ON PRAYING FOR ALL THE SAINTS

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

(Ephesians 6:18)

            World Communion Sunday has always held a special place in my heart, if for no other reason than the fact that wherever the sun rises today around the world, Christians in a wide variety of churches and settings and locations will gather around the table of Jesus Christ. I can remember sitting with the senior high youth group from First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, in a bamboo shack in Haiti, on cement blocks, with other youth and adults from the hospital in Leogone, around a table, on which were bread and wine, and passing the elements to each other, saying, “The Peace of Christ be with you.” Suddenly for me and for those very white and very black youth, everything fell into place. And I can remember, following a Hope College summer semester in Vienna, Austria, having traveled on to Paris, sitting in Notre Dame Cathedral on a Sunday morning, going forward to the altar railing with the organ playing a work by Olivier Messiaen, and in that sacred spacious space receiving from the priest the wafer and the cup, when for me at the moment all the fights about transubstantiation meant nothing in comparison to the priest saying “This is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” A grass shack or a gorgeous cathedral, here at the table, despite all the differences that comprise the human community, here is a love that binds, a faith that makes us brothers and sisters, and a yearning to pray for those we would otherwise never even meet.

            Speaking of praying, toward the end of his Ephesian letter Paul throws out an exhortation that seems lamentably flat on first hearing. Pray at all times in the spirit… and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.  What he really means is, “Pray for the whole church.” Did you ever find yourself in a service of worship where somebody started to pray for the whole church? It’s so boring. The only thing worse is hearing someone who stands up to pray for the whole world! I have never thought that there was much to be said for generalized prayers. But if someone gets up to particularize two or three things that are a gift from God, that is genuine.

            But I don’t think Paul was prodding us here in the direction of vacuous prayer. The church in Ephesus was young. It was troubled. When Paul said, “pray for the whole church,” he meant that before God they were to remember other sections of the church, enter into their history, thank God for their strengths and celebrations, and pray for them in their weaknesses.

            What better day than World Communion Sunday on which to pray for the whole church? I want you, for a moment, in a meditative way to do this now with me.

            Many of us came to WPC from other churches. Pray for the whole church as it includes the church of your childhood years; the church back there where you were married; the church from which your mother was buried; the church near your college campus; the church in the mountains or by the sea where you worship on vacation.

            Some of us have served or attended churches in other lands. Think prayerfully now of that congregation in Germany or France or England, or Korea or Vietnam, or Russia or countries around the Persian Gulf.

            Many of us have worked with local mission projects, and through them have come to know some very interesting people.  Keep in mind just now those who mentor youth for YO:Durham, the Urban Ministries Center downtown, those who seek to offer shelter for the homeless through IHN, and those who offer time and energy for Habitat for Humanity.

            We all know other churches in this area. We are not alone. Isn’t that wonderful? We have worked with churches in the SW cluster not of our particular denomination.  Bring them to mind in the spirit of prayer: St. Paul’s Lutheran and Pastor Tom Colley, Epworth Methodist and Pastor Gene Cobb, Pilgrim UCC and Pastors Lori Pistor and Carla Cregg, St. Stephens Episcopal and Priests Bob Kaynor and Carol Jablonski.

            We all have friends and loved ones in the church above, part of the greater communion of the saints. May God hear our prayers for them and their prayers for us!

            “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.” On this Sunday especially we are thankful for all who name the name of Christ, and are joined with us in the life of faith. As we come to the table, our prayer is that the range and number of our brothers and sisters in Christ may uplift our spirits and encourage our hearts, even as right here we seek to do God’s will. Amen.