Preparing to Pray

No pictures today. I'm just getting ready to preach the Dec.24 sermon at Grandview. As I type this post I'm sitting at Panera enjoying my cup of coffee and my preparation time. I'm also discovering how much I miss the weekly routine of preparing the pastoral prayer--that's right, the pastoral prayer (it surprises me too).

Pastoral prayers have gone out of fashion--especially long ones like mine. I still like them, though. I like how counter-cultural they are (even counter-church-culture). I know that some people drift away. That's okay. At least they don't have to worry that I'll see them drifting.

I like that every week it reminds me that Jesus calls us to pray for our enemies. When your Aunt Lu is your biggest enemy (I don't have an Aunt Lu) it isn't too hard. When an army of terrorists is your enemy, Christ's call gets much trickier. When your enemy is a culture that calls you to be superficial and spendy, praying for your enemy becomes even trickier by its subtlety.

I like the pastoral prayer because I use it to sum up my sermon. If I can't work my sermon into the pastoral prayer I start to worry that it's too shallow. If I can't pray it to God, how can I preach it to people?

I like the pastoral prayer because I get away with big chunks of silence. I know of absolutely know other time when people gather together with regularity and practice anything like silence. When I first started trying silence in the pastoral prayer I lasted about four or five seconds, and then I lost my nerve. Then Fred Norris and Susan Higgins said things like, "I'm just getting started with the silence and then you start talking again." They were right. Once the high school boys told me I needed to shoot for two minutes. I did it. Two minutes is a long, long, time when you are standing in front of people leading a prayer.

So, in about an hour and a half I will be leading a pastoral prayer for the first time in six months. I'm glad I miss it.

Merry Christmas!