Through prayer—with words and without, offered alone and in congregations—people have reached out to communicate with God for as long as anyone can remember. Prayers of praise and adoration, of thanksgiving and joy; pleas for help and mercy, for direction and strength; requests for our neighbors, ourselves, our churches, our country, and the world are offered to God because of our desire to be in conversation with God. That desire also leads us to wait silently in God’s presence, listening in the stillness to hear God’s response or simply to be with God. In our speaking and in our silence God’s Spirit can expand our hearts.
The prayers contained in the 2005–2006 Presbyterian Planning Calendar are intended to give voice to some of our own prayers, so that we too may have our hearts expanded as we pray with those who first prayed these prayers. Some of the prayers may challenge us, such as the prayer of a man from Central America who blesses God both when God gives and when God does not give. Some may be familiar, such as David’s prayer of confession from Psalm 51. A prayer by Marian Wright Edelman comes from a place of struggle as she asks for help to continue her work. A Celtic prayer by Philip Newell helps us see the details of our lives in a new way. The prayer of a Filipino child may bring smiles to our faces and our souls because of its simplicity and, through the smiles, bring us to a fresh place from which to pray. It is hoped that the prayers in the calendar will spark our own praying and be monthly reminders of our living in God’s presence.
Artist Sandra Charles of Louisville, Kentucky, has created twelve batiks that are visual prayers to go with the word prayers.
The 2005–2006 Presbyterian Planning Calendar contains its usual aids for planning worship services and other church events, for connecting Presbyterians to each other through the directories, and for keeping track of your schedule. Lectionaries for Sundays and other liturgical days, liturgical colors of the seasons of the church, programmatic emphases established by the General Assembly Council, and planning suggestions for celebrating them and other events are featured in the calendar. A map of the United States showing the presbyteries and synods and a world map highlighting PC(USA) mission workers in various countries are in the back of the calendar. |
