Prayers for Savior

At our Anniversary Celebration this past Saturday, Father Kevin shared vision for this next season of Savior's life together and invited us to join in prayer for wisdom and discernment (listen or read a summary). As the staff, vestry and clergy considered this summer, we are invited to prayerfully consider: 

What are you thankful about in our life together? 

Take some time to talk to the Lord about that.

What are some of the challenges you experience in our life together? 

As you bring these before the Lord, do you sense any invitations?

As our leaders discerned a sense that we are being invited to go deeper that we might be stronger for others, let us pray together about both our Inward and Outward Journey.

Inward Journey:

• What inward communal practices do you enjoy in our life together? Is God stirring something in you there?

• What invitations do you sense for us as a body, in our continual formation as God's people?

Outward Journey:

Let us seek God's direction as we prayerfully consider these categories Father Kevin put before us:

• Serve our Neighbor in Need: As you pray for our friends of the Savior and neighbors, does anything particular come to mind? 

• Sending Out People to Their Vocations: What vocation are you sent out to each week? Does God have something to say to you in this? Whom else at Savior can you pray for as they do their daily work? 

• Start Churches: Please pray for the Pachecos as they plant a church in East Garfield Park, and for the Richters, as they discern the first steps in planting a church in Oak Park, for the community of Oak Park and for God to raise up people to participate in this work. Pray also for others who might be sensing a call to participate in church planting.

• Seek Justice: Let's wonder together about how God will lead us to seek justice in the world. Will it include:

  • C4SO Children's Ministry Leadership?

  • ACNA Women's Leadership Support?

  • Church-to-Church Partnerships?

  • Other outworkings of our gifts/passion?

As you pray, please feel free to share with Father Kevin and our vestry what comes to mind. We are eager to discern together what God has for us in this next season of our life together.

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Sandy Richter, Savior’s Pastor of Adult Formation, grew up in the Church of God, but gravitated toward 'higher church' settings in college, making her way to the ACNA and Church of the Savior in 2013. Sandy and her husband love the liturgy and tradition they have found in Anglicanism, and the warmth and depth of spirituality at Savior.

Prayer Requests for Holy Week

As Holy Week approaches, we invite you to use the following suggestions as you pray for our services and our community:

For our preparations

• For all of us to enter our Lenten practice of communal lament

• For Sandy Richter, our Holy Week coordinator, to have strength, health, and wisdom as she leads our planning

• For Erin, our minister of music, and all our musicians to be drawn upward in worship as they prepare to lead us

• For wisdom about how to handle any limits in parking or seating

• For God’s Spirit to anoint and guide each preacher: Father Kevin on Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday; Mother Karen at the Easter Vigil; and Mother Linda on Maundy Thursday

For our people

• For our children and youth to deeply experience the love of Jesus and the life of the church, and for Pastor Mary, Sarah Lindsay, and Ellen Vosburg to be strengthened to serve them.

• For our members who are sick and suffering, and those who love them, to have grace to bear with these limitations and still meet the Lord

• For people who are new to Savior or returning to church in general, to be gently opened by God’s Spirit to receive all God has for them

• For at least one person to return to God

• For the many who serve in hidden ways, that they will enjoy the smile of Christ

• For God to lead us as a people through these services, giving us discernment about the people and places He would have us serve

• For God to raise up people with gifts as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who can lead a new Savior community when the time is right

For our worship:

• For the Word of God to be proclaimed boldly and creatively through the Scripture readings in each service

• For our prayers to be honest and Spirit-led, particularly during the Prayer Watch on Maundy Thursday and the Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday

• For people to have the grace to give freely, joyfully, without compulsion to the Good Friday gift, and for our gift to bless immigrants and refugees

• For all the arts—music, drama, dance, banners, craftsmanship, and more—to be more fully released in our midst

• For a deep taste of resurrection joy at the Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday services; for heaven to come down during our worship at these services

Lamenting with the Psalms: A Brief Guide

This Lent, we are entering the practice of communal lament. If you missed Fr. Kevin’s sermon from Ash Wednesday, “The Power of Lament,” he listed 5 elements you’ll usually find in laments. You may find these helpful as you express your own pain to God.

1. Reminding God how he acted in the past (example: Psalm 44:1-2)

2. Describing how bad the suffering is (example: Psalm 44:9-10)

3. Asking hard questions of God– like “How long?” and “Why don’t you act?” (examples: Psalm 44:24; Psalm 13:1-2)

4. Dealing with our sin—if that’s involved. Some psalms, like 78, clearly confess the people’s sins, but others say, “Yes, we did sin, but now we’ve been punished enough” (like Psalm 79). Some even say, “We’re innocent. This suffering is not something we deserve” (Psalm 44:17-22)

5. Pleading for God to help (Psalm 44:23-26)

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Kevin Miller was editor and vice-president at Christianity Today for 26 years and then associate rector at Church of the Resurrection for 5 years. He has been the rector at Savior since January 2017, and is also the co-founder of PreachingToday.com and CTPastors.com.

How to Pray for Church of the Savior Right Now

At our All-Church Prayer Gathering last Wednesday, we prayed for specific needs of Church of the Savior using the guide below. Whether you were there at the gathering or not, this list may be helpful as you prayer for our community.

Loving God:

• For divine favor on our Apostles’ Creed sermon series and for blessing on our Advent and Christmas Eve worship

• Thanks to God for the many new children and youth! (On average, 10 more each week than last year at this time). Favor on our Staff and adults who lead them in worship and care for them.

• Wisdom for the Vestry as they consider the best ways to accommodate our growing attendance; and as they draft the 2019 Savior budget

Loving Others:

• Daily grace for our sick and suffering; take a moment to name those who come to mind

• “Show us the people and places you would have us serve” and give wisdom to Christine & Luke Wulbecker as they lead us in local compassion ministries

• For those struggling in their faith, that God would draw them close and speak to their hearts

Loving Life:

• Thanks to God for the unity we enjoy and that we would continue in that blessing

• Blessings on the Gingerbread Nativities on December 8

Word from Father Kevin: International Day of Prayer

My heart goes out to the many Christians around the world who suffer persecution. In honor of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, I offer you this prayer by an (unnamed) Asian woman at the 2016 Lausanne Movement’s Younger Leaders Gathering:

 We pray for our dear brothers and sisters around the globe who are now suffering for the name of Jesus. We claim that no suppression from the authority, no adversity from other religions, no terrorist threat could separate us from the love of Jesus, or the body of Christ. We ask for your true freedom, your true comfort and your true peace and joy to be with those who are restricted by human powers. Remember your children and fight for them and for your glory. And save the crowns of righteousness for them.

Lord, we also pray for ourselves as we bear the torch from the hands of those who gave their lives proclaiming Jesus. Let us inherit the same spirit, the spirit that inspired them and sustained them. Let us keep the memory of suffering fresh so that we can encourage those who are in sufferings. Give us strength and courage to humbly and willingly walk on the same path of Calvary that our fathers, grandfathers and saints of history have walked on.

 (From The Fellowship of the Suffering, by Paul Borthwick and Dave Ripper. InterVarsity Press, 2018.)