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Introduction
In our Sunday worship, we pray for one another and for the world in which we live and of which we are part. This page explains why and how we do this.
The priesthood of all believers: why we pray
The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers is central to Baptist understandings of the Church. In the controversies of the sixteenth-century Reformation in Europe, the teaching was taken to mean that individual believers did not need a priest to administer the sacraments – to consecrate the elements at communion, or to grant absolution, for example.
Yet this narrows the matter too much. Two correctives need to be made to this reading of things (apart from the question of what those in ordained ministry are to do). Firstly, the doctrine needs to be understood corporately as well as individually: together believers act in a priestly way. Secondly, we need to remind ourselves about what priestly activity is. The offering we make is two-fold: we pray to God for the world and one another, and we offer God’s blessing to the world and one another.
Forgiveness, justice and peace: what we pray
In public worship and private devotions we do this by our prayers and by the forgiveness we offer (cf. Mt 16.19). One Baptist liturgy puts it like this:
If you forgive the sins of others, they are forgiven.
If you do not forgive them, what will you do with them?
In addition to praying for forgiveness, we also pray for justice in our world and among the people of God. The bible often talks of ‘righteousness’ when we might use the word ‘justice’. The problem with the idea of righteousness is that is too often becomes distorted into self-righteousness. Justice is right-dealing; when we pray for right-dealing in the world, we acknowledge that we ourselves must take the initiative in looking to do right for others, by others and with others. And if we do not set our own lives in order, we cannot hope to see change in our world.
We also pray for peace. Baptists have their sixteenth-century roots among groups who advocated pacifism and non-violence among peoples and nations. Today, not all Baptists see things this way, although our Mennonite and Amish brothers and sisters certainly do. Whatever our view about the idea of a just war, our Saviour is called the Prince of Peace and his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is clearly about peace-making (Matt 5.9). Part of our priestly task is pray for peace and work for peace within the Church as well as in the world. This does not mean that there cannot be difference of opinion. It does mean that any such difference must not lead to estrangement or hostility.
If we do not pray in these ways, we fail to exercise the priesthood of all believers and we become untrue to ourselves and to our Saviour.
Prayer and action
Prayer is no substitute for action. We cannot allow pious words to fall from our mouths without setting our shoulders to the wheel. In prayer, we need enough silence to allow God to speak, so that we may discover when we need to be the answer (or part of it) to our prayers.
Ignatius of Loyola said:
Further Thinking
What is the relationship between the bible and the newspaper, in our prayers for the church and the world?
Would it help prayers if we had prayer requests that could be spoken?
Would it help our prayers if we had requests that were written and placed in the offering plate?
Why do you think that prayers for the church and the world often follow the reading and preaching of the word?
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