For the last several months, I’ve been working on the elusive, often challenging art of writing the Prayers of the People for Sunday worship. Several factors are at play in this work: the intercessions prescribed by the Prayer Book (Church, Nation, world, etc.); the identity and local mission of the people saying the prayers; the day, season, and lectionary readings; local news and emergent crises that call for prayer; and other X factors that can spoil even the best attempts. One of those X factors is the frustrating fact that good, creative writing doesn’t automatically pray well:* when your favorite words are said out loud by a group of people at prayer, they sometimes fall flat. These prayers for Palm/Passion Sunday have not been tested in that way, but I have reasonable confidence that they will hold up. They are written to reflect the lectionary for Palm/Passion Sunday Year B (Mark), and they are sensitive to the fact that the service is already long and wordy by the time the faithful begin these prayers. (Brevity is your friend, and your greatest challenge, in writing the Prayers of the People!) Here they are, and if you’d like to use them this coming Sunday, alone or with others, please feel free. (Note: the Hebrew word hosanna means “Save us!”.)
*The Rev. Dr. James Farwell taught me, when considering liturgical writing, to ask the question, “Does it pray well?”
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Prayers of the People, Palm/Passion Sunday, Year B
We pray for all who follow Jesus, in times of joy and times of loss.
Silence
Save us, O God:
Hosanna in the highest.
We pray for all in authority, who hold innocent life in their hands.
Silence
Save us, O God:
Hosanna in the highest.
We pray for this community, watching with the women at Golgotha.
Silence
Leader Save us, O God:
Hosanna in the highest.
We pray for all who are sick or suffering, shaded and nourished by the Tree of Life.
Silence
Save us, O God:
Hosanna in the highest.
We pray for all who have died, gathered with joy by the Risen One.
Silence
Save us, O God:
Hosanna in the highest.