Civic Discipleship | Action is Prayer
My ankle is not broken--sort of. I have a large bone spur and that is what broke, leaving three small pieces there to increase inflammation. So I'm learning how to walk on crutches!
Water aerobics are fine, but all the rest of my exercise program is out.
-Liz
Prayers of the People
Open Door United Methodist Church in Richmond, California, is a praying congregation. Prayer there is the typical thing--close your eyes, fold your hands--it is also the actions you take in the world. Praying with your voice, your hands, your feet. And their prayer life has a commitment to expressing joy as well.
They do an open "Joys and Concerns" during worship: people can name what and who they are worried about, what is hard in the world and their in own lives. They also name the ways that things have gone well. Their "Prayers of the People" involve all the congregation.
I remember when Byron Rushing, an Episcopal layperson in Boston, told me that his congregation spends as much time on the prayers of the people as they do on the sermon. I'll admit I was somewhat shocked. I was learning how to be a pastor, and for me part of that learning was how to keep worship to exactly one hour. I'd heard lots of ideas for shutting down Joys and Concerns that go on too long. He was saying loudly and clearly that the this sharing was at least as important as the sermon. I also hear the small rebuke--the words of the congregation are as important as the words of the worship leader.
It was years later that I experienced this importance first hand (probably because I rarely let the Joys and Concerns get "out of hand".)
Worcester Fellowship is street church reaching homeless and at risk adults. We meet outside year round for worship and lunch. And one Sunday, when it was 40º and raining, I was doing everything I knew to do to rush the worship and get on with lunch. One verse of each song, read just one of the scriptures, give just two lines of the sermon. And then we came to the prayers of the people.
All the people with housing were eager to be done and to go home. But the people without homes had something else in mind. They were there to pray.
And so we heard about a struggle to not use drugs today, and an upcoming operation, and a visit to a daughter who is in foster care. We heard about a miraculous discovery of twenty dollars in an old coat, and thankfulness for another day without a drink. We prayed for someone to get a better car, and someone else to find a better job. The prayers went on and on and on.
Because praying out loud, with others, and with God in your hearts changes everything.
The words I'll pray for you mean that I care for you, I hope you get better, I understand what you are going through, and I am willing to sit with you as your life goes awry.
At Open Door UMC, prayer often becomes action, as we support each other through listening, sharing, and showing up in love. They started prayer partners, where individuals selected, or were assigned, partners they met with once a week to talk about their spiritual journey, and to pray for each other every day. The program is flexible--you can quit after a time, or keep going; you can talk about whatever is important to the pair.
After the election in 2024, some who had been prayer partners expanded the idea by creating "Pinky Swear Pals" that have committed to providing the congregation with positive information. It can be new, actions, information, or opportunities, and they are all fun, uplifting, or joyful. They are working to us their prayers and their actions to hold their congregation in the space of hope. And it has attracted more and more people, both from within the congregation and from the wider community.
Prayer changes us.
To be sure, I am quite a skeptic around intercessory prayer. I do not believe that what we say, or don't say, in a time of prayer affects whether God is sending healing or housing or hope to those in need. For me the implication that we can pray someone better comes with the horrible theology that God might ignore those that do have someone to pray for them. I am confident that God is not picking and choosing who to heal.
But there is something powerful about naming to God and to your neighbor the story of what is hard in your life right now. You can feel hearts turn toward the person in need as they share their story. You can see people check-in after the prayer. You can also see the relief in the speaker's body when they let their story out into the community.
Prayer is resistance.
How is your prayer life? Your church's prayer life? How are you connecting prayer and resistance? Reply to this email to let me know what's happening.
Someone has to do the things that need to be done. This song by Brother Sun is one of my favorites.
Sign the Sojourner's Magazine commitment to civic discipleship. They summarize how our faith connects to our resistance. Exhibit faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Resist us-versus-them thinking. Confront violence with nonviolence. Seek truth. Exercise prudence. Embrace a long-term view. Be engaged but never used. Be political but not partisan. Be principled but not ideological. Be firm but civil.
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