A Prayer for Pastors

June 11, 2013,

I am sending today’s Mid-Week Message to you in between Annual Conferences in Iowa and Florida, in which hundreds of delegates from across those two conferences gather every year to celebrate ministry and make important decisions for the future.  It is also an important time for clergy and lay people to reconnect with each other, sharing the highs and lows of life and ministry over the past year.

It is in remembering such moments of triumph and pain with my fellow clergy that I am reminded that pastors everywhere need the prayers of the people they serve.  So, once again, I am asking that you take some time today and in upcoming weeks to keep me in your prayers, as well as any other pastors that you know.  Fulfilling my call to serve you and advance the good news of Jesus is one of the highest privileges of my life, second only to being committed to my family.  And even when times are toughest, I am buoyed by the love and support so many of you continue to share with me so freely and generously.

I offer the following prayer to you, which you may use to spur your own prayerful imagination.  Writing this prayer and offering it you reminds me of the way Charles Finney described the power of a praying community:  "Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together.  Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer."

A PRAYER FOR PASTORS

Gracious God,

We thank you for your church, the living embodiment of Christ, empowered by your Spirit to reach a hurting world.  We thank you for the women and men who serve as clergy and lay preachers, remembering that theirs is a holy calling, for the work of challenging, nurturing and ordering the life of your people.  You have composed a rich and diverse covenantal communion, displaying a wide range of skills and passions, from all walks and seasons of life.

• We thank you for those who are newly licensed, commissioned, and ordained for ministry, who are entering the tender years of their work. 

• We thank you for those who have entered or are nearing retirement, for their long years of service.  May they continue to serve your Kingdom in renewed ways, contributing their energies and expertise for years to come.

• We thank you for all those clergy persons and clergy spouses who have died in the past year, joining the great cloud of witness that accompanies us.  May their ongoing legacy be a continued blessing to us, exemplifying faithfulness in service and witness. 

• We thank you for your presence in the midst of transition, acknowledging clergy who are moving to new churches and for congregations receiving new pastors.  Bless all spouses and families impacted by these changes, and grant to all persons strength for the journey ahead and a confidence that your Kingdom will be built by the best people serving in the right places.  

Even in the midst of our gratitude, we acknowledge hardship.  We recognize that the journey is often difficult for those who pursue your call.  We pray for those who are dealing with physical, relational, emotional, mental, or financial strains.  Grant them courage to face their limitations, wisdom to make the tough choices, supportive loved ones to surround them in their darkest days, renewed strength for their moments of fatigue, and the willingness to make necessary changes toward health and wholeness.

• We pray for those struggling to find adequate balance between the demands of leadership and their responsibilities to family and self-care. Grant them the ability to discern healthy choices, prioritize what is most important, and to tend to those areas of life that nourish their souls and tend to their relationships.

• We pray for those dealing with isolation and loneliness, separated perhaps by distance from close friends and colleagues, or who serve in communities where pastoral boundaries preclude close friendships with parishioners.  Foster for them new relationships of support and accountability, with fellow sojourners in the faith.

• We pray for pastors whose current spiritual state is likened to a dry, parched wilderness. For those whose difficult years in ministry have sapped them of joy, creativity, and innovation, we ask that you restore their energies and inspire them to new ways of serving your church.  Buoy them with hope, fill them optimism and holy humor, and remind them that "the joy of the Lord is their strength." 

• We pray for pastors struggling with congregations mired in conflict, who must mediate between people caught in sharp disagreements and taxing arguments.  Grant your spirit of peace, and empower a commitment to reason and compromise.

Renew within your pastors a holy passion for the Scriptures. Open their eyes to new interpretive possibilities, and fill them with new zeal for its preaching, its teaching, and its embodiment through their example.  May they fall in love once again with the beauty of language, and its power to name and sustain our commitment to be your people.

We give you thanks, O Lord, for all you have done in and through the faithfulness of clergy and lay people throughout the years. May we continue to serve as the living expression of your love, put into action for the world to see. May all of us be led by the one whom you sent for our sake, Jesus the Christ, who is the head of the church, and in whose name we pray, Amen.

Grace and Peace,

Magrey

The Rev. Magrey R. deVega
St. Paul's United Methodist Church
531 W. Main St.
Cherokee, IA  51012
Ph:  712-225-3955
Email:  mdevega@sp-umc.org


FLOOD RECOVERY UDPATE
Since the flood 14 days ago, we have dispatched close to 75 different volunteers from all around Cherokee to put in over 500 hours of work, many of whom have come out to serve despite having flood problems in their own homes to deal with.  I am humbled by the commitment and self-sacrifice of so many of you.  As a reminder, we have organized volunteer days set for today, Friday, and Saturday this week. We still have a long list of houses that need attention, and folks of any ability can help for as long as they can.  Since I will be attending Annual Conferences throughout the week, Greg and Marie Conklin with the amazing organization "Neighbors Across the Land" will be coordinating the Tuesday and Friday efforts.  Meet at 9:30am at St. Paul's to receive your assignment.  It is so good to be the church.