Pastoral Psychol (2018) 67:85–97 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-017-0794-9

Thoughts Concerning the Pastoral Prayer Archie Smith Jr 1

Published online: 18 November 2017 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2017

Abstract This article explores the place and role of prayer, especially of the pastoral prayer in contemporary life. Prayer is explored as a basic and implied communication. The primary question of this essay is: Why pray, and to whom does one pray, especially if one does not believe in God? Keywords Ancient . Brutal honesty . Intercessory prayer . Thanksgiving prayer . Journey . Modern . Post-modern . Prayer as basic and implied communication . Prayer hymn . Reciprocal morality . The Lord’s prayer . Voyage

Lord, teach us to pray . . . —Luke 11:1b

What is prayer? The British philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) was a self-described agnostic or atheist. He wrote a book entitled Why I Am Not a Christian. In that book, he told of a voyage where he met a minister of religion who did not believe in God. This minister invited Russell to speak to his congregation. This indirectly raises the primary question of this essay: Why pray, and to whom does one pray, especially if one does not believe in God?1 The following is about prayer, especially the pastoral prayer. What is prayer? I think of prayer as a special kind of basic (spoken) and implied (unspoken) communication. On the one hand, basic prayer may be thought of as a way to cultivate depth of meaning in life by the emptying of the self and intentionally waiting in the presence of divine mystery as 1

Bertrand Russell was mentioned in the movie Indignation.

* Archie Smith, Jr [email protected]; [email protected]

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8616 Don Carol Drive, El Cerrito, CA 94530, USA

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one seeks for the innermost meaning of the journey that one is on. On the other hand, implied prayer is always about relations with others in a changing and increasingly complex world. In these ways, prayer is a special kind of basic and implied communication that challenges one to be brutally honest and to have a concentrated singleness of mind and purpose. This kind of prayer is hard and persistent work. Prayer, then, ought to be fundamental to pastoral theology and care, particularly for those who are active in ministry. The role of prayer in the worship and the liturgical life of the congregation is critical. As we shall see, prayer has the potential to heal and meld a world of mature and enriched relations. But this is not often the case in modern times.2 A long-time parishioner was asked recently by a church committee to evaluate her pastor’s pastoral prayer. She wrote, BIt is doubtful that our pastor gives much thought to the pastoral prayer.^3 When a church committee forms and asks parishioners to evaluate the pastor’s prayers, attention is being drawn to the questionable or potentially important role and purpose of prayer in the liturgical life of the congregation. But, what is prayer? Sometimes things go terribly wrong. News of a terrible event may be announced on TV. The announcer may say, BOur thoughts and prayers are with them.^ A talk show host once referred to prayer as Bnice thoughts^ that one might have about another. Some pastors who are new to the pastoral role or denomination may be uncomfortable with prayer being part of the worship service. What is going on? A few years ago, I was invited to preach and pray in a university chapel service in Seoul, South Korea. Students Battended^ the chapel service. Most were focused on their laptops and hand-held devices as if they were in a study hall or library. True, chapel may have been compulsory and their behavior considered typical for a university crowd and thus tolerated, excused, or otherwise explained away. I have also observed something similar, but to a much lesser degree, in a few Sunday morning worship services and among worship leaders in the United States. Cell phones rang or buzzed, directing the attention of worshippers to the latest gadgets. Technology calls, not prayer. We dutifully respond to technology’s seemingly irresistible call. Is this behavior atypical, or is it typical and now commonplace? This may be the case when prayer is not much thought about and when distraction from prayer as a way to cultivate depth of meaning is growing. What, then, is prayer? Why pray? Will it help you pass a test or be successful in a job interview? Does prayer meet immediate physical, mental, and spiritual health needs? Is a quick fix or immediate effects all there is to prayer? There may be more. We shall see that prayer may help extend meaning in life, ground one’s character in integrity, and sustain relationships when it is part of a tradition, way of life and a sincere and shared discipline. It may inspire certain interior values and renew hope. What about God and world and right living? What about love of neighbor BModernism^ rejects the idea of an overarching and unifying framework (other than its own). It is another way of recognizing the growing spirit of secularism accompanied by the declining influence of spiritual traditions. BThe individual moral agent freed from hierarchy and teleology, conceives of himself . . . as sovereign in his moral authority^ (MacIntire 1981, p. 90). Therefore, spiritual traditions and secular values may appear incompatible when an overarching framework unified with the telos of human life is not recognized. Modernism further assumes that scientific, rational, and secular values are superior to spiritual and emotive ones. BPurpose,^ or telos, has been replaced with abstract rules that autonomous individuals make up. If this is the case, then what does prayer mean in a world that denies the existence of God? If ‘the people’ and current experiences are the measure of all things, then how can we know all that is measured in the individual, communal, and collective experiences of the people? Do postmodern appraisals help? In this essay, I recognize that both the secular and the spiritual are dimensions within an ancient conversation. 3 Anonymous parishioner. 2

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and enemy and self-forgiveness in the place where horizontal and vertical relationships intersect? We shall see. For many years, I have nurtured, evolved, and practiced the interior life of prayer. I have seldom talked about prayer in the context of my teaching and other practices. Yet the churches I have served in England and New England, New York, Chicago, and Berkeley, know me for my pastoral prayers. I have been encouraged to publish them, but that seems to me a bit sacrilegious. I have resisted going public until now. Why now? If distraction from cultivating depth of meaning in the inner life is a growing phenomenon, then it will not help to remain silent about it. If we are in danger of losing some important parts of our religious faith tradition, then now is the time to speak out loud. Famous philosophers or newcomers to the pastoral role may be unfamiliar with the church’s traditions of prayer, especially in Black religious institutions. I am aware that some churches (judging from their Order of Worship) have dispensed with the pastoral prayer altogether. Other churches may encourage people to have nice thoughts towards others or one another, or voice their concerns (or opinions) or to ask for something they want. If this is true, then such prayers may amount to nothing more than a personal, private wish list or a request for a miracle of some sort, important as these may be. God, in effect, is like a cosmic Santa Clause or sugar daddy with nothing to do but give to me and give to you. The message that comes across is that prayer is private and limited to satisfying immediate needs or personal wants. Very seldom do such prayers include a quest for love of neighbor and care for the perceived enemy. Only rarely do such prayers include justice in community. Only infrequently do present-day personal prayers include an embracing of mystery, self-examination, facing our illusions, or an earnest search for God’s will (and not our own) to be done in our inner and social or public lives.4 It is even more rare to pray on behalf of those who scheme to entrap or have already have wronged us. Prayers that are all about Bme,^ self-maintenance, and personal or private fulfillment typically neglect care for the world. The private and self-focused prayer is seldom about interpersonal responsibility, social and mental illness, or practices of forgiveness and wider justice. It seldom concerns all sorts and conditions of life. A wider sense of justice would include care for the natural environment and the strength to build up the beloved community (which includes the perceived enemy). Such is part of an ancient and ongoing conversation. The lyrics of a hymn come to mind: BWe are a people called to be one in divine community, BWe build new bridges of all kinds, and lift the cords of all that binds.^ The tune is the Old 100th (Praise God from Whom All Blessing Flow). The text is by Eileen Karrer Perkins. In 1964, social scientist Robert Merton (1964) observed that ours is Ba civilization committed to the quest for continually improved means to carelessly examined ends.. .. Not understanding what the rule of technique is doing to him and to his world, modern man is beset by anxiety and a feeling of insecurity. He tries to adapt to changes he cannot comprehend^ (pp. vi, vii). Is Merton on to something here? Modern and postmodern humans may have lost an ancient pathway to prayer as a vital resource for expressing ontological concerns and for developing true spirituality. This appears to be the case when occupation with the latest technological innovation is our daily devoted focus. Private concerns or chasing after the latest fad or turning a profit may be the primary 4

The main thesis of this essay is that inner and outer forces are intertwined in particular social processes. Ancient and contemporary personal and social or public lives are woven together through continued interactions and manifest in structured power arrangements. Ongoing interactions provide the foundations of our common life. But how can we tell the difference between God’s will and our own desires?

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focuses in worship today. This appears to be the case when keeping the crowds coming, entertaining them, telling funny jokes, making people feel good about themselves, and going with the popular cultural flow become all-important. Devotion to technology and social media may be replacing a commitment to historical memory and certain disciplined developments of our spiritual and innermost lives. As Howard Thurman (1969) put it, BWe cannot get through to the great anxieties that surround us until, somehow, a path is found through the little anxieties that beset us^ (p. 85). In Thurman, the private and public, the ancient and present-day realities are interwoven. He makes a distinction between ontological anxiety and the particular anxieties that arise in everyday life. Ontological anxieties underscore our awareness of our own finitude. Thurman’s conviction was that a certain idealism was necessary to live well from day to day in this world. Therefore, one ought to expect idealism to be at variance with general patterns in society (1951, p. 54). True, there are great contradictions between our ideals about what ought to be and the real contradictions of everyday life, but, according to Thurman, even the acute contradictions of everyday life do not have the final say. We are limited as historically and culturally conditioned beings. Everything in our world comes to an inescapable end. Particular anxieties may emerge from certain comparatively mundane concerns about family and other interpersonal relations. General anxieties, as Merton implied, may emerge from Bimproved means^ to quell uncertainties such as the rise and fall of stock markets or changes in work, education, and overall well-being. Still, Thurman (1961) tells us, BThere is a spirit within and about us that broods over every tiding, encircling all our needs.^ (p. 136). The inward journey must inevitably lead outward to social worlds to enrich and be enriched by the contributions of others. Pastoral and practical theologians have shown an interest in working with the journeys of individuals and in keeping different levels of anxiety in focus. However, when one (individual) dimension is the focus at the expense of other dimensions and a sense of balance is lost, then the point of meaning integration is missed in the pastoral prayer and the pastoral theology.

Interpersonal context I grew up in a Black family. My parents and grandparents were from rural Mississippi. They participated in the great migration from the deep South and ended up in Seattle, Washington. I am reminded of the words of Isabel Wilkerson (2010): BShe [Ida Mae Brandon Gladney] never used the terms ‘Great Migration’ or any grand label for what she did nor did she see her decision as having any meaning beyond herself. Yet she and millions of others like her were right in the middle of it^ (p. 12). My forebears never saw themselves as part of a great migration, either. Nonetheless, they were praying people. They taught me how to pray. They joined an activist Black church, Seattle’s Mount Zion Baptist Church, during the 1940s or 1950s. They remained hopeful in times of great change and uncertainty. The 1940s were years of high unemployment, the time of World War II and Pearl Harbor. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died during his fourth term in office, leaving behind his progressive-thinking wife Eleanor. Roosevelt was followed in the presidency by Harry S. Truman, who made the fateful decision to drop the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The consequences are still with us today, 70 years later. The 1940s witnessed the end of World War II and the suicide of Adolf Hitler. The destruction due to the war was unbelievable and contradicted the idealism of everyone I know today. Nevertheless, unexpected and relatively good things were birthed from

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this tragedy, including battles against extreme prejudice, cruel hate, and other expressions of moral evil. This acute form of contradiction did not have the final say. The 1950s, in comparison, were times of relative calm, stability, consensus, and prosperity in the United States. The U.S. military was the strongest in the world, the economy was prosperous, consumer goods were available, rates of inflation and unemployment were comparatively low, the middle class was expanding, and suburban homes were available to Whites. The 1950s saw continued racist discrimination but also the bold emergence of the mid-twentieth-century civil rights struggle led by Black churches. Something was being born. It was sparked by the shocking and brutal murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi, and the quiet activism of Rosa Parks and her then-young pastor, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. King said that he carried Howard Thurman’s Jesus and the Disinherited with him at all times. The neighborhood in which I grew up was in transition. It was mixed race and became increasingly inhabited by ethnic minorities as White families moved away. Kindergarten, grade school, junior high, and high school also provided me with racially mixed experiences. Dating patterns and a few marriages in the neighborhood were racially mixed. Housing, levels of employment and income, and race and identity mattered. Whether acknowledged or not, there was a churning there. All these things influenced the way we viewed the world, where and how we prayed, and what we hoped and prayed for and why. As a child, I learned the Lord’s Prayer, and I kneeled and prayed before crawling into bed. What were my sins? Who were the debts and debtors that I was supposed to forgive? At mealtime, I gave a brief prayer of gratitude for the food on the table. Since both my parents worked long hours, we seldom sat together during the week for a family meal. At church I heard the fervent prayers of the elders. Those prayers were usually emotional and repetitive and carried familiar phrases such as BLord, I stretch my hand to Thee, no other help do I know.^ Was I supposed to pray like that, too? The prayers were largely self-focused, often confessional, and highly personal. Certain anti-intellectualisms were also apparent. A similar pattern of prayer could be discerned in the mid-week prayer band, which met in various homes. There, the focus was on a particular concern—an illness, parent-child relationship, loss of employment, marital troubles, the blessing of a home, or some other concern or immediate need. In high school, I met once a week for prayer in the early morning with a small group of teenagers from my local church. In college, I met in a small cell group for early morning prayer. All of these prayers required concentration and trust, quietness, and a waiting on the Spirit. The prayers were spontaneous, whether at home, church, visiting in the homes of others, or away at college. The primary focus was on help in the here and now. The general message was carried in the title of the hymn BGod Will Take Care of You^ (so do not be dismayed) and in the gospel song BGod Never Fails.^ I assumed that the prayers were all sincere. Prayer built appeal, extended care to others, and deepened character. I came to believe that prayer protected us and had the power to open our eyes, widen our cultural lens, provide grounding for the transformation of our personal lives, and help provide the spiritual depth needed to face our individual and collective challenges. Brutally honest prayer raised critical questions and awareness about the unjust things that we were actually doing. In this way, I came to believe that God sees, hears, and receives the simple and trusting prayers of a contrite heart. Still, the contrite heart is embodied—lives in community—and community indwells the contrite heart. Communal prayers with an implied reciprocal morality may appear irrelevant if not obsolete when based upon the Golden Rule. I have in mind communal prayers such as BDo unto others as you would have them do unto you^

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(Matt.7:12 KJC); BLove your enemies and pray for those who persecute you^ (Matt. 5:44 KJC), and certain other values of altruism and a reciprocal morality.

The meaning of prayer The meaning and ways of prayer emerge from the contexts where people live and move and find themselves. Prayer has the potential to expand people’s honesty and awareness and enrich relationships. If people cannot be honest in prayer, then where else can they be honest? I am reminded of the war prayers of Mark Twain. Honesty and awareness can pose difficult challenges, but they must be kept together if we are to grow and deepen. Honest awareness in prayer is expanded when we recognize both the basic (or said) and the implied (or unsaid) dimensions of prayer. Prayers convey particular theologies, systems of beliefs about time and space relationships and individual and social worlds, and ways of moral and ethical living in the world. John Donne (1572–1631) may have been correct when he said, No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.5 What we do has inescapable emotional, moral, and ethical significance, directly or indirectly. When persons feel themselves to be loved and of intrinsic worth, then they are likely to believe that even their innermost struggles are important, heard, shared, and somehow dealt with. If transcendent powers belong to God and not to us, then human agency is gifted in a way that is beyond us. We may respond in prayer with gratitude and in forms of reciprocal responsibility to self and others. Persons in relation then can pass on the grace they have experienced. A beneficial difference can be discerned in our living. An ethical I-Thou statement is being made. In this way, prayer brings together a world of enriched relations. We can become irreplaceable resources in the lives of others as surely as they resourcefully indwell us. In this way, prayer is neither private nor abstract but shared. This is a big deal!

The power of prayer Prayers can help express certain interpersonal or relational binds and unbounded desires. They carry general understandings of creative relationships between God, the world, and the Holy Spirit and novel interpretations of particular divine-human encounters that are seldom if ever questioned. Therefore, I take a look at the various prayers and lament psalms of David, i.e., BWhere can I go from your spirit^ (Ps. 139:7 NRSV) or, BWhy are you cast down, O my soul (Ps. 42:5 NRSV). Above all, I give attention to the Lord’s Prayer and note the elements in it.

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John Donne, Meditation 17, Devotion upon Emergent Occasions and Prose, 1624. Balster Publishing,eBook, Sold by Barnes and Noble, January 10, 2012. p. 1–3.

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The signature Lord’s prayer Let us consider the request that Jesus’ disciples made to him: BLord, teach us how to pray!^ Their request was about the power of prayer. It conveyed a willingness, on the part of seasoned adults, to learn anew. BLord, teach us how to pray.^ Fortunately, the answer to this request was not lost in time. Rather, the signature BLord’s Prayer^ was written down and passed on. Versions of it may be found in the Gospels of Matthew (6:1, 9–14) and Luke (11:1–4). Our Father in heaven, thy name be hallowed; thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth, as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us the wrong we have done, As we have forgiven those who have wronged us. And do not bring us to the test, But save us from the evil one. (Matt. 6:9–13, NEB) The elements and structure of this prayer are important. They include: 1. The indwelling and otherness of the divine. Holiness is embedded in human affairs. It is established from the very beginning and remains central. 2. Submission as agential activity and power. The willingness to do divine pleasure—above all else—would mean that our own private wants and desires are secondary. Making money or becoming the desired self-made human or landing the lucrative deal, then, is not the highest priority for the inner life. So, here is a reversal of the common order of things. Here are incredible implications for morality and ethics and for individual and corporate living. 3. Simple requests. In the Lord’s Prayer is a simple, humble, and daily request for food, namely, bread. There are further implications related to poverty and the distribution of resources and wealth and worldwide sharing, Ba common chest.^6 These concerns are woven together. One cannot hoard what humans never owned in the first place. This is about receiving and sharing as reciprocal activities. It is not about building walls of separation, trickery, stealing, stockpiling, greed, and otherwise excluding others. 4. Mature forgiveness is reciprocal. But stuff happens, and so we must forgive self and others and find the strength to love the enemy. We are all debtees and debtors. The basic and implicit dimensions of life are woven together in a common garment of destiny. This is perhaps the most difficult part (i.e., mature forgiveness as reciprocal process). Emotional and moral issues, violence and violation, a sense of betrayal and hurt, anger and hostility, on the one hand, and justice and fair play, on the other hand, must be worked out and worked through. This takes self-examination, discernment, care, and lots of patience. It takes maturity! There must be further acknowledgment that we always live in reciprocal debtee-debtor relationships. Our common life is woven together. Contradictions and issues of unequal power arrangements and inequality persist. These require continual vigilance. 5. The omnipresent problem of evil. Temptations and wrongdoing abound, so we must all ask to be delivered from systemic evil—the recursive power of evil in us and the evil that 6

See Lindberg and Wee (2016, pp. 17–29).

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surrounds us; the evil that is direct and indirect; the evil that is intentional and the evil that is unintentional. Think of forms of violence and violations the world over. Think of gun violence and building walls of separation to keep the ‘criminals’ out (or in) the nation that wants to be number one and leader of the democratic world. Awareness of the ubiquitous and inescapable presence of evil ought to bring us back to renewed assessments of forgiveness and debtee-debtor relations. 6. Returning. The ending of the prayer may return us to the beginning—the glory, honor, and transcendent power belong not to us but to God. We mortals cannot save ourselves, no matter how hard we try. We are at the threshold of new awareness and redemption when we engage the ancient struggle. These elements of prayer stand in sharp contrast to modern and postmodern understandings of prayer as BI want. ..^ or as the fulfillment of individual, private needs or as Bit is all about me^ or Bnice thoughts^ directed towards another. Elements of this signature Lord’s Prayer may be discerned in the prayers of others. Let us take a look.

The role of prayer over time Note the role that prayer played in the lives of the Apostles, Paul, and the church fathers and mothers. Examples of church fathers might include John Chrysostom (349–407): BAlmighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires know, and from whom no secrets are hid. ..^ (incredible!). Examples of church mothers might include the prayers of Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1175) and of Julian of Norwich (1342–1416). The prayers of church reformers might include those of Martin Luther (1483–1546). I select lines from his prayer hymn BA Mighty Fortress is Our God^ for two reasons. First, they underscore certain signature elements of the Lord’s Prayer, i.e., Bdeliver us from evil^ and Bdaily bread.^ Second, the themes penned over 500 years ago hold great relevance today. They continue to play significantly in my mind, especially his haunting phrase Bcruel hate.^ Here are the lines: BA Mighty Fortress is our God, / a bulwark never failing; / our helper he amid the flood / of mortal ills prevailing. / For still our ancient foe / doth seek to work us woe; / his [evil’s] craft and power are great, / and armed with cruel hate, / on earth is not his equal.^ Still, God’s truth can Btriumph through us.^ What then must we do? According to the hymn, BLet goods and kindred go, / this mortal life also; / the body they may kill; / God’s truth abideth still; / his kingdom is forever.^ This hymn is based upon Psalm 46. Among those who reveal how prayer enriched their lives are Joan of Arc (1412–1431), John Bunyan (1628–1688), and Walter Rauschenbuch (1861–118). The latter’s theological education and pastoral ministry allowed him to make relevant connections between religious questions and certain sordid social conditions in the light of the gospel of Jesus. Rauschenbuch fashioned prayers and hymns that highlighted this connection. Others who made similar connections include certain Native Americans, Celtic prayer traditions, Sikes, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Mohandas Gandhi (1864–1948), Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878–1969), Georgia Harkness (1891–1974), Howard Thurman (1899–1981), Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968), Viola Luizzo (1925–1965, a freedom rider who was murdered by the KKK in an act of Bcruel hate^), Rosa Parks (1913–2005), and historic Black church prayer traditions. The prayers and sermons of Gordon M. Torgersen (1916–2007) must be mentioned. Torgersen, a social activist pastor, took a public stand against the undeclared, racially charged, raging war in Southeast Asia (Vietnam). He firmly stood in the social gospel

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tradition of Rauschenbuch and later became acting president of Andover Newton Theological School. He (and his wife Margaret Dahlberg Torgersen) also offered me my first job out of seminary as minister-to-the-community. Prayer continues to be important for many who continue to pray under Bthe burdens of the day.^ In prayer, divine acceptance in the midst of Bcruel hate,^ unwanted isolation and terror, and suffering and persecution, as well as unmerited blessings, can be experienced. A felt sense of forgiveness and release and of redeemed and enriched relations can be acknowledged in the language and acts of prayer. Certain hymns of the church may also be prayerfully sung, e.g., BOpen My Eyes That I May See^ or BMore Love to Thee, O Christ,^ or BLove Divine, All Loves Excelling,^ or BO Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go,^ or almost anything else by Charles Wesley (1707–1788), who wrote over 6000 hymns. There is John Henry Newman’s (1801–1890) BLead Kindly Light Amidst the Encircling Gloom^ or BWhat a Friend We Have in Jesus^ (composed during a time of tragic loss) or Helen Lemmel’s (1863–1961) BTurn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.^ The writings of C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), W. E. B. DuBois (1868–1963) (Prayers for Dark People), Mark Twain’s BThe War Prayer^ (1905), and the prayers of Karl Barth (1886–1968) and of J. Alfred Smith (1932–)are important resources that prioritize the otherness of God in the human-divine relationship. Also valuable resources are prayers in the New Hebrew Union Prayer Book, the books of common worship of the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, the Church of England, Methodists, and the Church of New Zealand; Clifton H. Johnson’s edited volume God Struck Me Dead: Voices of Ex-Slaves; and prayers by Dorothy Day (1897–1980), Miriam Therese Winter (1958–), Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971) (particularly his serenity prayer), Rueben Shears (1934–1992), Edward Powell Wimberly (1943–), William Hamilton (1924– 2012), J. A. Sanders (1927–), my grandmother, the Mount Zion Prayer band of Seattle, Washington, and the Wednesday night prayer meeting, Soren Kierkegaard (1813–1855), St. Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Thomas Merton (1915–1968), and Henry Nouwen (1932– 1996). With few exceptions, many of these prayer resources are written down and available. They continue to teach us how to pray, and they have the potential to mature and enrich relations today. Their value cannot be measured. Looking back, the church is surrounded with tremendous resources that signal the central importance of prayer. These tremendous resources ought not to be ignored. One may indeed wonder why many twenty-first-century clergy and other church leaders today, who are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, appear to be shallow and clueless concerning the critical role of the pastoral and intercessory prayers in the liturgical life of their congregation. Many ministers who want to be popular also appear to be unsure of their calling about prayer. When the leaders of mainline churches seem mindless, deprived, timid, and ignorant about the power of prayer, then one wonders whether the church has lost touch with a vital link that underlies unwanted loss, tragedy, suffering, and pain. The power of prayer can enable courage, perseverance, and resiliency and inspire faith to arise. It can give strength to those who utilize it in their daily lives and help create a world of enriched relations.

The power of persistent prayer and creating enriched relations. Prayer played a large role in the lives of St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica (331–387). For nearly two decades, St. Monica prayed for her wayward son. Years and years of prayers, seemingly (went) unanswered. Countless tears shed with no relief. Yet she

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would not give up. That very act of persistent prayer blessed the entire Church, for we have all benefited from the conversion of her son, Augustine, who became one of the most revered saints of all time. (Aquilina and Sullivan 2013, book jacket) St. Monica’s prayers were persistent and personal but not abstract. The following is an extract from my recent Easter morning pastoral prayer. I based it upon a lectionary text and a fitting hymn. Out of the depths and in deepest grief we cry to you, Holy One—for all who have gone before us: saints and martyrs, mothers and fathers, children, brothers and sisters, friends and relatives; partners and guides, co-workers and mentors, professors and presidents. They have now crossed that narrow sea. The vale of clay has been lifted. They can now know the depths of your love and heights of joy that they could not have known in their mortal lives. They are now where they have always been—in your redeeming hands. They have done the good that they knew. They have left their trace of faithfulness for us to follow. Grant them resurrection joy. And grant us courage and to everyone a sense of daring adventure as we seek to continue doing your will. Lord, in your mercy . . . [the faith community responds in unison] BHear our prayer!^ This prayer is persistent, and its meaning can deepen when it becomes a recurring theme in our lives and a continuing source of gratitude. This is one way to meld a world of enriched relations. A colleague read the above prayer, and this is how she responded to this Easter prayer. The Alleluias are now only an echo, and once again we meet the disciples in all their humanity—behind locked doors, afraid and unknowing. This Easter prayer is so beautiful in all its allusions to the gospel reading—the fear, the uncertainty, the chaos of the world from which the disciples are hiding. Or perhaps they are resting, just seeking the company of each other so that they can again face whatever is beyond that door.7 Are we not those disciples today—uncertain and fearful, hiding, and yet somehow hopeful and seeking?

Prayer in today’s world Perhaps enough has been said to suggest that the contexts out of which prayer arises, how we pray today, and what we choose to pray for are all important. Mark Twain reminds us that sometimes when we pray for the victory of some, we are implicitly praying for the defeat and suffering of others. There is a difference to be discerned between the basic and implied dimensions of prayer. What we do in prayer carries moral interpretations of the times in which we live. We have seen that for Christians, certain unfolding events are interpreted in light of divine-human relationships and the gospel of Jesus. Many prayers are framed in the light of their important faith traditions. When we become aware of the basic (said) and implicit (unsaid) dimensions of prayer, then we can help broaden our understandings of reciprocity and deepen the meaning of the ancient, larger, and emerging picture of which we are part. In 7

Anonymous.

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this way, written-down prayers can continue to Bteach us how to pray,^ how to meld and enrich meaning in relationships.

Preparing the worship experience When I am preparing a pastoral prayer, I will typically read through the lectionary text at the beginning of the week and read it again several times throughout the week. I will ask the preacher of the morning what is the theme or the one big idea that she or he will be emphasizing from the lectionary text. I will pay close attention to the news and how members of the congregation might be affected. I may make jail or prison, hospital, home, hospice, convalescent home, or memory-loss facility visits during the week. I will talk with different members of the congregation about how things are going for them. I am interested in the explanations and interpretations that surround them: their questions, what binds them, their unbounded desires, and what they are carrying. Usually a spiritual, gospel song, or hymn of the church will begin to play again and again in my mind. I may draw on that spiritual, gospel song, or hymn in the pastoral prayer. I have often thought that hymnody is an underutilized resource in our prayers. Each day, I will write down a concern or issues that I want to be part of the three-minute (one-page-long) pastoral prayer. On Friday or Saturday, I begin to write the Sunday morning pastoral prayer.

The worship experience On Sunday morning there is a special and shared sense of coming together. The Scripture is read, and songs are sung. The people begin to come forward and gather at the altar in order to pray together. The ushers join hands at the back of the sanctuary. Others are prayerful where they are. Ideally, the organist plays appropriate music softly. It is time for the pastoral prayer. Not everything that needs to be said can be said. Difficult choices must be made. Space in the public, pastoral intercessory prayer is created for those sighs that are too deep for words. Hence, there are silent moments and pauses, emotions arise, groans are heard, and certain words are uttered. Some of these are spontaneous acts, unplanned moments, and a completely welcome surprise to me. A space for thoughtfulness, spontaneity, and novelty emerges. A worshipper once asked me later, BWhat happened?^ I responded, BI don’t know.^ The ‘not knowing’ is a part of the morning prayer experience. The results of the prayer may continue long after the formal worship. In this way, the pastoral prayer can be a vitally important moment in the worship life and liturgy of the congregation. It can be a source of enrichment when it is thoughtfully and sincerely rendered and when unscripted space is opened.

Where does the stuff of prayer come from? The prayers of the congregation grow out of the familiar and not so familiar struggles, anxieties, pains, hopes and disappointments, limits and unbounded desires, fears, general experiences, and memories of the people. Looking back, the prayer may become a historical record of the time (e.g., the time when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated). The one who prays must love the people, sense the struggles of the soul, and be willing to wait long

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enough to find the language to articulate the people’s great sorrows, deepest fears, and highest hopes. The people will also speak for themselves. This requires all of us to be willing to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; to be patient and generous, listening and surrendering, daring and ready to extend care. In this way, prayer is active; it is not passive participation. Sometimes, the only language is silence. Prayer in the midst of worship can make a difference in the ways we view and live in the world. It marks the things we hope for and how we interpret events in personal and collective life. This too is a big deal!

Prayer is a way to do theology at the congregational level When trouble gathers, one may find safety and resources in one’s tradition and community of religious faith. The pastoral and intercessory prayers may assist understanding and forgiveness, the tasks of healing and challenge, of sustaining and persevering. The pastoral and intercessory prayers may support those who are addressing issues of being bound by guiding and affirming and reconciling and confronting. Prayer may inspire courage and resolve. This way of experiencing prayer as a resource is not private. This experience can influence reciprocal social relations and make all the difference in the world. What are the spiritual and mental health needs of the congregation when troubles fail to cease? How are needs manifested, expressed, and interpreted? How can the pastoral and communal prayers of the faith community best meet the needs? How are the traditions and resources, the great cloud of ancient witnesses of the faith, being brought to bear on the vicissitudes and burdens of the day? I believe these to be important questions related to ministry and pastoral theology. Writing the prayers, then, for or with the Black church congregation in mind is a way to think historically and theologically and creatively at the local level about Bthe burdens of the day.^ We might further ask, BWhat are the battles of cruel hate^ for those living with physical disabilities, the loss of major bodily functions, or language and cultural barriers? What are the struggles of mixed-race families and couples; of men, women, and teenagers who are incarcerated; of children in foster homes; of Black couples, of singles, heterosexuals, gays and lesbians, of transgender, straight, and questioning persons? The struggles of Black and other minority families include mental and physical health and illness; poverty; children; and employed, underemployed, or unemployed parents. Those experiencing an unwanted loss, in mourning and deep grief, are remembered. What are they all struggling with this week? What are their fears and desires and sighs that are too deep for words? What do they need to talk to God about? What resources can they find or help create in the faith community today? How can they participate in finding or help create, give, and receive resources and derive meaning from the wider world of which they are part? These questions are among the ones that the British philosopher Bertram Russell was ill prepared to address. Basic and implied relationships cannot be avoided by those in active ministry, either. Nor can they be ignored by pastoral care and practical theologians. Instead, all are challenged to search out the resources of Scripture and song, the preached word and the workings of the Holy Spirit in the gathered community. Pastoral and intercessory prayers and other appropriate resources can help mend the soul-in-community, and the community-in-the-soul. Both basic and implied dimensions of prayer are emergent parts of an ancient conversation and must be imagined anew and this power of prayer beneficially unleashed.

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Conclusion The pastoral and intercessory prayers referenced in this essay emerge from an ancient and ongoing conversation. Therefore, the pastoral and intercessory prayer include and go beyond the private prayers and contrite hearts of individuals, important as those are. Vast resources and church traditions surround church leaders. Therefore, thoughtless prayers that leave congregants in doubt about their liturgical value, and the ignoring of traditions altogether, are unfortunate, especially when done by church leaders. The request, BTeach us how to pray,^ and the signature Lord’s Prayer is held up as a model of ancient struggles and contemporary realities coming together. Prayer is a special kind of basic and implicit communication that ultimately seeks to embrace the individual as part of the whole wide world in sacred unity. Prayers can help meld the past and present struggles of individuals and the various communities they help constitute. In this way, the prayers of the people can be seen as a shared and centuries-old way of doing and thinking theology in the present-day life of a congregation. Preparing the prayers for congregational worship is a process that involves participating in and responding to emerging needs and questions and utilizing the historic and faith resources of the church. These include religious traditions and unfolding experiences, song and Scripture, and context and memory. These resources, when melded together, can contribute to a dimension of depth by widening the lens of awareness and informing and supporting enriched relations and the integration of meaning here and now. Thinking in terms of the general and specific human condition is essential to the life of honest prayer. Articulating a confessing, hope-filled belief in the human-divine relationship is vital to prayer. Extending care with justice to all results from honest prayer and is a theological and ethical as well as spiritual, moral, and religious practice. In these ways, a world of enriched relations can come from a brutally honest and confessional life of prayer.

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