The Prayer of the Church is the last item for the Service of the Word before the Service of the sacrament begins. Formalized prayers are referenced often in the writings of 2nd (100s) and 3rd (200s) century Christians. But, we don’t see examples until 4th (300s) century, AD.
The prayers appear suddenly in the historic record. Like the fossil explosion, the prayers appear en mas all over the Christian world, sharing common forms. These prayers were much longer in the ancient church than we find today.
These prayers shared some common features. First, prayer addresses God by name and identifies His attributes and worthiness of our prayer and we beg for His mercy. Then, we petition the Lord concerning our needs on Earth. The sequence of our needs goes from great to small: The Church, our government, and ourselves.
Each of these uses a great to small sequence as well. For the church, we pray for the whole church on earth, our synod, our district, our circuit, and our own congregation. For our nations, we pray for Earth, our nation, our state, our county, and other subdivisions. These divisions encourage our prayers to be as brief or as lengthy as we want them to be.
Getting back to the question, we pray for the church first because the kingdom of God is over the kingdoms of this world. Our citizenship in the heavenly kingdom calls for us to submit to God before Caesar. In the same way, we pray for His church before the fiefdoms of kings, princes, or constitutions. These governments are gifts to us from God, but they are also subject to Him.
Rev. Jason M. Kaspar
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church & Preschool
La Grange, TX
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