Story, where Ralphie's mom suggests that he should go help his dad fix a flat tire. Ralphie's response is so earnest - "Really! Can I?" When Ralphie tells his dad, "Mom said I should help." His father's excitement is beautiful, "Oh yeah?!" The old man isn't the most patient teacher, but the prospect of teaching his son something so near and dear to his heart is evident.
     
    As we are introduced to the Lord's Prayer, we ask the Lord to remember us as He reigns as King, and to continually teach us to pray. We ask for Jesus to teach how to do something so near and dear to His heart: to pray.
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