Intercessory Prayer

Today's reading is about intercession.  As I pray during the early morning hours I am not running around with priestly robes on or waving a censer with fragrant incense.  (Good thing, because I live in a home that has huge picture windows!)

Yet as I pray, I function as an intercessor....  one who holds the "other" before God, praying on their behalf, with praise, thanksgiving and hope for God's presence and action.  I have names and faces in my heart, and all sorts of small and large concerns.  I have pain, pleasure and, woven in the midst of all of that, a fervent desire (and trust) that in all things God is working to move people and situations toward the "good" that God intends.

I chuckle now as I end this time, because if somebody had taken a mystical view of what has been going on, perhaps there would have been clouds and incense and shimmering glowing lights of God's presence.  It might have looked like an Albrecht Durer rendition of the scene.

As you pray today, trust that there is more going on than meets your eye.  As you pray for others it doesn't matter how many details you have about their situation.  It is about your priestly function (yes... priesthood of all believers) which lifts the lives of others before God.

source for this picture:  http://www.french-treasures.net/Sculpture_32/Albrecht-DURER---Prayer-Hands_338.html