Praying

 

The great art of spiritual living is to pay attention to the breathing of the Spirit right where you are and to trust that there will be breathing of new life.  Henri Nouwen

 

Yesterday I invited you to sit with your credit card statement or bank balance as a prayer practice.  Today, I encourage you to breathe.  Jesus tells us that we can all have a prayer closet.  Fun Bible Nerd fact…we think that homes in Jesus’ day had small closets which is where you would go to undress and change clothes, in other words, be naked.  There is a story of St. Francis who stripped down in court to stand naked before the judge as an act of vulnerability.  The closet is the place where we strip off all those filters of social media, the clothes that we want to project that we have it all put together, take off our outer confidence which we wield like a shield to protect us, and our need for control.  Brain McLaren’s amazing book, “Naked Spirituality” or Richard Rohr’s, “The Naked Now” remind us that control is not the goal of life.  Praying is an act of peeling off the armor that we wear in the world.  Praying is an act of putting aside our agenda.  Prayer is being silent.  Today, I invite you to go somewhere quiet.  It does not need to be a closet, because I am aware that is a space that has negative connotations for our LGBTQ siblings.  I invite you to find a space and place where you can show up fully as you are ~ with all your blessedness and brokenness, with all your striving and stress, with all that is in you physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally.  Maybe that is outside sitting under a tree or by your pool.  Or a park bench.  Or come to church and sit under the oak trees in the Memorial Garden where our ancestors flutter on the wind and can be heard in the rustling of leaves.  Find a sacred space where you can be you.  Then slowly pray this prayer pausing after each line to let the words soak in and let silence/space for the Sacred to sing to your shy soul:

 

Be still, and know that I am God

Be still, and know that I am

Be still, and know that

Be still, and know

Be still

Be

 

Repeat the above as many times as needed to sense God’s love in your life. Amen.