Resources for the Prayer of the People
A friend asked me by e-mail what resources I would recommend to him for his prayer of the people in worship on the 28th. In case others are in a similar search, let me share the links I sent.
My first stop would be the sample prayers and prayer outlines from The Worship Sourcebook, also excerpted separately as Prayers of the People (encourage your church or organization to get one or the other for planning purposes if they haven’t yet).
A good second stop, especially for churches using the Revised Common Lectionary, is The Text This Week. Click on the date in the left-hand corner, in this case January 28, 2007, and scroll down to “OnLine Worship and Liturgy Resources” and then “Prayers, Prefaces, Litanies, etc.” These resources will help your prayer writing weave naturally into the theme of your overall worship service that day.
Another good overview of the purpose of the public prayer is the pamphlet “So You’ve Been Asked To Lead In Prayer”—another useful resource to encourage your church or organization to get for its library (it’s part of Faith Alive’s valuable So You’ve Been Asked To… series).
There’s much more to recommend, but this is a start.
Of course, we always encourage adapting an existing resource or outline to the purpose, circumstances, tradition, etc. of your worshiping community.
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