Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. (Luke 11:1)
Video reflection: https://youtu.be/OibbqfNWvXo (was cut short - so here is the rest of my reflection)
There are many ways, techniques and resources to help us to learn how to pray. We can read books, take classes or seminars. The variety of resources help us to expand and enhance our prayer life.
Yet, at its core - prayer is about a conversation between us - individually and corporately - and God. It is the sharing of our life with the One in whose image we are created. It is offering our laments to the One who hung on the cross. It is inviting the One who sustains us to walk with us in our daily lives.
It is more than saying particular words or prayers (though they can be helpful - a few examples below). It is also listening and resting in God's presence. It is paying attention to what God has to say to us through scripture, music, conversation with others and the like. God speaks as much as God listens.
So before you begin any prayer....pause...take a breath...or two...open yourself up to the loving presence of God before you even say or think a word.
Listen, God is talking
and that very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words (Romans 8:26)
Here are a few prayers for this day:
Prayer for Overcoming Indifference
For the sin of silence,
For the sin of indifference,
For the secret complicity of the neutral,
For the closing of borders,
For the washing of hands,
For the crime of indifference,
For the sin of silence,
For the closing of borders.
For all that was done,
For all that was not done,
Let there be no forgetfulness before the Throne of
Glory;
Let there be remembrance within the human heart;
And let there at last be forgiveness
When your children, O God,
Are free and at peace.
From Chaim Stern, editor, Gates of Repentance (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1978).
For all those who are confronted by seeming boundaries, limitations, and impossibilities, this is a psalm reminding us of who God is—in God’s wholly otherness and God’s holy withness.
God
Creator, Hoverer
You speak and we form
You breathe life and we awake
You said “it is good” and we believe
God
The Red Sea before us, shouting impossibility
They say we can’t, we shouldn’t, and we wouldn’t
Words seeded from our youth, the limits and the lies
There must be truer truths in us to confound, resist, defy
Created from nothing, said something, made everything
This God
The Lord will fight for us, so we need only to be still
Still our soul, stand out loud, trusting that God is
El Roi, God who sees, bears witness to a name
At her sound, ___ leaps, demands possibility
Immanuel, God with us, for us, within us
God
You said “it is good” and we believe
You breathe life and we awake
You speak and we form
Creator, Hoverer
God
(REV. GAIL SONG BANTUM, A Rhythm of Prayer (pp. 12-13). The Crown Publishing Group)
God, we give you thanks for the grace
that lies at the heart of our faith.
Even as we fall short in our response
to your love and your call, your grace still abounds.
We see your grace in the sunlight that warms the earth
and in the stars that light the sky.
We see it in the manger at Bethlehem
and the cross of Calvary.
In your grace we find peace and healing for troubled lives.
In your grace we see promise for justice and mercy in a troubled world.
As you envelop us, enliven us, and embrace us,
we celebrate you as the God of grace. Amen.
(Prayers for Life's Ordinary and Extraordinary Moments . Upper Room)
No comments:
Post a Comment