As I sit here writing, I am burdened by the fact that I am no expert in prayer. Last week, I "penned" an entry that asked the question, "Are you praying?" (see below), and in that offered some basic information that Christians should know, so as to give them, in the least, some sort of biblical idea and model of how to go about praying. But I'm no expert in prayer. Yes, I pray every day. With my wife, with my kids, and by myself. Somedays I do get to pray with collegues in ministry, fellow youth pastors, or with students. But I struggle with prayer. It doesn't come easy to me like it does for some. Call it spiritual ADD, call it being too busy, I don't know. I have a hard time sitting still, concentrating, focusing on the LORD, and even worse, I struggle to sit in the silence, waiting, listening. Yet I still pray. I'll use a variety of prayers. I'll pray free-style, I'll delve into a prayer written by an ancient brother or sister in the faith, or I'll read a prayer from a prayer book (I still love the collects contained in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer - 1979 edition).
But I wanted to share with you some real prayers from students and youth ministers gathered this past Sunday morning at the kick off of our weekly Sunday morning offering, preworship. These prayers may seem unpolished at best, they may seem even a bit artificial in places, but they are first and foremost prayers from the hearts of each of these people. I seek to pray over and through these collected prayers throughout the week, so that our students and youth ministers know that what they've put down on paper is being taken seriously; that these prayers are treated with holy respect. Join me in lifting them up...
"That this year go well and lots of people do show up, have fun, grow in their faith."
"for this to be a great year for everyone to grow closer to God."
"For Foot - that she can play [field hockey] this week."
"the physical healing of Gilbert Ramerez, he is a minister in LA and Mexico."
"For students who have been away from YG and church to come back into the fold."
"My friend Cara's town was destroyed in hurricane Katrina and no one has heard from her. Pray for her and her family's safety."
"My mom's best friend needs a liver transplant."
These are the real prayers of real people. A few students and I started a prayer wall last Good Friday as part of a Spiritual Formation overnight. We even had two middle school students participate! It was quite wild. They were given permission to just listen to God, through music, taste, and recitation, and then given opportunities to respond. Out of that has come a sense among many students that they want to share with God, and with other students and adults, their heart, their needs, their fears. Let's all pray, for them, for us, that the LORD is His mercy will hear our prayers.
