Asking Others for Prayer

John 13:8 – Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me."

As my congregation was adding to the prayer walls in each service one Sunday, I couldn’t help but notice there are a lot of people for whom we are praying by name. This is wonderful! I hope that praying for someone in particular on a regular basis has begun to shape you a bit. I also hope those who are being prayed for feel the warmth and light of those prayers.

I also couldn’t help but notice that the other wall, the wall on which we were naming those who were praying for us seems a little barren. It would seem that the task of finding someone and asking them to pray for us has been difficult for most of us. I must admit some difficulty with this myself. I ended up copping out and asking my Pastoral Relations Committee. I hope that each of them was praying for me already. Otherwise, however, I have not done the very thing I have asked you all to do.

What makes it so difficult to ask people for prayers I wonder? It seems to be easy to ask for prayers when someone is sick or when someone we know is hurting. It may even be easier for us to ask for prayers for ourselves if we see a ‘legitimate reason’, i.e. an upcoming surgery, a death in the family, even when we are ill. But to just ask for prayer without any sort of obvious (from the outside) reason just seems to be more difficult than we anticipate.

Maybe we have trouble sharing our needs with others. It would certainly be understandable. In our culture self-sufficiency is a virtue and needing others regularly is frowned upon in many ways. We admire ‘self-made’ people (as if that were a possibility).

Maybe we don’t want to let anyone know that for which we really need prayer. Our secrets, our weaknesses, our temptations make us seem so fragile, naming them aloud would make them a little more real and closer to us. Besides, then someone else would know. They would know we are not the people we try to be.

Or maybe we are like Peter, simply unaware of our need, our need for intervention, our need to be served not only by someone else but also by the very person of Jesus. Do we think that there must be a ‘legitimate reason’ obvious to others for us to ask for prayers from them? Do we think there are things too small for God’s interest? Do we think there are times that we are not really in need of God’s attention?

In fact, we are always in need of God’s attention. God creates, sustains and redeems. God loves each of us and desires life, abundant life for all of creation. It is God who brings about in us the changes we need to have life abundantly. Moreover, God lives powerfully in the community of faith. When we open ourselves up to one another, become vulnerable with each other that we also make ourselves more open and vulnerable to God’s redeeming work. “The well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick” (Mark 2:17)

So here’s the deal. I will commit myself to asking someone to pray for me before Sunday – in fact, I already have that person in mind. I hope if you have not done so already that you will consider joining me in this difficult task. I believe that not only will this help shape us as individuals and strengthen us to be disciples of Jesus Christ, but it will also be a shaping practice of our congregation.

Shalom Y'all!