LEADING
INTERCESSIONS in a Common Worship Service
Intercessions are
prayers offered on behalf of others.
Prayer is a ministry
and therefore God is active.
Our part of the deal is
to prepare carefully, using good resources.
You may
wish to check out the CofE Daily Prayers
Common
Worship Prayer
During the Day, Prayers
for Various Occasions
Your task
here is to guide people in prayer. This
is normally a time for interceding
rather than praise, confession, meditation, sermon(!)
etc. which will probably be catered for in other parts of the service.
1. Preparation
·
Check
the date/festival, type of service (eg
Evening Praise, Communion etc), and other details from the monthly Service
Rota. Think and pray about how your
prayers can be appropriate to the people
who will be there and the style of
the service.
·
Pray
that God would guide you in your
preparation. Leading any part of worship
is a privilege and a great service to the people in the church, and to God.
·
Contact
the Preacher (listed on the Service Rota), and check the theme of the
sermon. It should match what’s listed on
the Service Rota, but the Preacher will provide you with more details about
what s/he will say. Your prayers could
meditate on our response to the sermon.
·
Consider
what you will pray about:
*
General
topics like The Church, The World, The Sick (Common Worship p174)
*
Items
which are in the News, eg a major disaster or a
famous person’s death
*
Themes
from the Sermon, eg forgiveness, loving your
neighbour, etc
*
People
who are sick, from the Newsletter, Care Team or Vicar.
·
As
a guide, aim to cover around four topics.
·
Consider
several possible ways of leading prayers:
*
Write
your own prayers. To be creative, think
of using music, hand movements, mind-pictures, candles, poems etc
*
Using
the printed prayers in the service-book
(for Communion, Common Worship p281; for
other services CW p101: index CW p837)
*
Using
prayers selected from other books of prayers (borrow some from Staff or
Ministry Team).
*
Use
silence. It’s a good idea to time this:
10 seconds for a single topic, 30 seconds for a longer silence.
*
When
appropriate, invite input from the congregation. This could be in the form of
ideas which you then lead in prayer about, or prayers which they pray (these
should be brief, and audible! Lollipop mic?)
·
If
you want to use prayers with responses, or a Litany (eg
Common Worship p111/284), remember that people must know when to respond.
Ideally, get the responses onto the data
projector, and then you don’t need to rehearse the people. Alternatively (especially for Family Service
or Communion), the leader may be planning to use a service card or leaflet with
responses printed. If not, you will need
to give the people a ‘cue line’ before their response, such as: Leader: Lord, in your mercy, All: hear our prayer.
or “L: Lord
of light, A: Bring your light to the world”. You should explain this briefly and
then use the cue line and response soon,
which will help people to remember it.
·
Consider
how you will finish - use some kind of ending so that people are aware of what
is happening. This could simply be to use the word “finally” as you begin the
last section of the prayers; or you could use a standard ending such as the
Grace [“The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all
evermore”], or a short prayer to sum up (CW p110/288).
·
Contact
the Leader (also listed on the Service Rota), and check how the prayers you
lead will fit into the rest of the Service.
If you can, say briefly how you plan to lead the prayers.
·
Write
it out BIG, on one thick sheet of paper if possible.
·
When
you come to church, check where you will lead prayers (usually the lectern),
that it’s ready for you. Nothing in the
way to trip you up, microphone at the right height, etc. Tell the sound operator.
·
Pray,
that God will give you confidence to serve him, and use you to lead others in
worship.
2. Delivery
·
Come
to the front (or wherever you’re going to lead from) in good time so you can get ready.
During a hymn, start walking out before the last verse begins. Don’t leave it too late!
·
If
necessary, adjust the microphone. Get your papers ready, breathe deeply.
·
Announce
the prayers with words such as ‘Let us pray’, and give people a few seconds to
settle down.
·
Lead
slowly and clearly: loud enough to hear, but in a style which matches the
prayers you are praying. In other words,
meditations should be slow and reflective, thanksgiving and intercessions
should be earnest, praise should be joyful.
Don’t be apologetic to
people.
·
Remember
to worship as you lead: you are leading by example, as well as by words.
·
Indicate
to the service Leader when you have finished and go quietly back to your seat.
3. Afterwards
·
Give
thanks to God, and pray that people will be encouraged in their prayer.
·
A
few days later, ask others you respect how you could improve for next
time.
The following books make good reference material:-
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By Frank Colquhoun |
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By John Pritchard |
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By John Pritchard |
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By David Kennedy, books for several church seasons |
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CofE
Daily Prayers |
CW Morning day & evening for that day. |
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