Communionity via Prayer

The Lord's Supper was not just about sharing bread and a cup of wine. It was also about sharing in the suffering of Jesus.

Three different times during their journey to Jerusalem from Galilee, Jesus told his disciples that he would be handed over to the temple authorities, tried unjustly, and crucified as a criminal. The warnings didn't seem to work, as the disciples one by one betrayed, denied, or fled their Lord, adding to his suffering instead of sharing in it with him. And this is why Jesus prayed for his disciples.

Prayer is a powerful way to share in the sufferings of others.

If Communionity is about unity with one another and communion with Christ, prayer is a crucial task for that relationship. In prayer we share with God the suffering of those near and dear to us. Prayer is what we can do when we can't end the suffering, when we can't stand the suffering, when we can't bear it any longer. No one suffered more on earth than Jesus, and so we can go to him in prayer, knowing that he will understand and empathize.

But more than that, we believe that Jesus can help. That's what community is all about - neighbors being there for one another in a time of need. That's the heart of the story of the Good Samaritan, the parable Jesus used to demonstrate what love of neighbor looks like. The one who had mercy was the good neighbor.

And so prayer can be a sacred work of mercy and neighborliness to those you see in suffering.

Jesus prayed for his disciples, that they might not give in to temptation. He prayed that they would be rescued from their disloyalty. He prayed not only for the men and women who had followed him up to Jerusalem, but for all the disciples who would ever live and breathe his name as Lord. Jesus has already prayed for you.

He has also taught us how to pray - to our Father in Heaven, for one another, and for those we see in need. And we have the words of his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane where he wrestled to accept his coming crucifixion and interceded on behalf of his followers of all ages.

Another kind of prayer we think of during the Lord's Supper is where you intercede to God on behalf of someone in your life. Intercessory prayer is lifting up a need in a life up to the Lord. Jesus did this for his disciples, he did it for us following the dinner. And it ought to be something we do as part of our Communion - union with others in their need, with Christ who is present and able to help.

Intercessory Prayer is a spiritual practice that forms our soul, guides our hands, hearts. Intercessory prayer invites us into God’s care and concern for us, our families and friends, and the entire world. No concern is too trivial for God to receive with loving attention. However, intercession is not a means of manipulating God into doing our will. Rather, it is a way we become aware of God’s prayer for a person and join in that intercession.

Spiritual Formation thru Intercessory Prayer
* To turn my concerns and worries into prayer; to enter God’s heart for the world and then pray from there
* Get together with friends to pray for those in need
* Prayer walk through your neighborhood
* Pray for people caught up in the crises of the world
* Pray for people and situations as they come to mind
* Respond to Jesus’ invitation to pray with him for others
* Turn anxieties and sorrows into a dialogue of prayer
* Develop a rhythm for turning to God with requests
* Gain discernment on how the Spirit leads you to pray

Sometimes we don't know what to say to God about the suffering we see within others and all around us. We are wordless amidst the sorrow and pain, yet we believe that the Spirit of God within us intercedes on our behalf to our Father in Heaven. More than us, God wants to bring an end to all suffering - the one who loves us with a heart bigger than the universe.

Through Jesus, God has suffered with humanity, at the hands of humanity, for the hope of humanity. So when we cry out to God with pained whispers, the same Spirit that was within Jesus is there with us, to hear us, be with us, and point us forward in hope. When we go to God on behalf of someone we care about, it's not so much the words on our lips that matter as the faith in our hearts.

That we go to God is significant. That we surrender the pain and hopes we have for others to the Lord is more important than demanding resolution. Intercessory prayer is just as much about going to God with the suffering as it is bearing it with your friend. Communionity is sharing suffering with one another in communion with Christ. Pray for those you share the bread and cup with. Be with them, and share in their suffering.

And when we can't bear it anymore, we let Jesus help us bear the sufferings of one another. Intercessory prayer aren't a substitute for being present with someone else. It's what you do before, during, and after you are moved by the suffering of someone.

Intercessory prayer is marked by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who bore our sins on the cross, who loved us to the end, who forgave us our betrayal and denials, and who was raised from the dead in order to lead us forward towards the reconciliation of all things.

We believe that in Christ all things will be worked out for the good of those that love God. And that ends up being a lot of what intercessory prayer becomes - looking to be used by God to help every ounce of suffering to be redeemed for our joy and God's glory. 

In the bread we remember the body of Jesus that was present with humanity amidst it's suffering, and we remember the blood poured out for a new covenant for the world with God - God is now with us, no matter what we do to him.

He is Jesus, who has come to save us. He is Immanuel, God with us.
Pray in confidence.