St. Andrew’s Salmon Arm

September 18, 2022

Lighting the Christ Candle

Welcome and Announcements:

Thank you Rev. Ena van Zoeren, for leading and guiding our worship today. May all who join in worship be refreshed and renewed in body, mind, and spirit and be equipped for the days ahead.

Called to Worship:
We meet together in the presence of a God whose love is
freedom, whose touch is healing, whose voice is calm.
We meet not in our own strength but in the knowledge that
God’s Spirit abides within us, in our worship today, and in our
daily lives.
The blessing we receive is shared, in the hope that others might
be drawn to the God we serve.
The blessing we give is shared, as we pray for one another
and the world whom God loves.

Hymn: 449 Lord listen to your children praying

Prayer of Adoration
Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
we gather in Your presence with thanksgiving and praise
for the way in which You have revealed Yourself to us.
Through Jesus Christ, your Son,
we have come to know and love You;
we have seen Your love and mercy in action;
we have caught a glimpse of Your heart,
and we have heard the call to follow.
May Your Holy Spirit open our minds and hearts to Your presence
here, and to the word that You have for us this morning.
We long to meet You here, and to know You better.
That we may know you more fully, we come to you to confess our
sins and be cleansed as your servants. Together, we pray:
Unison Prayer of Confession:

Gracious God, source of all life, Lord of mercy and grace, hear
our prayer. We come before you in need of healing:
The healing of our bodies and souls,
The healing of our relationships,
The healing of our pride and fear and apathy.
We pray that you will heal us, that you will heal our world, so
that we will be freed to serve and love and dream and be, as
Christ calls us. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news. God desires that all shall be saved in the
mercy and grace of Jesus. God has heard our confession and in
Jesus he has forgiven us.
The Peace

Hymn: 733 O God of love true source of peace

Scripture Lessons:

Psalm 122: 6-9 responsive 
1 Timothy 2: 1-7 

Sermon: Pray for all people
This letter to Timothy reminds us that we are called to pray for all
people, everywhere, that they might be saved and to pray for the
kings and all who are in high positions that we may all live in
peace and prosperity.
We are reminded that God loves all people, and Jesus came for
the salvation of all. We are also reminded that it is God’s desire
that all people be saved. God also desires that all people live in
peace and with the ability to worship freely. Our prayers for them
are an important part of that salvation and for our right to gather
in worship.
But most of all we are reminded that prayer, peace and order are
the Christians first instruments of engagement with the secular
world.
Paul begins this letter with the words, FIRST OF ALL! But a
careful reading shows us that there is no second or third of all to
follow.
Paul uses the Greek word PROTON, to put emphasis on all the
words that follow. Not only is our calling to be people of prayer
of the greatest importance; it is the only thing that is important.
We are reminded of how often we are urged to pray daily, pray
often, pray continually, in season and out. We are called to be
praying people.
In this letter we are called to pray in 4 ways.
1. Deeis: appeal for a particular need.
2. Proseuche: general petitions
3. Entreatis: urgent and bold requests
4. Eucharista: expressing gratitude
We certainly practice these in our lives, but do we practice them
for all people and all governments? That seems to be the
challenge that is before us.
Many of the commentors pointed out that we didn’t read verse 8
as a part of the Lectionary passage, where we are also reminded
in that we are to pray even for those with whom we have
disagreements.
This verse was not included in the lectionary, but it was
mentioned so many times by commentators that its importance
was greatly underlined.
Many of us were introduced to prayer as children, where we
ended each day with our bedtime prayers, which often were not
more than a litany of God bless, mom and dad, grandma and
grampa, other family and friends. But rarely, if ever, did we pray
for the child down the street who was mean to us.
Even as adults we tend to focus our prayers on what we know,
including people we love and the situations that affect us. That’s
not wrong, but it is only the starting point.
Sometimes our prayers include those with need from the news
stories of the day. They may even include those who have had
disaster, floods, and fires. Sometimes, like with Ukraine, we pray
for who are oppressed by war. But rarely, if ever do we pray for
the country whom we believe to be the aggressor in war.
It seems that the same holds true with the command to pray for
governments, whereby we pray primarily for our own government.
We pray for the elections in our country and neighbouring
countries. But aside from praying for the town council, the
Legislature and the Parliament, do we ever pray for the opposition
parties or for those who protest the good we believe our
government to be doing?
It would seem that the spirit of what is being asked in verse 8
opens up the door on what ALL means in a way that can challenge
our hearts and our wills in unexpected ways. At the very least it
can expand the list of those for whom we pray.
That would certainly have been the case for Timothy and the
congregation in which he taught and worshipped. The command
to pray for all kings and those in authority was fraught with geopolitical problems.
Caesar wanted to be served and lauded as a lord, and the country
of Greece into which the new church was expanding had a
pantheon of gods, whom the people worshipped, and the leaders
promoted.
How do you pray for those kings and leaders?
We note that Paul said to pray for them, not to them.
These are the people included in the ALL that God sent Jesus to
save. When we pray for them, we open the door for the Holy
Spirit to work in their lives. Our prayers make a difference. More
than that, God desires our prayers for kings and all leaders.
Clearly all rulers—depend on the guidance and mercy of God.
Okay, I thought, so when we pray for the Ukraine, we also need to
pray for the leaders in Russia and in particular Vladimir Putin. For
the people in oppressed places and for their leaders. But there is
a limit, right?
Wrong.
One of the commentators that I read this week, challenged me in
ways that I had never thought of. Not even in those years when I
wrote letters for Amnesty International on the behalf of
imprisoned people in many different countries, did I ever pray for
the leaders that oppressed them. I wrote to those leaders, but I
didn’t pray for them, instead I prayed for those whom they
oppressed and imprisoned. Good prayers, needed prayers but
not all the needed prayers.
This commentator, E. Barreto pointed out that Christian
faithfulness means that “it makes good sense to pray for the
powerful, for the very order of the world depends upon it.”
Whereas the fledgling church was limited in what it could know in
the world, the world around them being all that they knew, we
have access to information on the world in a global sense. We
know about what happens in countries that we may never have
heard of yesterday. We know what happens at the hands of
leaders who are a threat to our way of life, and who are already
removing freedoms from their own people and systematically
oppressing them.
Barreto writes: “there may be an important lesson for us in this
political season, a reminder to pray for those who would be our
leaders [regardless] of how we feel about them or their political
leadings.” Although here he was directly speaking within the
American context, in other places he directs us to think about
prayers for those who are dictators. So, it’s not just pray for those
you disagree with, but also; pray for those whom you may despise
or fear. We are reminded that in our world climate where all
nations are so interdependent it has become a matter of justice
and equality to pray for ALL PEOPLE AND ALL LEADERS.
So, I looked up the list of those whom are considered to be
dictators. It is a long list.
Just a few of the leaders on that list are Putin, the leader of the
Taliban, Anmadzai of Afghanistan, President Sen of Cambodia,
President Xi of China, Kim Jon Un of Korea and dozens of others.
What if we prayed for them, and others, with the same fervor
which you prayed for me? Would they, like me, feel the deep
cradling peace of God? What if we prayed for them to have a
change of heart? Would it change the way they think, or lead?
But note, we are not told what to pray for them. We can simply
pray for justice for their people and them. We can pray for a
change of leadership in those countries. Or we can pray for a
change of heart in the current leadership.
One of the things that I noted in this command to pray for all
people and all leaders, is that we are not called to judge. We pray
for those with whom we agree and for those with whom we do
not agree.
The commentators at Working Preacher point out that when we
pray, we put the emphasis on the oneness of God—the
Sovereignty of God. We turn over all for whom we pray into the
care and keeping and guidance of God. And more importantly
the mercy and grace of God.
I am reminded of that meme in which God speaks saying, “just
love them all, I’ll sort it out”. And God will sort it out, with his
usual grace, love, mercy and justice.
It really is a test of our heart and will to follow this instruction to
pray for our enemies, for those with whom we disagree, for those
whose leadership we don’t respect. How do we pray for them?
We pray for them as a person whom God loves.
Stephen Noble who I listen to in the car asks this question in one
of his songs. “how can we say that we love God if we don’t love
our brother?”
Can we do this? It is a gargantuan task. I don’t think I could
prepare a prayer list detailed or big enough. Yet, if we break our
prayers down by continents, could we do that? If we prayed for
all leaders, just and unjust, could we do that?
Let us remember that we are called to pray in many ways. We are
called to appeal for a particular need. We are called to make
general petitions. We are called to make urgent and bold
requests. We are called to express our gratitude.
Some days we may pray in particular for President Zelinsky and at
the same time make a general request for all leaders who invade
their neighbours. Some days we can make a bold request that
Prime Minister Trudeau be guided by the wisdom of the Holy
Spirit and at the same time pray generally for all Premiers in the
country to lead with compassion and boldness.
All days we will pray with gratitude that God hears our prayers
and in his love for ALL people he will answer. Praise be to God.
Amen.

Hymn: 721 All who love and serve your city

Offering
Doxology
Offertory Prayer

Gathering Prayer Requests
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Loving God, who desires everyone to be healed
and come to know the truth.
You ask us to pray for those in positions of power
that we may all come to live together,
quietly, and in peace and in dignity.
So today we pray for all leaders that they may wisely lead their
people into peace and justice.
You ask us to pray for those who have misused that power over
others.
So today we pray urgently for President Putin and President Xi
that they would hear your voice about peace, and justice as they
seek peace with their neighbours.
We ask that our prayers, will bring the peace you desire.
That they will that lead with respect and dignity for everyone, for
all people, everywhere.
We ask that they find peace in Christ, and lead with justice for
the poor who live among them.
It is no easy thing Lord, and yet we bring our prayers, requests
and petitions before you now, thanking you that in your love for all
people you will answer.
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The people of the Ukraine, and President Zelinsky; peace and
continued good leadership
King Charles as he grieves and yet bears a heavy burden of trips
and visits with other leaders. Grant him wisdom and comfort him
with your peace.
Hear what we have held in our hearts. When our words seem
inadequate, hear the yearnings in our hearts, the things so
heartfelt we can’t bear to speak them.
May the prayers shared among us today for ALL people be
inspired by the Word that makes all things new.
Words of truth.
Words of dignity.
Words of peace.
Words of life.
In the name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
forever. Amen

Hymn: 726 May the God of hope go with you everyday

Charge and Benediction
Sung Blessing

Take O take me as I am; Summon out what I shall be;
Set your seal upon my heart and live in me. (2x)