On the first Sunday in July, we will begin practicing a new form of intercessory prayer called “Bidding Prayer.”  In this form of prayer, I will invite the congregation to pray about  something using a pattern that we all understand and can participate in.  

To get us started, we will follow a regular pattern each week, focusing our attention in four categories on our life together:

Prayers for the World
Prayers our our Nation
Prayers for our Church
Prayers for Ourselves

My role will be to offer prayers to introduce each of these categories, concluding with “Hear now our prayers for our world / nation / church/ ourselves. Individuals in the congregation will then offer petitions, and the congregation will respond as one.  

Here is an example of the Bidding Prayer form:

For [PETITION}
Lord in your mercy....
Hear our Prayer

And here are a few examples of bidding prayers:

For the people of Ukraine, 
Lord in your Mercy…Hear our prayer.  

For the people along the Yellowstone River as they recover from the raging flood.
Lord in your Mercy…Hear our prayer	

For our congregation and our leaders, and for our worship life.
Lord in your Mercy…Hear our prayer.  

For the birth of our 5th Grandchild, Leslie May, born on the
 4th of July, weighing in at a whopping 10 lbs, 
Lord in your mercy…Hear our prayer.

As we practice praying together, we will discover the power of prayer to focus our attention and shape our ways of living in the world, desires for our nation, hopes for our church, and longings for ourselves.  

Yours in Christ

Pr. Craig