Prayers of the People - Worship and Spiritual Formation Sunday, September 26, 2010

This is the meditation on prayer I gave today as our church begins exploring spiritual disciplin and formation through corporate worship.

"We have a rich tradition of prayer here at Pope UMC as seen in the Pastoral Prayer element of the service. Every week we take a moment to make our requests known to God (Phil 6:4). We are going to shift things a bit today. Your prayers are important but they aren't my prayers and they aren't Pastor Robert's prayers. We do pray together these requests as a community but these prayers are yours. Just because someone is a pastor doesn't mean God listens to them more.

We see that prayer is very important even in Jesus' ministry. Jesus initiated his ministry by going into the desert for 40 days to pray and to fast. Near the end of his ministry in the garden of Gethsemane Jesus came before the Father in prayer saying "If you can Lord, take this cup. But when it comes down to it let your will be done and not mine." Christ knew that prayer is how we align our heats with the will of God "... your will be done."

Prayer brings us to the heart of God and it also gives us a venue to listen and hear his plan for us. Prayer is not just about making requests but God's requests are also made known to us. It warms our heart to Him. Not only that but prayer is just talking to God.

So we are going to start the next few moments with silence to focus our hearts and minds on God. To clear out the busyness and really listen for His voice. After our time of silence we are going to go through the Prayers of the People as listed in the hymnal on page 877. I will start by praying "Lord, in your mercy hear our prayer. Together we pray for... the people of this congregation..." Either out loud or in your heart take a moment to pray a sentence prayer for those people. After a few moments we will move onto "...those who suffer and those in trouble..." You can see how this flows in the hymnal. After our prayers for the church universal I will close our time of prayer. Again you can choose to pray silently or openly. But I encourage you to pray a loud so that we may agree and pray with you.

Now don't think of this as a strange or odd thing. Think of this as an exercise. Like walking for heath or practice for proficiency at your job or something like that. I want to challenge with with a spiritual workout. This is also something tangible and practical you can integrate into your everyday lives as we desire to be apart of God's plan for his world and our own lives. So, let us pray together. "

A Small Prayer Monday, July 06, 2009

Lord,

Open my eyes, that I may hear
Open my ears, that I may see
Open my heart, that I may know
Open my mind, that I may love

Amen

The Taize Community Wednesday, July 01, 2009

The Taize Community, based out of France, has been growing since the late '40s. Their impact has been growing worldwide with people from all denominations, Catholic, Protestant, joining them in worship. The interesting thing is that the backbone of the community live a sort of monastic lifestyle with the purpose of living to be a sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples. The other aspect is that while there is this main group of Brothers, anyone can join in with them in worship and prayer. Here is an example of a daily time of worship:

Check them out at www.taize.fr


Time of the Church 11

Song

Psalm

When the Lord delivered us from bondage,
it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter,
on our lips there were songs.

The heathens themselves said: “What marvels
the Lord worked for them!”
What marvels the Lord worked for us!
Indeed we were glad.

Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage
as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,
carrying seed for the sowing;
they come back, they come back, full of song,
carrying their sheaves.

Psalm 126

Reading

Paul wrote: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part. (…) And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

l Corinthians 13,1-9.13

or

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

John 1,1-5

Song

Silence

Intercessions

For those who are far from home, immigrants, exiles, victims of oppression, Lord, we pray.

For those who are going through trials, who need help and compassion, Lord, we pray.

For all of us gathered here, that we may remain attentive to those entrusted to us, Lord, we pray.

That we may be delivered from all anxiety, Lord, we pray.

That we may learn to share more fairly the resources of our planet among all, Lord, we pray.

That a sense of wonder at the beauty of creation may remain alive in us, Lord, we pray.

That we may find light and courage in the mystery of communion that is the Church, Lord, we pray.

Our Father

Prayer

Jesus our peace, you never abandon us. And the Holy Spirit always opens a way forward, the way which consists in casting ourselves into God as into the depths. And astonishment arises: these depths are not an abyss of darkness; they are God—fathomless depths of compassion and innocence.

or

Bless us, Lord Christ; you give peace to our hearts when the unthinkable happens, the suffering of the innocent.

Songs

Song of Confession Monday, June 29, 2009

B and I were talking a bit the other day on how there seems to be a lack of confession based songs in worship music. Not just in pop-worship, but in Hymnody as well. Here is a lyrical attempt to put our thoughts on this into action:

Merciful Father
We seek forgiveness
Confessing the sins of our hearts
Our thoughts words and deeds
the things left undone
Savior we fall to our knees

We've not loved you wholly
We've not loved our neighbor
We truly and humbly repent
Have mercy forgive us
That we may delight in
the glory of your name

Your love everlasting
You hold up the weary
Do not neglect those in need
Show now your glory
Lift up the lowly
Rain down your mercy today

Your Justice, move onward
Your Peace, fill our souls
Your Grace, fall on the earth
For we have forsaken
the lost and the weary
Forgive us bring us to our throne.

*Ideas from this were taken from the Confession at missionstclare.com's Daily Office.