Let Us Pray

  [373 words] How many times have we heard this expression as a prelude to a collective journey of the brethren into the presence of God? I wonder, is it used so much that we forget its importance? Here are some instances of corporate prayers found in the New Testament. In Matthew 26 and its parallel accounts we learn of Jesus apparently leading His disciples in prayer to bless the food (also, 1 Cor. 11:24). This is our authority for the prayer we offer before the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. On the occasion of Matthias’ selection to take Judas’ place with the disciples in Acts 1, we are told in verse 24, “And they prayed.” There is little doubt that one of the eleven led the prayer but the effect was the same as all praying. After the apostles, Peter and John, were arrested and released for preaching the gospel,…