Tag: prayer - Page 2 - We Get There By Walking

Learning to Pray

Here I am at home.
They called to tell me they are waiting for news from the doctor.

Here I am at home.
The smell of fresh baked cookies fills the air.

Here I am at home.
Half way across the country they are welcoming a new grandchild.

Here I am at home.
They are worried about a neighbor going through a terrible divorce.

Here I am at home.
Thinking about my own children and their families.

Here I am at home.
Concerned about friends in Nicaragua with whom I have worked for many years.

Here I am at home.
Making my list for the trip to the grocery store this afternoon.

Here I am at home.
With the day’s news.
Fires burn in California and refugees continue to live in tents.

Here I am at home.
Thinking about so many who I know and about whom I care.

Here I am at home.
Learning to pray with each breath I take.

This reflection by Anne Hillman was read as a part of the worship service we attended at the Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church on our way home from our summer work trip. It caught my attention and made me lean in a bit more.
We are all on a journey together…
To the center of the universe…
Look deep
Into yourself, into another.
It is to a center which is everywhere
That is the holy journey…
First you need only look:
Notice and honor the radiance of
Everything about you…
Play in this universe. Then
All these shining things around you:
The smallest plant, the creature and the objects in your care.
Be gentle and nurture. Listen…
As we experience and accept
All that we really are…
We grow in care.
We begin to embrace others
As ourselves, and learn to live
As one among many.

In other words…Pay attention.

And, this story from Matthew’s Gospel.
As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed [Jesus]. There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!” Jesus stood still and called them, saying, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him.

In other words…See.

The writer Anne Lamott says there are only four kinds of prayer:
Please.
Thank you.
Help.
Wow.

Being here this morning, I wonder how you pray.
Now I lay me down to sleep…?
Our Father, who art in heaven…?
The Lord is good to me and so I thank the Lord…?
Do you…
Fold your hands?
Close your eyes?
Speak out loud?
Be a quiet as you can?
Is your prayer…
Grace before a meal?
Your morning meditation?
Or, Oh my God… whispered as you hear the headlines in the news?
Or, maybe you just wait for Sunday morning and for Heather or me.
After all, while I am 100% sure it is not true, on countless occasions I have been asked to pray because I have “a direct line to the Almighty.”

What got me thinking about this was something I saw a couple of weeks ago.
A line by the poet Mary Oliver who wrote:
Attentiveness is the beginning of all prayer.
Again…
Attentiveness is the beginning of all prayer.
I used to think prayer was about talking God into something.
Something I wanted.
Something I thought I needed.
Something someone else wanted or needed.
Or, asking God for something and then sitting back and waiting for God to do what I had asked.
But. like my line to the Almighty, I am pretty sure that is not what prayer is all about.
Mary Oliver’s observation rings true for me.
What if prayer is really about learning…
To pay attention.
To see.
To notice.
To look around.

Could it be that merely paying attention becomes our prayer.
Paying attention to the crisis on our borders.
Paying attention to food you are about to eat.
Paying attention to the refugees in makeshift camps cut off from their homes.
Paying attention to the state of your soul.
Paying attention to those who are hungry in our community.
Paying attention to those who sit across from you at the dinner table.
Paying attention to those whom you know who are battling disease.
Paying attention to the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the breeze.
Paying attention to the systemic racism around us.
Paying attention to the money you spend and the checks you write.
Paying attention to those who continue to rebuild their lives in Puerto Rico.
Paying attention to pace of your day.
Paying attention to those who struggle to make ends meet.
Paying attention to the beauty of the flower.
Paying attention to the violence in Nicaragua.
Paying attention to the embrace of another.
Paying attention…
Because there are still bushes which are burning.
And that still, small voice waiting to be heard.
And there are still angels masquerading as strangers.
And visions which remain to be seen.

The Gospel reading this morning was about two blind men consigned to sitting each day in the dirt on the side of the road, beggars hoods pulled up over their faces so others would not see/notice/pay attention to their blindness. Two blind men who defy all the cultural norms by crying out to Jesus. And, then, when rebuked, crying out even louder. Then when asked by Jesus what they want, they reply, “Let our eyes be open.”

Maybe we, too, sit in the dirt on the side of the road.
Blind.
Lost in some darkness around us.
Not able to see that which is right in front of you.
What happens next?
They asked for their eyes to be opened.
May we be wise enough to the same.
To open our eyes.
To see again or maybe to see for the very first time.
Then to move our feet.
And to allow our lives to follow where our prayers first lead.

Be Light: A Prayer

O God, you call us together
That we might find strength and hope and direction with and from one another.
Then You throw open the doors
And send us out to be Your people and Your presence
In the world You continue to love so much.
To be…
Light in the midst of darkness.
Hope in the face of despair.
Compassion where the harshness of life overwhelms.
May we continue to strive to do just that
As we do our best to follow in the way and the spirit of Jesus.
Amen.

Reaching Back To Find My Way Forward

I wouldn’t be who I am today
Or, where I am today
If, when I was 19 years old, I hadn’t stumbled upon the book Raids on the Unspeakable by Thomas Merton. I can no longer find it on my bookshelf, but what I remember of that book is that on every page I underlined something and scribbled countless notes in the margins. Even though I read it cover to cover, it never registered with me that Thomas Merton was a monk. A Trappist monk. As in vows of silence and poverty and never leaving the monastery. Over the next several months, I read as many of his books as I could. Devouring them. His writing about life and faith and God and prayer touched something deep within me. Something I was looking for/needing, but didn’t know I was looking for it until I found it. Twice, in the next several years, I was privileged to visit and to stay at the monastery where he had lived. I sat in the same Chapel in which he had sat. I prayed the same Offices he had prayed. As I said, I am who I am today because of him.

All that came back to mind because a week or so ago, I wrote about wanting to find a different way to start my day. Rather than opening up the paper or my tablet and being swallowed up by the news, I decided I would take my cup of coffee and sit for a few minutes in our backyard allowing the quiet of the morning instead of the headlines to be the start to my day. After a day or two, I also took a book.

Maybe it is, that as I get closer to retirement, I am reaching back to my roots for grounding and direction. Anyway, the book I picked up to take into the backyard with me was a book of short excerpts from Merton’s writing. Each morning I read a page or two. A sentence I read a day or so ago has stuck with me. “In a world in which men have forgotten the value of prayer, it is the monks who pray for the world and for all those in the world who have forgotten how to pray.”

The word prayer is a part of my vocabulary.
But, I realize it may not be a part of yours.
So, what about this…
Instead of pray/prayer, insert the word kind/kindness.
Or, welcome.
Or, compassion.
Or, understanding.
Which translates to something like this:
In a world in which people have forgotten the value of kindness, we are the ones who practice kindness for the world and for all those in the world who have forgotten how to be kind.
Whether it is we pray…
Or intentionally practice kindness…
Or intentionally extend hospitality…
Or make understanding and compassion central to our lives…
We do so not just for ourselves or the other.
We do so on behalf of the world.
And, on behalf of all those who have forgotten how to be kind or compassionate or welcoming or understanding.

I am grateful that when I have forgotten how to pray there are those who have not. I am grateful when kindness eludes me there are those who practice it for me and others. I am grateful…

When the world has forgotten, we can remember.

A Prayer for Sunday Morning

My guess is before yesterday you had never heard of it.
Santa Fe, Texas.
Now we have.
On Friday, 8 students and 2 teachers were killed by a 17 year old.
The headline of the yesterday’s New York Daily News read:
With yesterday’s Texas massacre, there have now been more students and teachers killed by guns in US schools than active duty military deaths in 2018.
And, as our ad in the local paper this week reminded us.
912 people were killed or injured by guns in the week ending May 14th.
Which brings the total of those killed or injured to 14,720.
And that was before the shooting at Sante Fe High School.

We will begin our prayer this morning in silence, as a bell rings for each of the victims of Friday’s shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.

Call us out, O God.
Call us out from all those places where we hide
From you and from each other.
Call us out from behind the walls be build.
And, from the stereotypes to which we cling.
And, from the assumptions and easy certainty which avoids the challenging questions which face us.
Call us out, O God.
To life.
To hope.
To justice.
To compassion.
In other words, O God, call us out towards your promised Kingdom meant for us and for all.

As we turn towards You, may we find the courage to pray.
For all those who we remember in this moment.
And, for all those who find themselves in need of health or healing or hope or a reminder of your abiding presence in all the moments of life.

And, added to all those prayers, O God, our prayers of gratitude for the love which surrounds us and for the love which supports us. For the opportunities before us and the responsibilities entrusted to us. Thank you for this community of faith with its reminder of who we are and whose we are and who we are called to be.

And, as always, O God,
May our lives follow where our prayers first lead.
Amen.

Paying Attention

This morning
Up early.
Coffee made.
Down the stairs to let our dog out into our backyard.
But instead of going back inside I went outside with her.
Cup of coffee in hand.

I sat down.
Deep breath in the early morning chill.
And I watched as my dog took stock of her surroundings.
She stood at attention for the longest time.
Taking in the morning.
And what was around her.
I sipped my coffee.

Watching her
I wondered
When was the last time
I stood or sat at attention for that long?
Focused solely
On who
Or what
Was around me?
Being quiet enough
Still enough
Silent enough
To notice?

And in that time
To allow God to come close.

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Several things I believe: