Monday, July 27, 2009
Call me 'Stunt Pastor'
:-) I had the honor of being worship leader at church yesterday during our Distinguished Pulpit Series, which meant, with the pastor absent, that I basically did everything during the service except preach and lead the choir.
Very cool.
My own Pastoral Prayer (but thanks to the one who lent me a little language on Iran! And for helping me get the idea that "Life is Prayer."):
Lord God, I was asked to fill in with a Pastoral Prayer. And I thought: I'm no pastor. But then I thought: Yes, I am, in a way. We all are – in a way. We all are – on The Way.
If we love another. If we encourage one another. If we challenge one another. If we accept one another. If we sometimes dare lead one another.
If we feed one another, and others. If we clothe one another, and others. If we give cups of cold water in Jesus's name, to one another, and others.
If we share our lives with one another, and others, and if we realize that Life is Prayer.
Lord God, the lives of the people of Iran are crying out for liberty. May Your will bend toward the voices of the Iranian people and establish the freedom and full justice they have long been working for.
O God, Life is Prayer. Then, Lord God, accept this mere prayer of words, and remind us to pastor one another and to love others – every single other -- with words and with deeds. Amen.
Benediction, from the hymnal, but I edited it slightly (of course):
May we love God so much that we love nothing else too much!
May we be awed by God enough that we need fear nothing else at all!
Amen, y'all, and Amen.
--ER
Very cool.
My own Pastoral Prayer (but thanks to the one who lent me a little language on Iran! And for helping me get the idea that "Life is Prayer."):
Lord God, I was asked to fill in with a Pastoral Prayer. And I thought: I'm no pastor. But then I thought: Yes, I am, in a way. We all are – in a way. We all are – on The Way.
If we love another. If we encourage one another. If we challenge one another. If we accept one another. If we sometimes dare lead one another.
If we feed one another, and others. If we clothe one another, and others. If we give cups of cold water in Jesus's name, to one another, and others.
If we share our lives with one another, and others, and if we realize that Life is Prayer.
Lord God, the lives of the people of Iran are crying out for liberty. May Your will bend toward the voices of the Iranian people and establish the freedom and full justice they have long been working for.
O God, Life is Prayer. Then, Lord God, accept this mere prayer of words, and remind us to pastor one another and to love others – every single other -- with words and with deeds. Amen.
Benediction, from the hymnal, but I edited it slightly (of course):
May we love God so much that we love nothing else too much!
May we be awed by God enough that we need fear nothing else at all!
Amen, y'all, and Amen.
--ER
