So, a lady in church today raises her hand and says,

[RevCheesehead]

"I think we need to pray for the President. He's got a lot of very important decisions to make, and lately, he hasn't been doing a very good job. He needs all the prayers we can give."

Congratulate me on my self-control by not jumping for joy. O8)

[auntAgonist]

1. priceless!!

congrats on staying composed.


HE does need our prayers, He's NOT doing a good job.


:yourock:

[LiberalFighter]

2. I think it is the American people and the world that needs our prayers

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Sorry, but I must respectfully disagree....

I would NOT pray for that man if my life depended on it....

He needs a good impeaching instead of prayers...

WE need the prayers...


:puke:

[liberal N proud]

9. You could pray that justice is served and for the safety of America until

that time.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

10. Absolutely! And I do....

Until that time....

[donheld]

77. Peggy we at DU pray for * daily

We pray for his immediate impeachment! His and many others in his cabal.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

82. I'm with you on that sort of prayer! nt

[Cassandra]

17. Or, as in Fiddler on the Roof...

May the Lord bless and keep the Tsar....far away from us. :-)

[liberalhistorian]

20. LOL! I was

just thinking the same thing. That's one of my favorite lines from that musical, and it certainly applies here.

[Cassandra]

22. Creative prayer...

is a good thing.

[elshiva]

23. Pray for your enemies, piss them off!

[RevCheesehead]

24. The Gospel of Elshiva.

:hi:

[elshiva]

26. LOL, thanks!

:hi: :loveya:

[tjwmason]

31. An interesting paraphrase of the Gospels

But I think pretty damn close to what Christ was saying. :D

[blondeatlast]

42. I think JC would like that. It'd make a good bumper sticker! nt

[Lisa]

50. yes! George W. is prepared for hatred, but not pity!

He feels he can dismiss those who dislike him or his ideology, but I suspect he's flummoxed when people portray him as in error, damaged, and in need of healing.

It probably reminds him of being chided by authority figures in his younger days. Disconcerting -- and not as easy to ignore. Also, he's been so used to presenting himself as the type of person who prays for others, "compassionate conservative" etc. ... that to find "the other side" doing this must be like a dismayed witch-hunter finding that a coven of supposed devil-worshippers are following Bible teachings to the letter, baking cookies, and being good as gold.

Might also explain why he can make gleeful jokes about people in other countries making obscene gestures at his motorcade -- but be so touchy about medical/psychological analyses of him (and folks springing to his defence on the grounds that "the poor fellow" has some kind of disability, or mental scarring from being mistreated as a child).

[existentialist]

60. This may indeed be a better approach.

Possibly profound observation there.

Why, I could pity Bush myself--if I can just get over being angry first.

"Pray for Him to remove the scum of anger from your soul."
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch

[Debi]

73. I haven't thought about that book in 20 years

since I read it in high school...I remember being angry and sad while reading it...maybe a re-read is in order.

[renate]

70. I think that's a VERY good point you're making!

It'd be interesting to hear what the guy who wrote "Bush on the Couch" thinks about that!
:thumbsup:

[fishnfla]

29. The grapes of wrath

If an elderly lady is gonna state in church that the president is doing a crap job and needs God's help, out of respect for her alone, I'd pray to God

I might get smitten down, but I deserve it anyway

[tjwmason]

30. I'm going to have to side against you on this one.

From its earliest days the Church has prayed for those in authority - St. Justin Martyr (I think it was him) wrote an apologia in which he stated that the Church prayed for the Roman Emperor (this whilst the Empire was still killing Christians at any opportunity).

We may not like him/it - we may fervently disagree with him being in his position - we may work actively and strongly to remove him from it - but Christianity does demand that we pray for him.

I remember shortly before the invasion of Iraq I was at Mass, and the Priest (who was actually quite a conservative fellow) stated that we should pray for Saddam Hussein - he was quite right, we should (and indeed we did). We should not distinguish between those we like, those we don't like, and those we dislike.

That's what Christianity insists upon - and nobody with half a brain ever said that this is an easy religion.

Also, whilst praying for him, there's absolutely nothing to prevent one adding a petition for his impeachment.

Finally - I think that elishiva puts it brilliantly. Pray for your enemie - piss them off.

[WCGreen]

51. You Go Girl

[ClassWarrior]

4. Nice job Rev. I'd say you're doing God's work...

...but you already knew that.

:hi:

NGU.

[RevCheesehead]

6. Hey there, sweetie!

How's my favorite cheezy doodle today? :loveya:

I am so proud of this lady. She's 80 years old, and rarely says anything in public. Today's sermon was about speaking out, like Peter did, when he said "YOU are the messiah!" So there she goes, speaking out. :7

[ClassWarrior]

8. Pretty soon you're going to have people thinking that they have...

...a right to free speech and stuff!! Didn't you get the memo from Ralph Reed??...

I'm doin' good, thanks, Rev Darlin. :loveya:

NGU.

[William769]

5. Well you could have jumped for joy

& said the spirit moved you. :)

[RevCheesehead]

12. I'll remember that for the next time.

These older people are really feisty when they're mad. :)

[sam sarrha]

7. My 84 yr old mothers 94 yr old friend said "I've turned against the Bush"

he just doesnt know what he is doing..."

[RevCheesehead]

14. A LOT of older people are really pissed off.

They've lived through hard times, depression, war, etc., and know what it means to suffer. They see what's going on and are totally fed up on the ineptitude of these idiots. I don't even hear his regular supporters saying nice things about him. In fact, I'm hearing their concern for the poor and those with limited incomes.

The Spirit is at work, slowly, but surely. O8)

[Glenda]

74. "the Bush"

:rofl:

[koopie57]

11. we have come a long way from the last time I went to church

and had to pray for the "continued wisdom of George Bush". I didn't get up and leave, but couldn't bring myself to go back.

[RevCheesehead]

13. The CONTINUED wisdom???

:rofl: They're praying for something that doesn't exist. :evilgrin:

[CanuckAmok]

37. hang-on... a congregation praying for something that doesn't exist?

I find that a little far-fetched.

[Lisa]

54. isn't that like "we hope that donuts will continue to fall from the sky"?

Which seems more likely than any displays of wisdom from George W.

[RevCheesehead]

67. Mmmmm... donuts

Aaawwrrgh. :)

[ComerPerro]

15. LOL

[billyskank]

16. You should have leaped from your pew

and yelled "halleluyah!"

[RevCheesehead]

18. Well, that would've been difficult...

Since I'm the pastor up front, asking for prayer requests... :)

[billyskank]

19. That just would have made it all the more remarkable

:D

[graywarrior]

21. Oh lordy..I pray like a bastard that Mr. President gets

what he deserves. Ple-e-e-e-e-ease, if there's a god almighty in heaven, give Mr. Bush his just desserts. He deserves whatever YOU, oh mighty lord, whish to bestow on him. (Just let me be around to see the bestowing.)

[renate]

72. don't worry....

...what goes around comes around.

I don't worry one little bit that these guys will get away with their evil deeds scot free. What worries me is what they're doing to the rest of us in the meantime. But will they get their just desserts? Absolutely, in this lifetime or the next. People say karma's a bitch, but I think karma is fabulous.

[elshiva]

25. BLESSINGS, REV!

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. Ah, if only it wouldn't happen in my rather conservative church. But to be

fair, the pastor always prays for wisdom for our nation's leaders.

[fishnfla]

28. Can I get an AMEN???????????????

and the Rev adds: also pray for the Packers and their hopeless defensive line!

Speaking of saints, and sermons: Rev, have you seen the movie "Millions"?

Its full of good stuff


:hi:

[RevCheesehead]

41. Hiya, fish!

:hi: God was merciful, and I didn't see the game yesterday. Ouch.

"Millions," eh? I'll have to check it out.

[mwb970]

32. You cannot petition the Lord with prayer! (n/t)

[RevCheesehead]

44. ??

Says who? :shrug:

Prayer petitions, or "bidding prayers" are done in churches around the world.

[existentialist]

63. Indeed, who says?

This has me going. I remember it from somewhere but I don't know where.

The previous note is a reference to a line in a play where a downtrodden character repeats three times the line, "Petition the Lord with prayer." This is the line he has repeated received from the church.

And then he replies defiantly, "You cannot petition the Lord with prayer."

(I don't agree. I don't remember the name of the work, but I do remember the context. And you asked, so I thought I'd reply with what I knew.)

[Glenda]

75. It's from "The DOORs" - I forget what song

Jim Morrison is speaking it

[existentialist]

80. Thank You.

I was going crazy.

Now my some timers disease feels greatly abated.

[merh]

33. See, I knew that you are a wonderful spiritual leader!

Congratulations to you PopeCheesy! :hug:

Thanks for the encouragement! :loveya:

[RevCheesehead]

45. Thanks, sweetie.

:hug: you made me smile.

[merh]

46. Your thread made me smile!

It is so good to know that folks are opening their eyes.

I went to confession once and told the priest that my former bosses wife was causing trouble in the office and that I was really close to hating her. He told me to pray for her, to pray that the best thing could happen for her did happen. I thought he was nutts :crazy: , but I followed his advice.

Sure enough, 1 month later she got an appointment to a job that kept her out of the office!!!

We pray for our enemies, it's too easy to pray for the folks we care about. That is a given, as our care and our love is a prayer in and of itself. The tough thing is to pray for the good of those that cause us harm. (And good for GWB is that he has to answer for his crimes in this life and he realizes his sins before he meets St. Peter.)

You rock PopeCheesy! :yourock: :hug: :loveya:

[JVS]

34. You guys take requests?

[tjwmason]

35. Most places do

For example, my local parish church is unlocked during day-light hours with a book to write in at the back if you want.

[JVS]

36. I meant requests during the service.

[tjwmason]

38. Depends on the place/style

I've certainly seen it in a number of places - especially protestant ones which don't have a formal set liturgy to follow.

[JVS]

39. And that is why the question was not directed to you, but rather to the OP

I know the OP is United Methodist and I was asking if such an outburst would be commonplace in their worship.

[tjwmason]

40. It is fairly common in Methodist services - yes.

Outburst isn't really the right term as that implies a person just took it upon themself to call out - more frequently there is a period of general (mostly silent) prayer when parishoners state their particular prayer intentions to the congregation.

[RevCheesehead]

43. Yes, we have prayer requests.

It's our time to share with one another what's going on in others' lives - our joys and our concerns. Prayers of the People are done shortly after the sermon, and gives people a chance to respond in some way to what they've heard (the Word of God)... like what June did today.

It wasn't an outburst, just a response to the question "whom shall we pray for this day?"

[tinfoilinfor2005]

47. Don't keep me in suspense...

How did the rest of your congregation respond to her?

[RevCheesehead]

49. Well, everyone I saw was nodding in agreement..

including one of the area's leading Repukes. Her eyes are opening, as she sees more and more people hurting.

To be honest, I think most of the congregation was watching me to see how I would respond. :)

[tanyev]

48. I pray for him all the time.

I pray that the lies will be stripped away and the truth about his entire administration will be revealed. Amen.

[mzteris]

52. was she serious?

Left, right? How old?

Did she just mis-speak as a bushie or was she a serious anti-bushite or what?

I'd love to know.

How was the reaction in the congregation? Giggles, titters, guffaws?

[RevCheesehead]

53. That remains to be seen.

I'm invited for dinner next week. :7

[HysteryDiagnosis]

55. Yeah, he needs to decide whether to fund a time machine so he

can go back and un phuckup Iraq and the entire world opinion of our country.

[RevCheesehead]

56. Hey! Who nominated this for the Greatest page?

Thanks! :)

[Tsiyu]

57. Not me but it was a good idea!

:hi:

Am I bad because I thought of burning coals heaped on **'s head when I read the OP?

Glad to see you around CheddaRev!

[RevCheesehead]

58. Hi, BHG!

:hi: nice to see ya!

No, visions of burning coals could be interpreted as a Theophany - you know, the presence of God. I can picture in my mind God sitting on blivet's head, saying, "do you give up yet?"

[fishnfla]

59. Who do you think?

:P

[RevCheesehead]

61. Hey, fish!

I was in the cemetary last week, and saw one of your family gravestones. :)

[RevCheesehead]

62. Oh, and thanks for the nomination!

You so sweet! :loveya:

[sakabatou]

64. How hard was it to not laugh your ass off?

[RevCheesehead]

66. I am the master of self-control

Besides, these people know my political persuasion. They were rather enjoying watching me be "diplomatic." :)

[uppityperson]

65. GWB has more of us praying than ever before-my bumpersticker

Good thing to hear out loud in church. I would have laughed and applauded. But then I never knew how to behave properly in church.

[Wheezy]

68. It's a miracle.

I'd love to see the same thing happen in my church. :D

[hootinholler]

69. Ya got one big

halle-fuckin-leuya from this heathen Rev.

WTG, You comin to DC on the 24th?

-Hoot

[RevCheesehead]

78. I wish.

September is busy in church-world. Things are getting started, and there's lots of preparation for the annual meeting. But rest assured, I will be there in spirit. :)

[Ksec]

71. I will pray he gets impeached.

nothing more'

Hes an evil beyatch

[bleever]

76. LOL. You could have start clapping, swaying, and singing "Amen,

A-amen, A-amen, amen, amen.

:hi:

[RevCheesehead]

79. Bleev!

You honor my thread with your presence (and your all-seeing eye).
Arrgh! ;)

[really annoyed]

81. So Cool

I would have given that lady a big smile! :)