Dear Friends,
If you heard my sermon last week, you’ll know that it was all about prayer. I spoke about how that most familiar of all prayers—The Lord’s Prayer—provides immense comfort when we are troubled, and how, as we pray for our daily bread, our forgiveness, and our deliverance, it is a community prayer for all. I also spoke about how Abraham’s negotiation with God on behalf of the people of Sodom is a form of intercessory prayer, as Abraham asks God to spare the city for the sake of just ten righteous people.
Prayer is part of our common life together here at St. Bart’s. Every Sunday, during the Prayers of the People, we offer prayers for each other, for ourselves, and for the world. The Prayers of the People are a form of intercessory prayer—what former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has described simply as “thinking of something or someone in the presence of God.”
This week, we are introducing a new online system for submitting prayer requests at stbarts.org/prayers. You can type that link into your browser, or you can find the Prayers link under the Worship tab on the St. Bart’s homepage. We will be using the month of August as a trial period for this new system. Prayer requests submitted through this page will be read aloud during the Prayers of the People at the Sunday 11am service. Since the prayer list grows over time, first names will be read aloud for two weeks. If you would like your prayer request to continue beyond two weeks, you can request that the name be printed in the Sunday service leaflet. Due to privacy concerns, only the first name of the person will be printed. Names printed in the service leaflet will be included in our corporate prayer for an additional month, but will not be read aloud. As always, please also feel free to contact any of the clergy directly with your prayer requests.
Bringing our cares, our concerns, and our thanksgivings before God helps us to connect with God and with each other. And in those times when God seems very far away, when we, for whatever reason, are unable to pray ourselves, let us take comfort in knowing that the prayers of the whole St. Bart’s community continue for us.
