Prayers for the People Quotes

“This is not my attempt to find a way to avoid disagreement, tension, conflict, or personal unfulfillment in my vocation and in the church that I'm committing to. This is an attempt to follow the Holy Spirit as he leads me to a place where I can take up all of those crosses without surrendering my integrity.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God

“A daily self-examination that I've landed on in the past couple of months is, "Did I give God my faithful act of service today?"... it is so tempting to evaluate the success of the meeting by attendance, or enthusiasm, or my own reaction to the discussion.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God

“My favorite of {Netflix's] descriptors is "chosen family." A big part of the evergreen appeal of big hits like The Office, Parks and Recreation, New Girl, 30 Rock, etc., is the way in which a bunch of ragtag misfits commit to being not just "workplace proximity associates" or roommates or friends of friends, but people who are inextricably, irremovably interwoven into one another's lives on a daily basis...
For me, that's family crystallized.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God

“One thing I've learned is that when I say, "Hey so-and-so, I'm struggling with loneliness right now and could really use a chat with you because I love you,"... I almost always get a quick and tender response.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God

“This was also my introduction to the kind of prayer called a "collect" (KA-lict, emphasis on the first syllable). A collect is a short written prayer that gathers up (or collects) similar prayer concerns and articulates them in a broad, general way. Put differently, it crystallizes or condenses a variety of similar ideas into one prayer that... is something that an entire communion can lift up together.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God

“As I spent those years saying the same collect for purity, the Nicene Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and various other unchanging parts of the liturgy, I learned that common prayer can open the door to deeper levels of engagement and internalization. Like the lyrics of an old favorite song, the words take up residence deep down in our souls. Every recitation "above the surface" draws from memories and associations that shoot out like roots beneath our conscious thoughts and words.”
― Terry J. Stokes, Prayers for the People: Things We Didn't Know We Could Say to God