February 26thOUR Shared Prayers
OUR Shared Prayers
Ruth Bergen Braun, MCA Communications
One evening a few weeks ago, I received two submissions for Our Shared Prayer, the opening feature for this newsletter, The MCA Communiqué. One was expected, the other only scheduled in March. Reading them, I was touched by the variety of gifts God has given individuals in our congregations and reminded of the theme for MC Canada’s Gathering in 2025, in Kitchener, Ontario, Each Gift, 1 Peter 4:10.
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. (NIV)
Our Shared Prayer is a new feature in this newsletter, as of January 8. The MCA Communiqué had opened with brief prayers for about 5 years and I mused that it was time for change and was given the go ahead for this idea -- inspired by a prayer prayed in my own congregation, Foothills Mennonite.
I’ve been asked a few times since how I see these prayers as having value. Our Shared Prayer is an experiment, no doubt, but my hope is, as these prayers open our newsletter each week that at least one over the next year would resonate with you, you specifically, you who are reading this Menno Minute right now. And perhaps one or more will be just right for the worship planner in your congregation to use on a Sunday morning. We rarely worship in each others' spaces, as a regional church spread from Edmonton to rural Pincher Creek, but perhaps in this way, we can invite another, someone from an MCA congregation other than our own to “speak” in our midst.
Although one prayer was written by a member of MC USA and shared with permission, my goal is to gather these prayers from MCA prayer-writers. I have a spreadsheet with a column of “people to ask” just below those who have said yes to a specific week. I do, however, have permission to reprint from a well known author should something happen and a prayer-for-the-week misses my inbox. Know that if I use one of hers, this author is a back-up, not a regular.
I’ve often said that the MCA Communiqué is a mini-magazine of sorts, that my goal isn’t simply to disperse information, although there is that, but to show us who we are. Our Shared Prayer could, in addition to A Menno Minute and the myriad of photos and such, help do that. To read our 2025 prayers click HERE. The collection will grow as the year unfolds.
As always, if you have feedback or if you would like to volunteer to share a prayer, or if you’d like to suggest someone to contact to share a prayer, I’m at communications@mcab.ca Mondays until noon, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.