Monday
Aug242009
prayer is for the faint of heart
Monday, August 24, 2009 at 11:07AM
my husband and i are not a husband and wife ministry team.
we are 2 individual people with different talents who sometimes like to serve together, just so happen to be married, and occasionally accidentally wear matching outfits.
ok, now that we've cleared that up... yesterday my husband and i served together as the liturgists during our contemporary worship service at church.
during the worship service, we led the congregation through the prayer of confession, and the prayers of the people, and the lord's prayer, while still remembering to collect the tithe.
but ironically enough, or coincidentally (i can never remember the difference between those two words), or maybe we'll just say it was a divine act - the topic of the sermon was "easy answers that should be questioned.. god hears our prayers." and our pastor gave this fantastic sermon on how complex and complicated prayer is, and it was such a lovely sermon, so honest and real, and one of my recent favorites.
but the ironic (or divine) part was that my job as liturgist was to lead the people in a time of prayer immediately following her sermon. how was i supposed to simply take prayer requests after that sermon, and how was i supposed to lead when i've been personally experiencing a rough time of prayer?
so i tried a new approach (a new approach for me anyway) - i was honest and a little vulnerable.
i shared with the community about how i've been praying the same prayer for a long time, and most days it feels like god is not answering and really not even listening, and that prayer for me lately feels exhausting, and complicated, and defeating.
but i asked the congregation to consider believing, if even just for that day, that god was amongst us, listening to us and offering answers to our prayers. i asked the group to offer bold and risky prayers in a testament that we believed god would answer.
and they did - they offered beautiful prayers, one prayer specifically took my breathe away making it difficult for me to go on, and after all of the prayers were requested, my husband prayed aloud and something changed inside of me.
i'm thinking that maybe it's less about god answering my specific prayers and more about my perspective in the way he answers those prayers. we've prayed for a baby in our life, and while we don't have our own just yet, god gave us a beautiful niece who we love with our whole heart. an answer to our prayer.. a baby in our life.
today i have a new perspective and a new hope in prayer.
we are 2 individual people with different talents who sometimes like to serve together, just so happen to be married, and occasionally accidentally wear matching outfits.
ok, now that we've cleared that up... yesterday my husband and i served together as the liturgists during our contemporary worship service at church.
during the worship service, we led the congregation through the prayer of confession, and the prayers of the people, and the lord's prayer, while still remembering to collect the tithe.
but ironically enough, or coincidentally (i can never remember the difference between those two words), or maybe we'll just say it was a divine act - the topic of the sermon was "easy answers that should be questioned.. god hears our prayers." and our pastor gave this fantastic sermon on how complex and complicated prayer is, and it was such a lovely sermon, so honest and real, and one of my recent favorites.
but the ironic (or divine) part was that my job as liturgist was to lead the people in a time of prayer immediately following her sermon. how was i supposed to simply take prayer requests after that sermon, and how was i supposed to lead when i've been personally experiencing a rough time of prayer?
so i tried a new approach (a new approach for me anyway) - i was honest and a little vulnerable.
i shared with the community about how i've been praying the same prayer for a long time, and most days it feels like god is not answering and really not even listening, and that prayer for me lately feels exhausting, and complicated, and defeating.
but i asked the congregation to consider believing, if even just for that day, that god was amongst us, listening to us and offering answers to our prayers. i asked the group to offer bold and risky prayers in a testament that we believed god would answer.
and they did - they offered beautiful prayers, one prayer specifically took my breathe away making it difficult for me to go on, and after all of the prayers were requested, my husband prayed aloud and something changed inside of me.
i'm thinking that maybe it's less about god answering my specific prayers and more about my perspective in the way he answers those prayers. we've prayed for a baby in our life, and while we don't have our own just yet, god gave us a beautiful niece who we love with our whole heart. an answer to our prayer.. a baby in our life.
today i have a new perspective and a new hope in prayer.
in Faith, Leadership
Faith, Leadership
Reader Comments (1)
Amy...this is beautiful and very inspiring to me today. Thanks for sharing your heart