In her book Holy the Firm, Annie Dillard writes about visiting a church in the Pacific Northwest:
There is one church here, so I go to it. On Sunday mornings I quit the house and wander down the hill to the white frame church in the firs. On a big Sunday there might be twenty of us there; often I am the only person under sixty, and feel as though I’m on an archaeological tour of Soviet Russia. The members are of mixed denominations; the minister is a Congregationalist, and wears a white shirt. The man knows God. Once, in the middle of the long pastoral prayer of intercession for the whole world — for the gift of wisdom to its leaders, for hope and mercy to the grieving and pained, succor to the oppressed, and God’s grace to all — in the middle of this he stopped, and burst out, “Lord, we bring you these same petitions every week.” After a shocked pause, he continued reading the prayer.
Indeed. My personal prayers often seem repetitive. The prayers of the church often seem repetitive. The list doesn’t change much. There are people who are sick, people who are grieving, people who are hungry and homeless, people calling out for justice, nations in conflict, disasters which destroy people and property, loved ones needing guidance, communities asking for discernment, and so on and so on.
“Lord, we bring you these same petitions every week!” (Exclamation point is mine.)
Why do we keep at it?
God doesn’t need my prayers (Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. Psalm 139:4) – but I do. I need to remember that in times of sorrow and struggle, joy and thanksgiving, God is present with me, working on me, changing me, transforming me so that I become more loving, caring, compassionate, and giving for the sake of others.
For someone, I will be God’s answer to prayer. And so I keep praying to open myself to be a vehicle of God’s love to others.
Keep praying. God will act. And sometimes it will be through you.
In Christ,
Pastor Jen