Dear Friends in Christ,
“I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16).
Last Saturday, we celebrated the ordination of Mary Ann Harris Siefke at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Blackberry Corners. It was a joyous and sacred event. Within the service of ordination (and consecration) there is the promise of prayer. In the Address and Questions, the one being ordained / consecrated promises to pray for God’s people. “I will and I ask God to help me!”
In the Acclamation by the Assembly, the gathered people of God promise to pray for the pastor / deacon. “We will and we ask God to help us!” I am always touched by the strength and the tenor of those powerful promises of prayer. My hope is that the promise to pray continues long past the services of ordination and consecration.
When I am out visiting congregations, someone will inevitably come up to me and quietly say, “Bishop, I pray for you every morning.” That promise of prayer is the strength and the hope that sustains me in this office. St. Paul often encouraged the churches that he pastored to imitate him. And while there are some things that I would not want to imitate about Paul, his promise to pray for God’s people, is a promise and a practice that I hold dear.
Pastors, do you pray for the people God has called you to serve?
Deacons, do you pray for the people God has called you to serve?
People of God, do you pray for your pastors and deacons whom God has called to serve?
Tags: #Prayer #Thanksgiving #Life of Prayer