The Power of Prayer

09.10.09 / Uncategorized / Author: admin
Tags: Anger, Anthem, Burdens, Church Choir, Churches, Controversial Issues, Conversations, Genuine Heart, Hatred, Love God, Lyrics, Meaningful Dialogue, Mistrust, People, Pepper Choplin, Phrase, Political Discourse, Power Of Prayer, Righteous Lord, Spirit

This Sunday, our church choir, of which I am a member, will sing a Pepper Choplin anthem entitled “Pray for the People.” It is a beautiful and deeply moving work, and you can listen to it here.

The lyrics include the phrase “Pray for the person on your left, pray for the person on your right…they may seem strong, but we don’t know all of the struggles and the burdens they hold.” Clearly, those words are intended to refer literally to the people on your left and right, but I’ve been thinking about how important it is to pray for those to the left and right of us theologically and politically, too.

I don’t mean the self-righteous “Lord, help them see the error of their ways” sort of prayer; I mean genuine, heart-felt prayer for their well-being and ability to cope with whatever is going on in their lives right now. I wonder what changes would occur, both within each of us and in our churches, our communities, our nation, and our world, if we began to pray that way consistently.

Both political discourse in the U.S. and conversations within churches about controversial issues too often become shouting matches in which both sides demonize the other and there is no effort to understand other points of view or engage in meaningful dialogue. Instead, we denounce each other as unpatriotic and/or unChristian, unfairly label and judge those who see things differently than we do, and perpetuate a spirit of mistrust, anger, and even hatred instead of the love God calls us to show to all people.

Let’s make an effort to pray for those on our left and our right, and then share how God works in and through us to bring healing to our church and our world.