Standing in the Need of Prayer

 

One of my favorite books on prayer is, “Altar in the World” by Barbara Brown Taylor.  She takes the topic of prayer from the confines of the church to the world around us; from bowing your head to opening your heart to your life.  Taylor’s book embraces the ancient wisdom that God shows up disguised as your ordinary, everyday life.  Some of the chapters in her book talk about waking up as a spiritual practice of prayer; paying attention (because where our attention goes there our energy flows); walking in creation; getting lost (which I do every day literally and metaphorically); being in community; ceasing from striving; feeling pain; and blessing others. 

 

Taylor is expanding our definitions and descriptions of prayer.  She is asking us to find other prayer postures for living in this world and that the world/creation/others join us in the work of prayer.  That prayer is not an isolated individual activity, but one that can be engaged collaboratively and collectively and cooperatively. 

 

In addition to the Taylor’s understandings of how prayer can be woven into the everyday moments of life, we might also think of singing as prayer or listening to music; or sitting in silence; talking to a friend; cooking; or even washing dishes can be a prayer practice (the last one was noted by Brother Lawrence as a way we can connect with God).  Prayer is about our attention and intention.  Prayer is an openness and curiosity and noticing that God is right here and now.  Prayer is directing our energy to be in cahoots with the Divine. 

 

When was the last time you noticed you were in the presence of the Eternal?

When was the last time you cultivated and created space to awaken to the Creator?

 

This is not a test, by the way.  Nor is there shame or blame in those questions.  For many of us, our prayer life can be anemic or too academic or arbitrary/haphazard.  This is true for me.  Prayer can be a habit we slowly cultivate and curate.  The point is not for us to say, “I am totally going to pray 20 minutes now and go on a silent retreat this summer and by the end of the year should be able to levitate.”  What if today, right now, you took one minute (or thirty seconds or ten seconds) to notice your breathing?  What if right now, you opened a tab on your computer to YouTube and listened to a piece of music that sets your soul stirring/swirling?  What if you sung along?  What if you went out for a walk around the neighborhood just listened to the birds and wind stirring through the trees?  What if as you washed dishes today you gave thanks for warm water, played with the bubbles (let your inner 6-year-old loose), and held the goodness of the meal you just ate. 

 

The intention and attention being open to God here and now…that is prayer wherever you are.

 

God thank you for being here in this moment.  Thank you for Your presence that holds and enfolds me in this less-than-perfect moment.  Thank you for Your grace that gives strength.  Thank you for Your love that offers an ocean depth of meaning.  Thank you for Your creativity that reminds me that You are not finished yet.  Let these words guide and ground me in the living of this day. Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount cont

 

Yesterday, we dipped our pinkie toe into the topic of prayer.  We asked who taught you to pray and what you picked up in the pew on Sunday mornings about prayer.  We named that some of what we learned is good and some is not so great…even hurtful.  Today, I invite you to think about a moment of prayer that was meaningful and life giving.  Where were you?  Recall what you saw, heard, smelled, and felt deep in your soul.  For example, I had a moment of standing in the need of prayer at church camp, where I felt the warm sunny of July day, heard birds joining me in prayer, smelled the pine trees, and my soul felt peace.  In that moment I knew what Moses did standing before a burning bush ~ that all ground is holy.  Where was that moment you felt fully alive in God’s presence?  Enter that holy memory again.

 

In chapter 6 of Matthew, Jesus turns to prayer.  I will point out that Jesus is preaching outside, in creation, so perhaps it makes sense we feel closest to God out in nature.  Jesus talks of almsgiving or offerings, public prayers offered where others eavesdrop on our dialogue with God, and fasting.  Perhaps those categories don’t quite fit what you have been recalling in your memories.  Afterall, while there is still charitable giving, most of that can be done online or perhaps a check we put in an envelope.  Most of us don’t publicly pray, because isn’t that the pastor’s job?  Fasting is a diet trend not a prayer topic, right? 

 

And yet…I want you to hold these postures/practices close to your heart.  Jesus is saying that prayer is more expansive than folding our hands and bowing our heads.  Jesus is calling us to look at where are you offering your energy – time and talents – right now.   Where and how you show up is almsgiving of your presence.  What fills your calendar?  Look over your checking account, besides the mortgage and utilities, where else did you share financial resources in the last month?  Finally, fasting is not only refraining from food, but also, we can fast from cynicism or criticism (of self and others).  When I think of fasting, I love the quote from Viktor Frankl, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”  That space is where you pause, or fast in our instead response society where I gotta reply to that text right now.  How might fasting be sacred pauses throughout your day to listen for God’s wisdom?

 

I invite you to be playful with categories of sharing our time, talents, and treasures; our words and actions; and fasting.  I encourage you to creative in backing away from too much-ness of this world.  May these words of Jesus open you to how these three practices/postures of prayer might connect You to the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of our lives every day.  Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount cont.

 

I believe there is a soundtrack that accompanies the Sermon on the Mount.  I believe that as Jesus was preaching his organist fired up the Hammond electric organ to start playing in the background. There is a melody when I read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, about God’s downward mobility that is the heart of Christmas ~ God born in a dingy, dusty stable and laid in a manger ~ not the posh palaces or holy temples.  I hear a harmony when last week we studied the emotions of frustration and fear that too often feeds and fuels our lives.  There is a song that stirs in my soul as I read the Sermon on the Mount as I realize that I am featherless bipeds who lets my reptile brains too often pick the radio station in my life.  Because as I read the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5, I find myself sing these words, “Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer; Not my brother, not my sister, but it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer. It's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer; It's me, it's me, O Lord, Standin' in the need of prayer.” 

 

And after chapter 5 with its lessons on blessedness (God-with-ness) in the least likely places and focus on anger and loving our enemies, Jesus turns to prayer.  That makes sense, because I realize that if it is only up to me to embrace and embody the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, I don’t think my chances are great.  Left to my own agendas and thoughts, I will wander off like the Prodigal Son and find myself in the pigsty of life.  Left to my own ways of I thinking I will be lured by the Superbowl commercials next Sunday promising me that if I just buy this brand of chips or a new iphone or switch to AT&T…all my problems would be solved.  One of my seminary professors liked to say, “You go and buy that brand of chips, finish the whole bag, look in the mirror and realize you are the same schmuck you were before you went to the store.”  Oh, I resemble that remark.

 

Prayer for me is one way that seeks God’s wholeness rather than being wrapped up only in my own plotting and planning.  Prayer for me is an opening that offers a way to experience the promise of God’s unconditional and unceasing love that can’t be purchased from any store.  Often, we describe prayer as a one-way conversation, a monologue, words we toss/throw like a hail mary toward God - hoping God, like a Genie in a Bottle, might grant one of our wishes.

 

What do you think of when you think of prayer?  How might prayer be an experience and encounter with God?  Maybe prayer is not a formula to follow but a relationship to explore.  Maybe prayer is less about following directions and more a direction to orient your soul.  For today, ponder your understandings of prayer.  Who taught you to pray?  What have you picked up at church concerning prayer?  By the way that is an important question because too often I think the church teaches and preaches that prayer is for you to fold your hands and bow your heads and quietly listen while the pastor offers a coda to the sermon.  It is my prayer this week that we would dare to dive into this topic – and that we will do more than talk about prayer, we might pray in ways that our souls feel their worth, our hearts are strangely warmed, and we realize that God’s presence is right here in the less-than-perfectness of life. 

God, You are a circle whose circumference stretches further than the horizon and whose center is everywhere and wherever we are.  May this be more than words on a screen we read, but an experience we live this week.  Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount cont...

 

Back in January…ahh remember January with its promises of a new year…new me?  Remember January like a new blank canvas or freshly cleaned carpet before someone tracked their muddy shoes on it?  In January, I asked you several questions.  I want to return to those today, in these early days of February to two of them: what was something I said or did that make my future self proud?  And what is a compliment I received recently that was meaningful? 

What is something you said or did this week that made the end of February a bit easier?  What was something someone said this week that strangely warmed your heart?  Hold these questions because they help point to the salt and light in your beautifully, ordinary life.  Hold these questions as ways that God shows up right here and now.  May your responses help remind you that God is at work in you and around you and calling you to be caught up in helping live the truth of the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kin-dom come.”  May you and I find ways to participate living God’s presence here and now.  And more than that, may you and I find ways to share God’s presences collectively and cooperatively and lovingly in these days.  Amen. 

Sermon on the Mount continued

 

Breathe in God’s blessing for you today…breathe out the cynical and critical part of your mind that always wants to point out the less-than-perfectness of any moment (remember God seems most comfortable in the cobwebbed and dingy stable as the place of arrival)

 

Breathe in God’s blessing for you today…breathe out all the striving and proving and posturing that we are prone to be part of the story we tell ourselves.

 

Breathe in God’s blessing for you today…breathe out fear, frustration, anger, joy, peace, and love as emotions ~ that is, energy that puts us in motion toward a particular destination and direction.

 

God, Your ways are not our ways.  We are confounded, confused, and reluctant as to whether the Sermon on the Mount is true and can be trusted.  We give thanks that there is no quiz we need to pass, but that our willingness and openness to lean in/listen to these words can already help set us on the way.  Be with us today amid a world that can be both beautiful and broken.  Be with us today as we navigate the waters of life ~ where we are not sure if today will be smooth sailing or a storm arising and the meteorologist in our soul is less reliable than the one on television.  Yet, what we know deep in our soul is that You are with us here, in this moment and promise to be every day.  Amen. 

Beatitudes continued

 

So far this week we have held salt, light, and anger…it has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster.  Today, I want you to ponder prayerfully one moment in your life when you have received care (remember Jesus said blessed are those who mourn/grief for you will be comforted).  Often our anger shows us where we hurt…and often we hurt because there is grief there or pain there or some wound/want there.  And when was the last time someone held your hand or listened to you?

 

Here is the rub, that probably did not instantly and immediately make everything better.  The blessedness of that holy moment when someone cared might have been fleeting and faded as soon as the person needed to leave.

 

Living the Sermon on the Mount is not a “one and done” exercise.  It is a daily practice.  With the rising of the sun, we have agency and a choice…do I live my life receiving God’s blessing and offering a light to those who are hurting…or do I seek to live my life with my own agenda?  How I answer that question impacts what I think, which impacts what I say, which like dominos then influences what I do…which over time is how I live my life.  Remember, the whole Sermon on the Mount is asking, what kind of world do we want to live in, then choosing to reside there.

 

Go back and re-read the Beatitude, when was a moment last month you discovered God’s presence when your soul was on empty?  When was a moment in January you were comforted in your grief?  When did your humility/humanity/human-size-ness connect you in vulnerability to another featherless biped walking this earth?  When was your mercy/love like a light you shared and shined back on you with more mercy and love?  When were your words peaceful defusing, rather than escalating, the words of the world? 

Jesus’ Beatitudes are more than words on a page, they are wisdom to live our lives by.  And as I asked a few weeks ago, does my life show evidence of an encounter with God?  The Sermon on the Mount gives us some possible/prayerful ways we might embrace and embody with an enthusiastic, “YES”.  May God’s “Yes!!” to you, as beloved, feed and fuel your living today. Amen.

Beatitudes Continued

 

Yesterday we considered salt and light, today we turn to anger.  Jesus invites us to be careful with our anger (Matthew 5:23-26)

 

And I hear you thinking, “Would you look at the time…I gotta run.”

 

Wait…come back.

 

Anger is an emotion we all feel.  Anger may be an emotion you were taught or told to push down and be avoided at all costs.  Anger can be loud with shouting to score points and win arguments.  Anger can be quiet when someone turns his/her back/cuts you out of her/his life altogether.  Anger can send a chill down your spine, even on a hot/humid Florida day.  Anger feeds and fuels our lives today.  We see vicious comments online; we hear on the news two people trying yelling at each other throwing verbal grenades, we swim in a sea of negativity that has become normal.  The wounds and wants of life leave us all raw, vulnerable, and frightened.

 

In these moments, some people become big and others become small.  Some rise up like a bear lashing out and others want to hide their heads like a turtle praying their shell will hold up.  And there is a bit of both within us. 

 

On the other side of anger, if we are willing to sit with this strong emotion, can teach and tell us what we care most about in the world.  Consider the last time you were angry…usually because a value you hold in your heart was threatened or you felt threatened physically/emotionally/ relationally.

 

What was that moment like?  What did you do?  Did you get big or go small? 

 

We live in a culture that wants to win…and we view people who are meek as weak; even though meekness is really more humility…and humility is all about being human-sized. I am not a superhero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound…I am made of soil and star dust to which one day I will return.  We live in a culture where love is nice for a pastor (or Jesus) to talk about for one hour on Sunday, but really isn’t as effective or efficient for our desire for immediate results. 

One final thought, anger and fear often hold hands. And apparently anger has been around since the day of Jesus.  People were angry…and afraid of the Roman Empire…of Herod (who was puppet king of Caesar)…angry and afraid of who could you trust.  I don’t know if it is nature or nurture…if it is our biology or biography (story we tell ourselves), but I do know that being human means we will experience anger.  How has this emotion played a role in your life recently? As you remember when last anger showed up for a visit, please pray with me.

 

Prayer: O God, the ancient Psalmists shouted out for You, “answer me”, the Psalmist plotted and planned and sang a time of sweet revenge when heads would be dashed upon a rock (Psalm 138), and even Jesus quoted Psalm 22 about feeling forgotten and forsaken and frustrated.  Help us, O God, realize and recognize that You can hold not just our praise but pain.  Help us come to You not just with poetic prose of sweet words, but when anger throbs in our hearts.  Help us live the prayer posture of offering You our anger first, listening openly to Your wisdom, before we roll up our sleeves and take matters into our own hands.  Take our lives, our whole lives, especially the bruised and broken parts that too often we hide, into Your healing embrace.  In the name of the One who lived his life with all the emotions, Jesus the Christ. Amen.