The Pastor's Daily Prayer (Part 10 of 13)

The Pastor's Daily Prayer

(paragraph 10 of 13)

The following paragraph comes from the Pastor's Daily Prayer from The Lutheran Agenda (c) 1941.  It has been slightly edited (thee's and thou's to you and yours) to make it sound a bit less archaic; nonetheless, some archaic terms have been retained for the sake of endearment of the original version.


To your grace and mercy I also commend all my brothers in the office of the holy ministry. Arrest and suppress all discord and dissension. Give me a brotherly heart towards all and true humility, and help me to bear with patience their casual weakness or deficiencies. Grant that they also may act as true brothers toward me.

The pastor prays for his fellow pastors, particularly those of his own fellowship with whom he has the most contact and with whom he shares a common confession.  These are the pastors that I usually work with in my little corner of the world in the western suburbs of Detroit.  I suspect that they are all like me--plenty absorbed in their own parishes and responsibilities to think too much beyond that.  As a result, each of us can wallow in our own concerns and be oblivious to the various challenges that our brothers are enduring, whether those challenges are personal or congregational.

This petition keeps me mindful that my fellow pastors have their own various struggles, often unknown to me.  It also reminds me that I am partly responsible for our camaraderie.  We each have our own personalities, strengths, weaknesses, and quirks.  While we all may be comfortable enough with our own quirks, others may find them quite annoying.  We are tempted to deal with each other with eye rolls and reluctance rather than as brothers united in preaching God's word and defending the faith.  This prayer acknowledges those faults and weaknesses, seeks to overcome my own level of self-importance, strives bear the concerns of my brothers with encouragement, and prays that they also can put up with me.