The Prayers of the People

I didn’t grow up in a liturgical church, and never even attended one until I worked at a Presbyterian church about ten years ago.I grew up in the kind of church that didn’t trust liturgy, ESPECIALLY written out prayers. You had to pray honest, straight from the gut prayers, each of which typically included the words LORD and JUST a few dozen times.“LORD, we JUST pray to you right now that we would all JUST come to know you, LORD, in a more real way, LORD, in a way that JUST brings us straight into your presence, LORD, and that we would be filled so completely with your presence, LORD, that we would JUST…”And if it was really flowing, the others listening would agree by whispering the words Jesus or amen or if it was really hot, Lord Jee-sus. My church right now is more like that, to be honest. It’s not very liturgical at all. I love the honest prayers of honest people. But I also love to make fun of us when we use the word JUST seventeen times per 60 seconds. Hopefully they won’t take my pastor badge away. Because those spontaneous prayers are beautiful.But in liturgical churches, like the amazing one in which my sister Lisa works, they do it differently. The prayers are written out, and they are also beautiful, JUST in a different way, LORD.And in most liturgical churches, there is a section in the liturgy called The Prayers of the People. These prayers sometimes start with written out prayers: for the poor, for our government, for forgiveness of sins, for those who are sick. And sometimes, there is space for people to speak out their spontaneous prayers aloud. These prayers are usually pretty short, and they end with the phrase, Lord in your mercy.(Person Praying): For my aunt who was diagnosed with cancer, Lord in your mercy…(Congregation): Hear our prayer.(Person Praying): For my neighbor who just had a miscarriage, Lord in your mercy…(Congregation): Hear our prayer.(Person Praying): For the couple who is going through a divorce, Lord in your mercy…(Congregation): Hear our prayer.“Lord in your mercy,” the person praying concludes, after mentioning the prayer request.“Hear our prayer,” the rest of the community responds, in unison.This Sunday -- I’ve written about it so much that everyone is certainly sick of it by now – I am running the Grand Canyon, North Rim to South Rim, because I wanted to raise awareness of the hellish nightmare in which some of our Ethiopian sisters are living. And we dreamed of raising $50,000 so that 50 women could be free. It was an unreasonable goal.For the 50 women, I kept writing, Lord in your mercy…And you, you beautiful lunatics, hundreds and hundreds of you – you kept answering: Hear our prayer.You gave, you prayed, you shared, and you hoped, and we raised that $50,000, and you didn’t stop. $50,000 turned into $57,000, and we’re not quite done yet.It has been our beautiful, thirty-day liturgy, our Prayers of the People, full of passion and redemption and lunacy.You were praying and you didn’t even know it! Or maybe you did, and I didn’t.Either way, I need to say thank you.This caper has been one of the richest experiences of my life, and I’m not even sure what I will do when Monday rolls around, when the liturgy and the run and the lunacy is all over.So, on Sunday, let’s do it one last time. People are doing crazy things on Sunday: some of you are walking, some are praying, one guy is running 50 miles (Drew, you are the chief of all the lunatics), my sons are running the hill that separates the park from our house as many times as their legs can handle it.Whatever you do on Sunday, let’s pray for those 57 women. You might even be in a liturgical church, and there might even be space for you to pray for those beautiful Ethiopian women.Lord, in your mercy...But let’s also pray for each other. Right here. On this blog.Use the comment section of this post to share your prayer requests, and end them with Lord, in your mercy…. Please, you don't have to be brief, but you can be brief. The Lord, in the Lord's great mercy, knows without our prattling on and on about it. (Though you Anne Shirley types certainly can prattle on, if you wish).Then, when someone reads one of the comments/prayers, please simply reply back to the comment with a simple, “Hear our prayer.” Don’t comment or fix or even lament. Just respond, “Hear our prayer.”And so Sunday will be a beautiful, liturgical day full of the prayers of all of the lunatics. And we can hold our prayers for one another, trusting that the Rascal Who Rescues hears each one of them.Because, you know, the word liturgy actually means “the work of the people.”When I run on Sunday, I will run knowing that this caper has truly been the work of the people.In it together, friends.To read all of my Rim to Rim posts, click here.To donate so that more Ethiopian women can be set free, click here.