I woke up around 7:15 this morning with sun streaming through my blinds. I said to myself, "I should say a prayer to God before getting up." I did start one... but it soon became a reason to lie in bed longer. Finally, realizing it was 7:25, I jumped out of bed to a "Thanks, God. Amen"-type of thing and went on my way to the shower.

I've been to several churches where communal prayer is a major feature in worship. Presbyterian liturgy factors a "Prayers of the People" section into the service. In the past, I've never been particularly excited about it when a church spends 20 minutes wandering around the congregation to collect everyone's spoken prayer requests. Blanket prayers and silent prayers are more my style-- that's where I can focus on God and the issues going on in my life.

Yet there is a reason "Prayers of the People" exist, and I've become more convicted about my own self-centered attitude toward prayer of late. Yes, prayer is praise and worship to God, prayer is meditation and centering, prayer is a chance to seek God's will in one's own life. In NNPCW, we often focus on these meditative and discerning aspects. Yet prayer is also crucial to our experience of womanspace, for it is through prayer for our sisters that we begin to live in solidarity with one another. Just as we pray to center ourselves before acting on behalf of justice, direct prayer for others builds relationships across separation.

I read an article about emerging worship the other day in which the author, Corey Nelson, talked about the power of joining in prayer with our sisters and brothers around the world. What he described wasn't the usual "God, please bless those other people," that so often happens in corporate prayer. Instead, it was about personally uniting with others in one body of Christ, sharing experiences and lifting up one another in support. This kind of prayer is exactly what our understanding of womanspace attempts to do.

Several requests for prayer have come across my path in the past few days, some from NNPCW members and alumnae. One woman has asked several of us to pray for her father, who suddenly found out he has a severe form of leukemia. Another NNPCW woman asked me last night to pray about her physical health, as one of her organs may need removal. So I ask you to remember these women in your prayers, knowing that it is an important act of solidarity with our sisters in Christ and a powerful manifestation of womanspace.

"And will not God grant justice to the chosen ones who cry to God day and night? Will God delay long in helping them?" --Luke 18:7

Kelsey

PS-- To read the article mentioned on emerging worship, check out www.emergingworship.org/nelsonglobal.htm.