Prayers across time

by Sarah Teichmann

A short while ago I came to work and found out that a colleague and friend was in the hospital. My supervising pastor and I went to visit him. His hospital stay was not planned nor was it expected. We sat with him for a while and talked about what was going on with his health and before we left we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together. We had prayed this prayer together many times in church during our routine morning devotions. Gone was our usual church location- gone was our predictable routine. As we prayed the Lord’s Prayer I could hear the emotion in our voices. There were times during the prayer where one of us had difficulty speaking but the other voices would carry on.

And it hit me. Fellow Christians have been praying the Lord’s Prayer for centuries, and we have been united by the bonds of God’s love in Christ Jesus. There have been times where one voice- burdened by fear and sadness- has difficulty finding the words, but this one voice is supported by the melody of prayers lifted around them.

We were not simply three people who were reading off a grocery list or reading from a phone book. We were three people who were part of a fellowship of believers that existed before any of us were born and will continue long after our days come to a close. The same prayer which carried us through days filled with routine was now carrying us through this day filled with trepidation. And we were not alone- we were three voices amidst an unending chorus of prayer, joined by a fellowship of all believers past, present, and future, and embraced in the loving arms of our savior, Jesus Christ.