Pastors Praying for their People

In the ordination rite in LSB, the very last thing that the candidate promises to do is to “be constant in prayer for those under (his) pastoral care” (LSB Agenda, 166). Given the placement of this promise, I am surprised that it doesn’t seem to be taken up much by pastoral theologies. Walther emphasizes Luther’s axiom for the making of a theologian, oratio, meditatio, and tentatio but says nothing about the nuance of oratio. Even if he had made more of that, Luther was speaking of the prayer for a right understanding of Holy Scripture, not intercessory prayer by a pastor for those under his pastoral care. But intercessory prayer before study for those who will hear the fruits of the study actually makes a lot of sense. More than that, though, I think it is important that the pastor pray for his members and those in catechesis or visitors by name each week. To do this requires a bit of planning and a list but if the list is divided over 4 or 5 days it doesn’t take long. If this isn’t your practice, I suggest you take it up.