On The Altar Call Prayer

by Rev. Dr. Delores Carpenter
Pastor, Michigan Park Christian Church, Washington, D.C.
and President, National Convocation Board of Trustees

An altar call allows everyone who so desires to come forward or to stand where they are seated during Sunday morning worship service for special prayer. At the time of the altar call, we put ourselves in God's hands to be changed by Him. Let us ask God for food for hunger, healing for disease, friends for loneliness, and work for our livelihood. Let us open ourselves to receive the mighty force of God's Holy Spirit.

Here surrender and let go. Relax the body, the will, the intellect, and the emotions. Turn these over to a Power that is not ours. This is not solemn, heavy striving. Rather it is simply practicing the presence of God and saying yes to God. Let us take home with us the attitude that we embrace here. Continue it all week long on a daily basis. In this way, we will grow spiritually.

This brings our opportunities for prayer during Sunday morning worship to seven:

1. Invocation
2. Pastoral prayer
3. The Lord's Prayer
4. Altar Call
5. Prayer over the Bread
6. Prayer Over the Cup
7. Benediction

The invocation invites God's presence. The pastoral prayer gives thanks, makes confession, and makes petitions for the world, the nation, and the community. The Lord's Prayer is the model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. The communion prayers bless the bread and the cup. The benediction sends us out to serve. But the altar call prayer is a more personal, more intimate time. It is a sacred space and a sacred time for ourselves together in community. “It's me, it's me, it's me O' Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

We have heard it said that prayer changes things. And prayer that changes our lives does not arise from the context of our five senses and three dimensions. The living Christ must meet us at our depths for Christ is the strength of our prayer. Prayers that are fervent avail much.

When we contemplate prayer time, we rediscover our roots, the source of all Christian life. No matter what our temperament or what our problem, everyone is the praying type when the prayer is through Christ.

In prayer, the conscious individual meets unconscious depths. The purpose of the altar call is to activate the knowledge and trust which we have deep down inside. Sometimes we only meet God with a part of ourselves. For a great deal is locked safely away. Here together at the altar God unlocks parts of us that need healing and correction and direction. Here God wants our honest reactions and feelings. Through soul searching let us examine our consciousness. Let us ask God to show us where to be thankful, show us where God has sought to communicate with us. Let us look ahead to where we most need guidance and grace. How am I doing God? How well am I responding or failing to respond to promptings of Spirit? This is a time of assertiveness to God. It will give us a new outlook. It will transform ordinary activities into spiritual exercises. And if we practice it here it will become a natural part of us.

This call to prayer does not minimize the necessity of sensing God's presence in all that we do - in our daily activities. It merely sensitizes us more keenly to that presence. The deeper our prayer, the more we sense our unworthiness and our need for growth. The more we forget ourselves while working on ourselves the more we focus on God. Prayer is a living relationship with God and a desire for God - the heart pants for the living God.

Here let us create an oasis in the midst of our fragmentation and pressures of life. Yes, it is through prayer that we can lighten up. We lay aside every weight and we look to Jesus as we run the race that is set before us. And today I hope that when we come to the altar for prayer we will remember to pray for our General Minister and President, Rev. Sharon Watkins -not just one Sunday, but every Sunday

Prayer:

Eternal God, Quest of the Ages, we seek Your face. We need You most. Oh, dare we hope that You have need of us - that You are questing too? We believe You are, for sometimes we have seemed to hear You call. Oh find us God for we are lost; without You we are lost, for You are all. And today we offer a special prayer for Rev. Sharon Watkins, our General Minister and President. Give her a clear revelation of Your will for her life as well as the special gifts that the Holy Spirit has given her in the service of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Send her all the resources and cooperation that she needs to get Your job done on behalf of us all. Bless her loved ones and reward her with health and prosperity. Amen.