Dearly beloved in Southwestern Minnesota -
I have been eager to invite you to join in an effort affirmed by the Conference of Bishops: to pray! In fact, to Pray Without Ceasing. Some of us pray every day, throughout the day. Some of us pray periodically. And for some of us, we say that when we do not know what else to do, we pray. Wherever you are in your life of prayer, I ask you to join in this effort to Pray Without Ceasing in this changing time. Give me a call for ideas, concerns or questions. I am grateful to Minneapolis Area Synod Bishop Jen Nagel and former bishop Rev. Ann Svennungsen for creating this invitation and these resources for use across the church. I pray that this movement of prayer will inspire you and join us together in unity across our synod and across this church.
+Bishop Dee Pederson
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thess. 5:16-18
The call to prayer runs through Scripture: the community gathered before Pentecost, the faithful praying to receive the Word in Nehemiah, some 150 Psalms calling us to pray alone and together. Now, in this time of significant change, we pray.
As people who follow Jesus, we pray. Alone and together, we pray. And, in times of great change, we pray.
We can agree that 2025 has begun as a time of significant change, particularly in our federal government. Whether we agree or disagree with the changes, the very speed of the actions gives us pause. And so we pray.
We pray for peace. We pray for victims of war, violence, and persecution. We pray for those who have lost jobs or vital services. We pray for children, people with disabilities, elders. We pray for those experiencing anxiety in the face of rapid change. We pray for government leaders. We pray for civil discourse in our communities. We pray for our congregation and for the renewal of the church. And we pray that we might each be faithful disciples, good listeners, and loving Christians.
We invite you to join with congregations and communities across the ELCA to gather for weekly, community prayer as part of the Bishops’ Pray Without Ceasing Initiative.
Specifically, we ask your ministry make two commitments:
- Establish and host a regular, weekly prayer gathering – welcoming all. We encourage congregations to consider Sunday at 5:00 p.m. (local time), but trust that you will determine a time and day that is best for your situation. We hope your first prayer gathering will be held between May 1 – 8, 2025.
- Think ahead and invite two other congregations (ELCA, full communion partners, other faith communities) to make the same two-fold commitment before May 15 (to host a weekly, welcoming prayer gathering and to ask two other congregations to make the same commitment).
Our prayer is that by Pentecost Sunday on June 8, several communities in our synod and in each participating synod will have begun gathering weekly to Pray without Ceasing. How amazing that over the weeks, this number will continue to grow and multiply.
Notes for Sample Liturgies
Our goal is to make the preparation needed for the prayer gatherings as simple as possible.
In particular, we are providing sample liturgies with this in mind:
- The sample liturgies are developed as a way to support you in this ministry. Use them only if they’re helpful. Or use only portions of them. You may have something else that works better for your context.
- There is no need to print copies for everyone. Indeed, building community is enhanced if those gathered are free to look at one another rather than at a bulletin.
- The sample liturgy is for the leader(s) and the liturgy is simple enough for people to follow at the leader’s instruction.
- If you do wish to make copies for the people gathered, please respect copyright permissions and include them on your printed materials.
- The songs are familiar or easily teachable and designed to be sung without accompaniment. It will be helpful to have one person prepared to get the songs started. 😊
- Sample prayers are included, but we imagine the leader may invite a time of open prayer. Hopefully, any spontaneous prayers will be loving and non-partisan. If this is a concern in your context, you may want to provide some instructions before the open prayer time.
- Scripture texts are provided related to the liturgical season. Again, you may prefer to use other Scripture passages that work for your context (Perhaps, your community is studying Acts – so you may wish to use texts from Acts).
- Providing a meditation or time of reflection is completely optional but could be included after the scripture readings.
- You may wish to include time for community conversation. We hope to provide simple ground rules and conversation prompts soon.
Please reach out to Ann Svennungsen if you have any questions or suggestions. And please join other Pray Without Ceasing leaders for a weekly zoom call starting Thursday, May 1, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Central Time. The zoom link will be emailed to you once your congregation or community signs up with your synod to participate.
Coming soon