Great Plains Annual Conference | Sept. 11, 2024
Rev. Steve Langhofer recalls the early days of his ministry, realizing how little instruction on prayer he’d been given while in seminary.
“We didn’t learn anything about pastoral prayers. Even when went to visit in the hospital, I’d write out a prayer and when I was with a patient, I’d pull the prayer out of my pocket to read it,” Langhofer, a retired pastor on staff at Resurrection, a United Methodist Church. “After a few years, I’d gained some confidence and competency.”
During his years at Resurrection, Langhofer became known as one of the best prayer writers on staff, so much so that a handful of members asked for written copies of his pastoral prayers.
Book on Praying
"Will You Pray with Me" is available through Abingdon Press in paperback or e-book; as well as through Amazon.
One member of the church at the time was also a staff member for Abingdon Press, a division of United Methodist Publishing House, who thought the prayers could be turned into a book.
“Adam Hamilton concurred,” Langhofer said of Resurrection’s founding senior pastor, who knows a thing or two about writing books.
However, “Nobody wants a book with these prayers,” Langhofer kept thinking.
The Abingdon staff member talked him into it – with a necessary addition.
“She said this is good, but we need a second author,” he was told. “We need more content.”
Langhofer called on Rev. Anne Williams, pastor of Resurrection Downtown, and the two collaborated on 36 pages about the “Principles, Preparation and Delivery” of prayers.
The result is “Will You Pray with Me: A Guide for Those Who Pray in Public.”
The book is equally for clergy and laity, its authors say, in situations from family dinners to public meetings to hospital bedsides.
“Think of all of those scenarios, not to instruct people on how to have one-on-one personal prayer between them and God, but what it’s like to be the one invited to pray on behalf of a group and facilitate a group conversation with God in holy prayer and things that go along with that,” Williams said.
Langhofer said his original intent was to have the book for clergy, but Williams’ additions helped it become equally useable for laypersons.
“It’s for laity in terms of leading a Sunday school class, opening a prayer and sharing joys,” he said. “There’s guidance there on sharing joys and concerns and adapting that into a prayer.”
Rev. Steve Langhofer
Courtesy Photo
Langhofer said another original intent was for clergy who might not have gone through extensive education on prayer.
“Primarily I was thinking about local pastors, lay pastors out in the boonies who may be working a full-time job in the week and pastoring a church on the weekends. They’re doing well getting a sermon together, let alone taking time to write a pastoral prayer,” he said. “That would be icing on the cake.”
Resurrection pastors, the authors said, are under instructions not to read their prayers during the worship service, so they must be memorized or improvised.
“There’s thought given beforehand, sometimes in writing on paper and in preparation for the service,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of thought and a lot of preparation.”
When it comes to non-church praying, Williams said, there are two schools of thought.
“’Anne, you’re the pastor, can you pray?’ It’s an honor,” she said. Or, “’Anne, you probably have to pray all the time you don’t have to.’”
Whether the invitation to lead a prayer comes in seconds or months, Williams said there are simple, stress-free guidelines.
Rev. Anne Williams
Courtesy Photo
“It doesn’t have to be long. Just a sweet, short, simple blessing over a meal suffices,” she said. “You don’t have to overthink it. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Sometimes simple words are meaningful as well. Sometimes I have permission to pause and collect my thoughts” in the middle of a prayer.
Langhofer, the Pathway to Ministry mentor at Resurrection, prides himself and Williams in the book in “deliberately not using theological jargon.
“The average person gets lost and turned off and they don’t want to read any further,” he said. “They feel dumb.”
Williams said she is awestruck by the composition of Langhofer’s prayers, which are the last half of the book.
Reading others’ prayers, she said, “opens up this creative (avenue).
“Sometimes we’re just out of words and we need help connecting with God. Other times we need new ideas or to just hear someone else say it,” she said.
“It’s so Wesleyan to receive and to enjoy other peoples’ words and other people’s reflections,” Langhofer added. “We’re filling that well within us. There’s this tradition of beautiful words out there.”
The prayers are for specific days, situations and holidays.
“It’s just an incredible resource,” Williams said. “They’re so vibrant, so faithful, pure-hearted and sincere prayers. I know they will inspire and encourage.”
The book was released in the summer of 2021, mid-pandemic. “Will You Pray with Me,” however, is still selling well in Resurrection’s bookstore, Langhofer said., with several shipments passing through in the past three years.
Langhofer said he was grateful his prayers came to fruition in the teal-covered, 140-page paperback book.
“I really felt this was a God thing. I think every prayer I write is a God thing,” he said. “I think God wanted it to happen.”
David Burke
David Burke serves as a content specialist for Great Plains Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.