Lord's Prayer part 3

"Who art in Heaven"

The above picture captures pretty well our image of Heaven.  Some oasis in the clouds, perhaps with Pearly Gates, St. Pete with some kind of scroll or book in front of him, and maybe a line of people waiting to see where they end up.  What is heaven?

In Matthew, Jesus often talks about the realm of God as being the "Kingdom of Heaven" , while Luke envisions the Kingdom of God.  Matthew might have used the word "Heaven" because for some Jewish folks to write or even speak the name of God was too sacred.  Heaven became a safe way of referring to the sacred.  Is that what Jesus was getting at with this line?  Maybe, but I'd also say there is more too.

Wayne Muller in his book, Learning to Pray, writes, "When Jesus described heaven, he never spoke of a place; rather, he described a state of the heart, a way of being attentive to the sacred in ordinary things, thins we might easily overlook." Muller is building on an understanding from our Celtic Brothers and Sisters often thought of Heaven as all around us and that we could not usually see it. It is when we stumbled upon a "thin place" where the curtain separating the sacred and profane all of the sudden became translucent for a few fleeting seconds. So is heaven part of earth?

When the above four words fall from my lips on a Sunday morning, what I hear in my mind is "Whose realm is heaven".  This reminds me of Karl Barth's understand of God as "Wholly Other" (or "Holy Other").  God is not like us as human beings, no matter how much we want to try to craft God in our image.  God is Other.  Yet, for whatever reasons, God does make God-self accessible to us.  For Barth, God did that most profoundly in the incarnation (flesh/birth) of Jesus.  Jesus' life became a thin place in our world.  Jesus' teachings became wisdom for those of us who follow him to sense God in a new way, in the everydayness of our lives. Jesus opens us to this realm of God, which is different than the realm of this world and yet oddly the same.  Heaven becomes a way of describing God's way and God's vision for all of creation.

Part of the problem in our world today is because there can be moments when I sense God close, I start to accumulate these experiences of God.  Those experiences can boost my confidence and I start to go out on the shaky limb of thinking, "Oh, I've got this whole God thing figured out."  To speak of Heaven, reminds me of the Otherness of God and that I need to take care (as Matthew does) in what I say about God.

This part of the poetry of the Lord's prayer encourages us that even if God is as close as our next breath, even when we experience God in the collective "our" of our lives, there is also a "more than" quality to God, just out of our grasp, the Wholly Other Barth spoke of.  It's okay to life in that mystery, tension, and messy middle.  Because God is there and maybe even a bit of Heaven too.

May the traces of God's grace be scattered in your life today so that you are wrapped in the presence of the One who is Holy Other.

Peace

Lord's Prayer Part Two

Before we rush on to the next line of the Lord's Prayer, I want to invite you to dwell with the very first word, "Our".  

Usually, we see and practice prayer as individuals.  And there is wisdom in that.  Connecting with God in our own unique ways is good.  Yet, if all we ever do is practice prayer as isolated individuals on an island of one, it can get pretty lonely.  It can also get pretty self-centered.  I need the voices of others to care for me, expand me, and challenge me.  

Care for me in ways that I realize that someone else in this world who I can see, receive a hug from, and respond to what I am saying can help me hear the still speaking voice of God in new and amazing way.  That is why Jesus came in the flesh...and we offer that Christ like present to each other in prayer.

Expand me in ways that I realize that I don't have God all figured out.  I see in a mirror dimly as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13.  I need to realize my own limitations and that others offer me new insights that I would not be able to come to on my own.  That is why Jesus came in the flesh...to push our faith in new directions while still tethered to something that felt familiar. 

Challenge me to hear ideas and images I don't agree with.  If I only listen to people like me either in prayer or in life, it gets pretty boring.  That is why Jesus came in the flesh...to bring new understandings of God who was a close as our next breath with a love that could change the world and change us today.

I think it was intentional that Jesus began with "our"...not just "my".  To be sure, the disciples came to Jesus looking for wisdom in prayer.  He could have said to them, "Bow your heads and fold your hands."  He could have said, "Well one day you may become the prayer Jedi master I am...but you must start off slow."   He could have said...well he really would not have said any of that because it is not really Jesus.  

Jesus began "Our"...as in all of our God.  No one has an exclusive corner on truth about God.  We need each other, just as Jesus needed the disciples and the disciples needed Jesus.  They offered each other the care, expansion, and challenge faith needs to be vital...and our prayer life needs.  I invite you to ponder that word, "our".

Who are you presently praying with?  Your partner?  Your family?  Your church?  Does it feel like you are praying together or just in the general vicinity of each other?  

Keep me in your prayers...and I will do the same for you...and together we can live the "our" that begins this sacred prayer.

May the traces of God's grace be seen in your connections with others in prayerful moments.

Peace

The Lord's Prayer

Over the next couple of posts about prayer, I want to look at the Lord's Prayer.  Many have already commented about, preached about, written books about, and every Sunday in almost every Christian Church this prayer is part of the worship service, so I am trudging into well-known territory.  In some ways stepping into such conversation is difficult.  Do I really have anything fresh to add to the dialogue?  Or I am heaping more words upon a prayer that is relatively short and straight-forward?  

My prayer is in these posts you might find something that feels like a breath of fresh air.  Maybe at the bare minimum, these posts might cause you to ponder the Lord's Prayer as you said it Sunday after Sunday to think about the words falling from your lips rather than reciting on autopilot.  I promise to join you in that and also be open as the church I serve this Sunday says this prayer in our worship service.

The Lord's Prayer is found in two of the four Gospels:

Matthew 6:9-15

Luke 11:1-4

Neither Mark nor John include this prayer.  There are some similarities and differences between Matthew and Luke's versions.  Luke is very clear that the disciples prompt the prayer by requesting Jesus to 'teach them to pray.'  This comes as Jesus himself was in the midst of prayer.  You can almost picture the disciples hovering around, trying to eavesdrop as Jesus whispered words to God, and learn by osmosis.  I take heart that the disciples, Jesus' closest friends had to ask for wisdom about how to pray.  Maybe I can learn from that.  Prayer may not come as naturally as everyone likes to assume it should.  It can be difficult, even for those who were willing to give up their lives to follow Jesus.  Why in the world would we assume that we should know how to pray?  Maybe the disciples request could become ours and we might say, "Lord, teach me to pray!"

Matthew's version also is a teachable moment for Jesus.  Jesus clearly says, when you pray to God, pray like this... In Chapter 6, Jesus had just been to the temple and seen the way people were praying.  I have to admit it is always tempting to glance out of the corner of my eye when praying in public.  Is my wife's head bowed?  What about the person in front of me?  Once your eyes are open, you look at the person praying.  Are her eyes open or closed?  Is she reading from a printed prayer?  

So, let's start by affirming two things: 1).  We all need help with prayer and 2). We are curious about how other's pray too.

Both Matthew and Luke start off the Lord's Prayer with the same two words, "Our Father".  Perhaps you have already heard before that the word here in the original language is "Abba" and is really more appropriately translated, "Daddy", not that I think people are going to start saying, "Our Daddy".  Maybe one day.  Daddy is the more informal and initiate word for a relationship.  My kids never say, "Father, I would like some ice cream."  It is always, "Daaaaaaadddddy...could we please have ice cream," with each word, especially the first, coated in all the love they have.  Daddy is about a close connection.  

To be sure, not everyone reading this blog has had a great relationship with their biological father.  Maybe several reading this have had just God-awful relationships with males in their lives.  Assigning a gender to God will do that.  When you use intimate words, you awake intimate memories from our experiences.    

To say God was close and in a loving relationship with us, Jesus is drawing on the second creation narrative, Genesis 2, we God kneels in the dirt and crafts the first human out of the dust.  That is the kind of Creator Jesus points to in saying, "Our Father."

I know there is still tension around how we refer to God.  And so, I want you to think about that image.  Would it be better for you to say, "Our Father-Mother" so you can get beyond gender?  Would it be better for you to say, "Our God" to take gender out of it?  Would it be better for you if we took tradition another way?  For me, words matter and make a difference.  And it is good for me to ponder right now how is my relationship with God?  Do I feel the love of a parent intimate and close when I start the Lord's Prayer?  Or are the words tripping me up?

May the traces of God's grace be found in your life today as we open ourselves to the One whose love cares for us and sustains us.

Blessings.

Prayer and hope

Hope and prayer seem to share some of the same DNA.  Both can feel elusive at times.  Both are difficult to define.  Both can be serendipitous, washing over us and even overwhelming us at unexpected times.  Emily Dickenson wrote that "Hope is a thing with feathers."  The same can be said of prayer in my experience.  Hope at times frustratingly and inexplicably flutters away, same can be said of prayer.  What do we pray when violence erupts in Colorado or in our own back yard here in Wisconsin?  How can we as human beings seem so advanced in our medical and educational and other understandings, yet human nature remains that anger and hatred comes out in the form of violence?  

Maybe some of the frustration with hope...and prayer...is that neither seem to obey our commands or bend to our control.  And we are rather accustom to being able to buy, consume, and control just about everything else in our lives.  But not hope.  But not prayer.  Neither can be picked up on your next grocery trip.  Neither can be willed from within.  Because both are gift.   Pure and unconditional gifts.

That may not be any easier.  Most of us really don't like receiving a gift when we don't have one to give back or don't feel like we have earned it in some way.  But, is such quid pro quo really a gift anyway?  That question doesn't make it any easier for me, but it does help broaden my perspective and challenge me in a good way.

So, what are we to do with hope...or prayer?  Maybe we are 'to do' nothing.  Maybe just receive.  When hope washes over you and in that moment you realize that it can be fleeting and we cannot bottle it up.  When you find yourself whispering under your breath asking for God to be with you before you walk into the classroom, meeting room, or volunteer place, receive that too.  If we try to proscribe hope or prayer rather than describe experiences of both, I think we miss the point.  Hope and prayer will not be confined, but we can start to share places and encounters where both seem to be present.  We can point to what our Celtic brothers and sisters call 'thin places' in our lives.

The Apostle Paul put it this way, "hope that is seen is no hope at all" (Romans 8:24).  That can be frustrating for us who live so much of our lives on our senses and what we can concretely prove.  But so much of life goes beyond formulas and rationality.  I can't prove to my wife or kids that I love them.  But I know that it is true.  I can't prove to the church that I care greatly about them.  But I know that it is true.  I cannot prove to this world that God's love is real and makes all the difference.  But I know that it is true.

So, we keep on muddling around in the messy middle where hope and prayer at times feel like they are fluttering in and out, which is why I say there are traces of God's grace all around.  So, may those traces be seen and more over may they be felt in ways you know to be true.  And may it be a gift.  

Peace

Off to camp

In just about one hour my kids will leave for two days of camp at Pilgrim Center.  My first experience camping was not until I was a teenager when I spent a week in the Boundary Waters of MN.  I still remember the first time I portaged and had to carry a canoe on my back, you won't think something that floats could be so heavy!  I remember putting the food up in the tree so we did not attract bears, always a reassuring thought right before you go to bed.  I remember sitting at the campfire until a star-filled sky in the beauty of creation laughing with my fellow campers.  I can only pray that my children sense the same profound closeness to God and to others with them at camp in the coming two days.  

One of the reasons why I think camp is so great is it does connect us to God's creation.  It is good to sit under towering trees and swim in a huge lake to make Genesis 1 come to life.  Another reason why I think camp is so great is it teaches...actually immerses us...in a Christian community.  For a couple of days my children will learn that life with other followers of Christ can bring laughter...and sometimes frustration.  Nothing like being stuck in a cabin with some people you hardly know to see how well we can share God's love with each other.  A finally reason why I think camp is great are the meals and not just the actual food.  The act of eating together whether it is pancakes or sandwiches or s'mores is woven into our DNA as Christians.  

I pray my children have a blessed time at camp.  I pray they sense God's presence in a meaningful way.  I pray they know my wife and I will be thinking about them every day.  Most of all, I pray twenty some years from now they might reflect back and give thanks to God for the times they went to camp.

May you sense the traces of God's grace as you think back on your camp experiences, as you wander in God's creation and we all seek to be the community of faith following Jesus Christ.

Peace

Psalm 121

I will lift my eyes to the hills

From where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord!

Now I realize I live in a part of the country most people would describe as flat.  Sure, as Wisconsinites we get a bit defensive about that...start talking about topography and rolling hills near New Glarius and the joy that is looking out over a harvested corn field to see for miles and miles and that at least we are not as flat as Nebraska!

The psalmist talks about looking to the hills for help, which for most of us we take to mean that this psalm is about the beauty of God's creation and how God's fingerprints are all over the world.

But something a bit more subversive is going on here. 

You see Psalm 121 was often sung by pilgrims as they were traveling.  Sometimes in places they had never been to before...in a foreign land...in unfamiliar territory.  Now stop and think...if you don't know where you are going and don't have your smartphone/gps/or even a map with you, a hill may not exactly be the most welcome sight.

The reality is that a hill...for all it's beauty...is also an excellent hiding place.  You don't know what is on the other side.  You can't see.  And sometimes hills were places where thieves hid out or animals perched.

Sometimes a hill can be beautiful....sometimes a hill can be dangerous.

This past Sunday I encouraged people to lean into life...with all its blessedness and brokenness.  I am finding out this week, that was easier said than lived.

Can I look around at the places in my life that I am just unsure about, don't know what to do about, or am even scared about and say that God can be found there?  We all seem to accept God is with us in the mountain top moments, or when we are on top of the hill.  But when we are in the valley or when we can't see very far in front of us because something is obstructing our view...what about God?

The psalm suggests God is there.  Maybe not in the same ways as when the laughter comes easy....but God is still there.  I pray for those places in your life right now that feel like a hilly moment...one that is obstructing your view...one that you just don't know what to do about...that the traces of God's grace will be there.

Maybe saying the words of the 121st psalm over that moment might help.

Maybe naming it as a hill might help

Maybe asking for God to help might even offer you the peace it offered pilgrims for centuries.

May the traces of God's grace be found in your journeys this week where it feels like you can see for miles and miles or if it feels like you are in the valley of hills.

Blessings

Desert Prayers

Okay...so my yard doesn't look this bad...yet.

But it has been a dry, hot, desert-like summer in Southern Wisconsin. I have not had to mow for weeks. The only green patches in my yard are weeds. And suddenly a 90 degree day feels cool and refreshing.

And as I was walking across my parched and crunchy grass the other day, I thought about times in my life when it feels like my soul is parched and dry and in need of a good drenching dose of something.

In those arid moments some talk about how God seems distant. For me, that is not quite what I feel like. I feel spent and tired even though I sense God is near. I just feel thirsty even though I am gulping from the well of prayer. I look around at the beauty of creation or hear someone offer me a trace of God's grace and it just doesn't seem to sustain me the way it does in other seasons.

It sort of feels like a few days ago when it did finally rain for about 1/2 hour...but it was just not enough. What happens when in the midst of prayer and praying it does not feel like enough? What happens when all the good advice about how prayer can change things and how it will help your health and yet you still feel like you are wandering around the desert?  Sort of like the People of God in Exodus.

For 40 years they wandered and wandered and wandered around an arid area. In some ways that gives voice to the desert moments in our life. Those extended Exodus periods are draining. Most of what I have read about prayer counsels me to just keep going, just keep wandering.

Sometimes that works.

Sometimes we need to find another path.

Sometimes we just need to find a shade tree to rest in for awhile.

If you had to describe your prayer life today as a season...what season would it be?
Summer-like with relationships to God and others either growing or parched?
Fall-like with relationships to God and others feeling like they are entering a transition time?
Winter-like with relationships to God and others taking a rest or hibernating?
Spring-like with relationships to God and others sprouting up new life and possibilities?

Once you know where you are today...you might consider asking...

When did I experience the other seasons? What was going on at that time?

Maybe you feel a bit like you are in all four seasons!

Those are big questions for any season.  But they are ones that I will continue to ponder prayerfully today and in the coming days.

For today and the coming days may the traces of God's grace sustain you and stir around you no matter what season you find yourself in today!

Blessings and peace!