In this ember day Forward Today, Scott offers a prayer for clergy and a reflection on the call to ministry.
Dear friends in Christ,
Today our church keeps the first of the spring ember days. Four times each year, we set aside Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday to pray and fast for those to be ordained and for those in the ordination process. More lately, it has become common to pray for clergy and for all people in their vocations.
I encourage you to pray, especially for those discerning calls to ordained ministry and those in the ordination process. While every member of the church matters, because each of us has a place in the body of Christ, the task of identifying and training clergy is an especially important one. Pray for those involved in the ordination process, for bishops and Commissions on Ministry. Pray for seminaries. Pray for the church, that we might see the Holy Spirit at work in those who are called.
The process leading to ordination is often challenging. And too often, our imperfect church allows human sexism or racism to blind us to the work of God in those who are called to ministry. Pray – and work for a church that is just and a church that listens carefully for the still, small voice of God wherever it speaks.
O God, you led your holy apostles to ordain ministers in every
place: Grant that your Church, under the guidance of the Holy
Spirit, may choose suitable persons for the ministry of Word
and Sacrament, and may uphold them in their work for the
extension of your kingdom; through him who is the Shepherd
and Bishop of our souls, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and
reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.
Pray that God will bless every lay person and every ordained person with an inquiring and discerning heart.
Yours faithfully,
Scott Gunn
Executive Director
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