Tag: intercession

Sending our petitions to God

Praying together in church.
Image from Horizon Community Church horizoncc.org
Original source unknown

I’m combining two days’ choices of songs from Sing Praise in one post, because both are very short, both are by the same composer (John Bell) and both are intended as ‘intercession responses’ to be used between each section of prayers in public or group worship.

The words are short enough to be reproduced in full: the first, which I chose for Sunday 12th December, is ‘Lord, hear our cry / Listen to our prayer’.  It could be used with everyone singing those words, but the suggestion is that the cantor (worship leader, or whoever is reading the prayers) sings the first part, with everyone else responding ‘Listen to our prayer’.  Or it could be used in open prayer, where anyone who has been praying from the heart (the best form of prayer!) using ‘Lord hear our cry’ as a signal for others to respond.

The second one, which I chose for the 13th but which our own church music leader happened to pick for Sunday worship today, is ‘Through our lives and by our prayer, your kingdom come’.  This one is in four part harmony so is more suited to being used by a rehearsed music group, although it could of course be sung in unison or by a single voice. Our vicar introduced the response to each section of the intercessions by saying ‘until your kingdom comes…’. 

The reason such chants exist (and we will be using others for each of the next few days) is that prayer in church should be that of the whole people. Where some traditions including many Church of England congregations have a small rota of people speaking the prayers, a said or sung response to each prayer means that everyone can add their voice.  It’s not surprising that the term ‘petition’ is sometimes used for these prayers that ask God to do something about a problem, as it is for when a large number of people sign a document asking a worldly authority to do the same.  The difference is that God has promised always to take notice of our petitions, although his action in response, with his infinite knowledge of past, present and future, might not always be what we ask or expect.

The Bible in a Year – 9 July

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this, and the introduction to the Psalms for this book of the Bible in particular.

9 July. Psalms 70-72

Psalm 71 contains several references to older people –  a demographic group rarely seen as an importance for Christian ministry, despite many congregations consisting mainly of those over 50, or even over 70.  Many churches employ a “youth worker” or “childrens ministry leader”, and may well have someone with a particular focus on young families.  But how may have a “seniors worker” or “grandparent ministry leader”?  The psalm reminds us of how people can feel unwanted: “Do not cast me off in the time of old age; do not forsake me when my strength is spent” (9); and also of the valuable gifts that older people have to offer: “O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to all the generations to come” (17-18).

 

Psalm 72, the last of those attributed to King David, is a prayer for a head of state – originally Solomon, but these verses can be a model for prayers for your own national leader (except perhaps the one about their enemies licking the dust!).  So we are invited to pray that our nation will be prosperous and peaceful; but also that its leaders will show justice and fairness for the poor, deal with oppression and violence in the land, and that “people may blossom in the cities” (NRSV, v.16 – other translations differ).