Mid-Week Lenten Service

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Art work by Kellie Thomas-Walker

The Simple Gift of Prayer

St. Luke 22:39-46

                                                           

“A prayer is a wish sent heavenward.” That was the sign on Christ United Methodist Church for a few weeks.  Every time I passed that sign I had to think about prayer.  What really is prayer?

Let take a look at the stories from Scripture beginning with St. Luke’s version of the story of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. 

Now going to one’s knees in anguish and pleading that the cup or situation you are in be taken away and sweating drops of blood is not my picture of a wish sent heavenward.

Abraham pleading for Sodom and Gomorrah and making a deal with God that if 10 righteous were found there the city would not be destroyed is not a wish sent heavenward.

Jacob terrified to encounter his brother Esau spends the night at the Jabbok River wrestling with a god-like being is not a wish sent heavenward.

If you have not noticed I have trouble with that cute little saying on the Methodist Church.  The Biblical story is riddled with people lamenting, crying out, praising, in joy, in despair – the whole gambit of human emotion goes up in prayer.

A better sign might read:  “Pray without ceasing – uses words if necessary.”

The gift of prayer is a relationship with God, others, and the whole of creation.  It is not mere words or simply a wish turned heavenward. 

And we human beings know that deep and long lasting relationships take time, communication, and attention.  How we relate to God and to one another is really an act of prayer.

The monastic movement – nuns and monks have always had an intentional prayer life – 7 prayer times throughout a 24 hour period:  6, 9, noon, 3, 6, 9, midnight. 

While on silent retreat at the New Mallory Abbey near Dubuque, IA –we observed the monastic prayer life.

“Pray without ceasing – use words if necessary.”  All of life becomes a pray.  How we live our lives whether putting away the dinner dishes, or scrubbing a bathroom floor…the most mundane act becomes a prayer by how we do it.

Prayer according to the monastic tradition is ‘practicing the presence of God.’  In other words God is in all of life.  There is no sacred and secular – all of life is sacred.  Our breath itself can be a prayer.  In fact contemplative communities connect breathing with prayer.  Breathing gives us life and prayer is such a lifeline.

The simple gift of prayer is not just words or conversations with God or a wish sent heavenward.  No!  Prayer is who we are, what we do.  It may start with words but authentic prayer will lead to action and becoming more in sync with God and what God intends for us.

Prayer is not a way for us to get what we want, but rather a means by which we participate in God’s ways – God’s loving rule and what God intends for us and the whole of creation.  That takes intentional listening to God.  It takes time.  It takes effort.  It involves discernment.

Prayer is a lifelong process and relationship with God.  We can dare to cry out to God in our need.  We can rejoice before God and share a grateful heart.  Our prayers for others will be followed by action on behalf of others.

Priest and author, Michel Quoist writes:

All of life would become prayer

“If we knew how to listen to God, if we knew how to look around us, our whole life would become prayer.  For it unfolds under God’s eyes and no part of it must be lived without being freely offered to him.

At first we communicate with God through words, which may be dispensed with later on.  Let us make use of the following pages, but soon discard words, as one does the peeling of a fruit.  Words are only a means.

However, the silent prayer which has moved beyond words must always spring from everyday life, for everyday life is the material of prayer.”

Then he has a series of prayers – Prayer before a Twenty Dollar Bill, Tractor, Funeral, and To Love: The Prayer of an Adolescent; I Found Marcel Alone; The Delinquent……

This is not just for monks, nuns, or priests but for all of us all of life – how we live our lives is a prayer offered to God.

There is one prayer that has never ceased to amaze me.  Of course, the prayer of Jesus from the cross is amazing:  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

Another prayer comes from the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp.  It is laminated and a gift to you.  Imagine the horror of the Holocaust - the fear, oppression, and inhumanity.  Now listen to this prayer.

Ravensbruck Prayer

Ravensbruck Concentration Camp:

Written by an unknown prisoner and left by the body of a dead child

“O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will, but also those of ill will. But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted on us, remember the fruits we have bought, because of this suffering - our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, our courage, our generosity, the greatness of heart that has grown out of all of this, and when they come to judgment, let all the fruits we have borne be their forgiveness.”

The simple gift of prayer:  Take this prayer home.  Keep it in front of you this coming Holy Week.  Ponder how all of life is truly a prayer.

Amen