We have a prayer service on the first Sunday evening of most months.  I say “most” rather than “every” because there is flexibility when vacations, special events or calendar vagaries come along.   But once a month, a Sunday evening is dedicated to prayer.

Whereas the Tuesday morning prayer Meeting is devoted exclusively to prayer, the Sunday evening time is a worship service where prayer is the main focus.  We sing, usually hymns.  A short sermon is presented, often from a scriptural emphasis on prayer.  For example, during the year when Sunday evening sermons were based on the Heidelberg Catechism Lord’s Days, it was natural for the November and December prayer service sermons cover parts of the Lord’s Prayer.

The format and sequence for the prayer time varies.  Some is done in small self-organized groups; this is a little less comfortable in the pews of our new sanctuary than it was when we could move chairs around.  Sometimes individuals will say a written-out prayer.  Sometimes, prayer requests are taken from those assembled; one person volunteers to pray for each request raised.

Each service will have a theme or main topic. As examples, we have prayed for Youth and Sunday School, specific individuals facing an illness or other crisis, for our denomination, church finances, the MSU campus, the ministries of the church.  The leader will explain specific areas for prayer; often specifics are displayed by the projector to remind everyone.

One thing we might add would be keeping  track of the prayer requests.  We do see answers to prayer and are certain that the Lord is with us (Matthew 18.20).

We have an ongoing adult Sunday School class during the second morning service whose topic every week is a discussion of the sermon just delivered.  It works well for newcomers and guests, with some sort of introductory ice-breaker and a leader prepared to guide the discussion.

One of our elders, Evan, applied the same concept to our Tuesday morning prayer meeting – let’s pray about what we heard in the sermon.  It might not work with all sermon topics, but this one was very apropos – “Righteous Requests Without the ‘Right’ Response”, from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7.7-11.

The structure was very straightforward – a short sermon outline to remind folks of the message, and then suggested prayer topics.  The list included several members of the congregation who have had serious battles with illness, aging parents, or other difficulties.

One of the sections of this blog is Group Prayer.  There are many kinds of Groups that could be praying.  Here are some example groups, and links to previous posts that describe the scenario or have specific examples.  Note that there are not yet posts for all options!

Prayer Meeting – A meeting where the sole activity is praying (Tuesday Morning Prayer)

Prayer Service – A service of worship, normally longer than a Prayer Meeting, which includes singing and perhaps a short sermon, but has an emphasis on prayer. (Prayer Service)

Pastoral Congregational Prayer – One person praying through congregational concerns during a worship service. (Pastoral Prayer)

Missional Congregational Prayer – One person praying for parties outside the congregation during a worship service (Directions for Praying in the Service)

Prayer Teams – Two or three people available to pray for others (Worship Service Prayer Teams)

Youth Group – Middle School and High School student groups (URC-Style Prayer)

Children’s Sunday School Classes – obvious, but no examples!

Committee Meetings – there is an agenda, and it includes a prayer time at the beginning (Time and Season)

Small Groups – Regular cluster of people who get together for study and prayer (How Have You Seen God at Work)

Grace at Dinner – (Who Says Grace At Your Table?)

Family Prayer Time –

Prayer with Spouse –

Prayer Walks – observe and pray (School Prayer Walk)

Day of Prayer – Organize an ad hoc time for many to gather (Day of Prayer)

This post is partly about what we prayed the other night, but the more unique part is the method we used – praying during our meeting being held via phone conference call.

The meeting itself was for a subcommittee’s quick review of next year’s budget.  We had already done the first appraisal and just needed to check a few updates before next week’s larger group discussion.  It seemed wise to use a little technology to save the time required for everyone to drive to the central meeting spot.

The budget is divided into some eleven sections – Campus Ministry, Missionaries, Staff, Office and Administration, Youth Ministries, etc. Each section has an appropriate number of line items.  We regularly pray that the Lord will bring along the funds needed for the people and ministries represented by the many numbers in the budget, that we would have the faith to allocate money needed to do His work well, and we would have the wisdom to be good stewards of what He has provided.

This night we took turns praying by section.  Each person lifted up the general purpose for the area and then offered specific requests for the staff and volunteers who support the ministries and the work of the Lord in the hearts of those who participate or are served.

We discovered a couple of things about the phone conference milieu.  First, you may have muted your phone while others prayed, but make sure you unmute when it is your turn!  Second, the printed instruction when we are in the same room to “take turns around the room” needs further clarification.  The alphabet is a helpful  tool – the leader assigns the first round based on names, and participants can take notes to remember their place in the rotation.

The prayers were just as rich as at a face-to-face meeting, although it was a little disconcerting when two of the meeting members have similar phone voices – not quite sure who was talking.  One option we will consider for the future is a video conference, where each person uses the camera on their computer and we could see the faces.

The title might suggest this is about the switchover a couple of weeks ago from Daylight Savings back to Standard time…. You know, Spring Forward, Fall Back.

Alas, no, this is just the suggestion to keep some good solid questions in your back pocket so that, if called upon to lead a prayer time with very little notice, you have a chance.

It is very simple to just say, “Let’s pray.” Then lead out.

Or you can ask everyone to share a request, and then pray for all the requests.

Or you can go around the circle, with each person sharing a request and the next person praying for the prior request and making one of their own.

Of you can ask a starter question so that people get their vocal chords warmed up prior to prayer:

• Tell a little about a passage of scripture you read recently
• How have you discovered God working in your life recently?
• What attribute of God is most real (or intriguing, or awesome, or precious) to you right now?
• Which is your favorite book of the Bible right now and why?

Our task force at church has been meeting and working for over a year, and we hope we are nearing the end of our labor. It seemed appropriate to use Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 for our devotions:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The simple question we started with was “what time or season are we in as a task force, as a Consistory, as a church?” The answers included building a good foundation (gather stones and build); winning approval by knowing when to speak or keep silence; good time to heal relationships.  The applications here will not be clear without the task force context, but it is good to note that multiple verses were applicable and helped us consider our desired outcomes before praying.

Our five-person family bible study has had a traditional pray-at-the-end-of-the-study pattern where each person shares requests and then another participant prays those supplications.  Sometimes we all share then take turns praying; sometimes prayer is offered after each request.

At a recent meeting we switched the order a bit, inspired by Tim’s suggestion at a recent Leadership class at church.  The first person prayed their requests – no sharing with the others, just lifting them up to the LORD.  The next person prayed their requests plus whatever the first person prayed.  The other three followed suit – pray for yourself and the person before you.  And the first person prayed for the last, then closed.

This was a nice, straightforward option for covering the requests in a new way. And everyone prayed for the pregnant lady, so evidently there was no rule against praying for more than yourself and your predecessor!

We have looked at the same psalm (118) and had essentially the same list of potential prayer topics for the last two weeks’ Tuesday morning prayer services.  But we had different instructions each time.

Last week, we took turns reading verses from the psalm. This serves to focus attention on the passage and get everyone’s vocal cords warmed up a bit.  We had a starter list of prayer chain requests and known upcoming events. Then we prayed as led using the whole psalm as a source of ideas – Thanksgiving; God’s goodness and love; the LORD as refuge, helper, savior; verses quoted by New Testament authors; and remembering that the LORD answers prayers.

This week, we took turns not just reading the verse but praying the scripture, and applying the thanksgiving, refuge, salvation, and other ideas to the list of topics and others.  The purpose was to have each person focus and apply a smaller section of the Word.  It was a joy to hear how others were prompted to give thanks, offer praise, and intercede based on the words of the psalm.

One comment for potential leaders:  If you want to get all the way through the 29 verses of Psalm 118 in half an hour, you should mention your goal at the beginning and caution everyone to be brief.  Also know that you don’t have to finish; some longer prayers cannot be rushed.

We used this exercise at two evening meetings last week.  The instructions are quick and clear, the fruit is plentiful and easy to find.

The Instructions:

Recall a main theme of Hebrews – Jesus is supreme.  He is better than angels, any other high priest, Moses or Melchizedek. Let’s spend time tonight praising God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for BEING a better…

Take a few moments to jot down verses that tell us that Jesus is a better teacher, leader, king, lover of my soul, intercessor, etc.  For example, when Jesus taught, the people marveled that he taught with authority (Mark 1.27).  We know Jesus is a better bridegroom; he is the example all husbands are compared to (Ephesians 5.25).

Then we will use our verses to praise Jesus.

The Praise Part:

We took turns quickly citing one of our verses and went around the group two or three times.  At that point, the praise was overflowing and the prayer was lively.  Some of the shared findings:

– Better healer (Matthew 15)

– Better warrior and armies (2 Kings 18 and 19)

– The ONLY way, truth, and life (John 14)

– Better than Dagon (I Samuel 5.4)

– Better than earthly fathers (Luke 11)

– A better Adam (Romans 5)

– Better than all other gods (Isaiah 45)

– The ONLY one who can forgive sins (Mark 2)

– Better King and Lord (Revelation 19)

Pastor Kevin opened a rich time of prayer with the elders the other night by identifying a theme (this one was shepherding) and assigning each person to find their favorite verse dealing with that theme (e.g. Psalm 23, John 10, 1 Peter 5).  Then we prayed, using the words of the passage as a starting point.

This requires some knowledge of the Bible, or at least a good concordance for identifying a passage to use.

The theme can vary – Money for a budget meeting; Service for a Diaconate meeting; Rest or Sabbath for any tired group; the Cross, the Gospel, Trust, and Obedience are good all-purpose themes.

The instructions are simple – everyone quickly find a relevant passage and read it through.  Then start praying.  It is okay to have more than one person choose a given passage; the key words in the verse and the prayer will still vary for each person.

The time spent can be short (5-10 minutes) but can also expand if needed.