Public Access Prayers
October 1, 2001
One Sunday after worship, a first-time guest said to me, "I appreciated the pastoral prayer." I forget my response. I was stunned to learn that someone cared about that part of the service. Someone besides God. Since then I've learned how important the pastoral prayer is. A few years ago, Leadership printed a cartoon with a pastor greeting people after the church service. He spies the man next in line to shake his hand. The cartoonist takes us into the pastor's thoughts: "Oh, no! There's Bob. I told him last week I'd be praying for him and I forgot! Dear Lord, bless Bob. Amen." Then the pastor says, "Hi, Bob! How are you? Been prayin' for you!" As I look across the faces in the congregation, I wonder how many Bobs are out there. How many people long to be prayed for, but don't know the comfort of hearing another believer speak their need to the Lord? I want our people to know they are prayed for. And I want them to experience the peace of resting under the prayers of a pastor who takes seriously the charge to carry them before God's throne. One of the best ways is through the pastoral prayer on Sunday morning. I mean it . …
I discovered early in my ministry that my "spontaneous" pastoral prayer began sounding repetitious. Even the offertory prayer grew redundant: "Bless these gifts and use them to your glory." If the congregation was to know the depths of my heart in praying for them, then I needed to replace the routine of ad lib prayers with a fresher approach. So I sought out resources. The prayers in Scripture offer a rich source of proven ways to approach God. Psalm 66:20 grabbed my attention during devotions, and I traced the phrase "Blessed be God" through the other psalms. The next Sunday I began the first six statements ...
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