Good afternoon my fellow pilgrims of prayer. I hope you have had a sense of Awe and Wonder today that has led you to an attitude of Worship! I am sure you have.

The second of our trio of themes that make up the Lord’s Prayer is Intercession.

Paul mentions this in Romans, and this might be a good place to start.

Romans 8.26
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

I love this idea that the Holy Spirit helps us in our prayers, and ‘Sighs too deep for words’ is such a beautiful phrase. Sighs of love and joy spring to mind, as well as Sighs of concern or even despair.

Jesus had taught us to pray Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, and that is the heart of Intercession.
Two huge points leap out at me. The first and most powerful is the prayer is about abandoning the ego in favour of the will of God.
Sadly we find that very hard, and still frame our prayers according to what we think is best, but to finish with Thy Will helps it all make sense. It is possible to spot the learning when you hear prayers that are very full, and conclude BUT Thy will be done!
Intercessions are outward prayers, they are for and about others, and they are at the heart of our Christian life.

The second thing is that Jesus came to proclaim the dawning of the Kingdom of God. By his words and actions the reign of God was breaking in on the lives of ordinary men and women. 
In John’s Gospel Jesus says ‘As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. 
We are to continue his work by bringing in the Kingdom, and one of the ways of doing that is by prayer. Intercession is about seeking and furthering the Kingdom of God, and Jesus invites us to co-operate with him in his work in the world when he teaches us to pray Thy Kingdom come.

So, we are at a place where we leave the ego behind, and guided by, and open to the Holy Spirit we intercede for others, and in so doing we work tirelessly to build the Kingdom.

I want this to happen so that the church may grow sounds like a positive prayer, but sadly it is focused on the ‘I want’ and will rarely bear fruit. 
‘Jesus, teach us how to be so that your church may grow’ is centred on Christ, and more fitting with Thy Kingdom come.

So if we are praying for others, how do we stop just thinking about our own interpretation of events, and giving God some pious pointers to what we want? What do we pray for?

The simple answer is Everything and Nothing! We long to share our love and prayers for every person that is in any need, and for everyone who has decisions to make, but we are also very aware that God already knows, so it is lovely, but not necessary to tell him.
Perhaps our intercessory prayers are as much for us, to ensure that we are looking outwards as they are for the recipients. It is good for us to spend considerable time focussing on the needs of our family and friends, our local communities, countries, people in authority and the church. But we never forget that the heart of the prayer is Thy will be done, and perhaps the big thing is to do more hearing than speaking, so that we discern prayerfully what the Will of God may be.

I shall come back to this in the next letter, but perhaps a way of interceding is to try and discern the nature of God and the message of Jesus, and thenopen our hearts to the Holy Spirit as we ask for guidance to make our concerns fit his will (Not his will fit our concerns.)

I like to remember that this is God’s world, not ours and   sometimes the most productive thing we can do is stand in silence before him.

He has blessed us with two ears and only one mouth!

Just one last thing. Please remember that whatever you take to the Lord in prayer, you are investing part of your soul in, so be prepared to be called to become involved. There is no point in praying for the lonely, thinking that someone else can visit. No point in praying for church growth, but not ever talking about your faith. No point in praying for an end to this pandemic, and not practicing social distancing. You get the point. 

But there is every point in praying for all those things, with the words from the chorus to the hymn I, the Lord of sea and sky in your mind.

Here I am Lord.

Is it I Lord?

I have heard you calling in the night.

I will go Lord,

If you lead me

I will hold your people in my heart.

Our shared homework is to pray for the building of the Kingdom in this place to which you and I were called. Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done.

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

Fr Marcus