Our Father...4th Sunday in Lent

There have been times in my life when words failed me.  The day my children were born - I simply had no words.  The day we took our son to rehab - I simply had no words.  The morning my mother died (who celebrates her birthday in heaven tomorrow!) - I simply had no words.  The day my son celebrated five years in recovery - I simply had no words.  Last weekend, as my daughter wed the man of her dreams - I simply had no words.  Please don't misunderstand me as I had plenty of thoughts swirling around inside me in all these instances.  I had memories, I had unabounding love, I had despair, I had deep, deep pain, I had joy, I had hope.  But I had no words.  They were simply stuck somewhere inside me.

What I've described above is one very, simple life of a human with everyday joy, stress and strain. But the men and women living and working around Jesus, were they any different from me and you?  Yes, I believe they were unique in that they completely gave up their lives and work to literally follow Jesus everywhere he traveled.  And certainly their spirituality is not in question.  But neither is their 'human-ness'.  They struggled like us.  I just know in my heart that their words got stuck inside of their heads!  Then came...Jesus.  He was so different.  He was so alive.  He was so loving and forgiving and accepting.  And he prayed...like... everywhere!  Not just in the church or at mealtime or at bedtime but always, it seems.

Matthew Henry, states this in his commentary, "Christ pray[ed] often...: when he was baptized, he was praying; he withdrew into the wilderness, and prayed; he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer; he was alone praying."  His disciples saw Him praying.  And I believe we can assume that the method and frequency of Jesus' prayer life was quite different than that of his followers.  Something or everything struck them as different for they asked him..."Lord, teach us to pray". Luke 11:1

I, too say these words today...Lord, teach me to pray.  There are times that I don't know how to express the thoughts, feelings, concerns, and worry that fill my days.  

And what was Jesus' answer?  Look closely at the reading from Matthew, just before the Lord's Prayer, as we call it, Jesus gives us beautiful instruction.  He says, 'But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen...And don't babble by using a lot of words....for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This, then is how you should pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. (Matt. 6:6-9)

I'll be honest with some of my thoughts.  Perhaps I want to pray the right way and that blocks my real communication with God.  Perhaps those Sunday morning times of prayer in the church service leave me hollow.  Perhaps prayer is not about using any words.  Perhaps prayer is first, getting alone with God...just alone with no time schedule and no agenda.  In our effort to pray the right way we've missed the first step in Jesus' instruction....go into your room, close the door...and pray.  

Occasionally, I attend a noon communion service...where I am a visitor and know almost no one attending.  Oftentimes, the very best part of this small service is arriving early and sitting in the silence of the beautiful chapel.  No words do I speak, no action do I take.  I am simply there...present, needing connection, waiting, breathing...and most every time tears come for He has met me.  It's the alone time, the silence, the 'going away' where I find Him.

What happens when you go into your private place to think, or contemplate or cry or scream?  What happens when your words are stuck inside of you?  As we go into our rooms of prayer today, take time to be quiet.  That's right...just be...just sit.  Let your spirit free by using no words for just a few minutes.  Then pray the prayer Jesus taught us... slowly...in phrases...thinking about what the words mean to you...

Our Father... 

He is your Father, He is my Father, He is the Father of the world and He hears and He loves and He answers.  He is Father to those I don't like too much and He is Father to those who don't even know it.  My Father, I come to you today...

In Heaven... 

I am here in my little world.  And You are in your Eternal world.  You are Infinite and I am finite.  I praise you for the hope of eternal life and that You live and reign in heaven today and you live in me today.

Your Kingdom come... 

I hope in your Glory and in your Power and in the world to come.  I trust in You and that you will come in Your time. 

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven... 

It is Your will that I desire for my will is ignorant, self-serving and naive.  Your will is perfect for the world and for me.  I choose Your will today.

Time with no words, words for every part of life, time with no words...that's my prayer outline.  Will you join me today on this part of the Lent journey?  Will you take time and find your closet and stop the babble and just BE with OUR FATHER?

Presence in the Present--3rd Sunday in Lent

In my earliest years, I knew only one way to pray.  At night, my Dad would tuck me into bed and hold my hand as we said together…

Now I lay me down to sleep

I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to keep

If I should die before I wake

I pray Thee, Lord, my soul to take

I loved that time with my Dad each night.  To be honest, though, I’m not sure I experienced the prayer aspect as spiritual so much as a magic spell to ensure I’d make it alive through sleep until breakfast in the morning…or at least evade the horrors of hell if I didn’t!

With time, the phrases themselves began to conflagrate into one, 30-syllable power word hastily recited in one breath, spoken effortlessly, a Godly “abracadabra” to surround me with peace and protection as I slept.

I understood that praying was “talking to God.”  This, however, was the only way I knew how to do it.

Jesus’ disciples seemed at a loss themselves when it came to the “how to” of prayer.  One day, after watching Jesus pray, his followers asked him for a “how to” lesson in prayer.  “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples,” they asked (Lk 11:1).

Jesus’ response provides the basis for what we now call “The Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father,” though the scriptural version is more concise than what is customarily used in worship (for the longer version, see Mt. 6:9-13).

For now, let’s just consider the very first part of Jesus’ instruction, which says a great deal about presence and the present. 

“When you pray, say:  Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. (Lk 11: 2).

Hallowed is a word we don’t use regularly.  Different dictionaries define this word as “set apart as holy.”  This “how to” starts with establishing our sense of place and presence.  We are not in a casual conversation or distracted chatter.  This is intimate, powerful, distinct from the other conversations we have in the world.

We are present in a holy dialogue with One set apart as holy.  Time to be completely, utterly in the moment and nowhere else.  Time to practice presence.

And then, “Your kingdom come.”  Taken as is, this could be seen as a wish or a hope for something in the future, something that is not of the “now,” something that will be accomplished at a later date.

I only speak for myself, but am guessing others may have lived this way, too.  Living as though the “coming of the kingdom” prayed for collectively by millions in worship each week is some type of distant spiritual payoff for doing the right thing and being in the right group now.  “If we live by the rules, if we go through the right motions, if we worship in the right way, then someway…someday…we will experience this kingdom of God.”

But Jesus himself says otherwise. 

To the Pharisees, Jesus is later quoted in the Gospel of Luke saying, "The kingdom of God will not come with observable signs.  Nor will people say, 'Look, here it is,' or 'There it is.' For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst."  (Lk: 17—21).

This is expressed differently depending on the translation.  The kingdom of God is…

…in your midst

…among you

…within you!

It’s now, in the present.  It’s here.  And it’s in me--in each of us!  Jesus says so.

So why would I need to pray, “Your kingdom come” if the kingdom is already within me and in the midst of all I experience?  Why can’t I see what is right before, around me, within me?

Maybe it is that the Kingdom of God is always present in my midst…but I am not always present for the Kingdom of God.  The busy-ness, the striving, the ego, the clamor, the insatiable need for approval, and the list goes on: altogether they create a noisy fog that blocks what is in front of me, around me, inside of me all the time.

Many engage in a tradition of sacrifice, of “giving something up for Lent.”  Today, let us give up each thing that is keeping us from seeing the Kingdom of God in the present, each thing that keeps us from being present to Him.

A Process - 2nd Sunday in Lent

It was summer and our son, Nick who was 9, had just returned from a two-week camp in

Texas.  It was his dad's job to clean out the trunk that held all the clothes, gear, uneaten food, ants and nastiness only a little boy can bring home from a camp experience!  The process was moving along fairly well as Ray dug through the trunk when he came to a layer of clothes that seemed to have never been worn.  They lay there in perfect foldedness (a new Hayes word).  As he removed them, he came to other basic items one of which was the soap dish. (Now, these were the days before the creation of body wash.... one simply used bar soap).  Ray took out the soap dish and opened it.... there lay a perfectly, NEVER used beautiful bar of soap emblazoned with the word, D-O-V-E!  This precious boy of ours had been away for two weeks yet his one bar of soap had never been touched! When questioned, Nick told Ray that he had been swimming every day!

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me Psalm 51:10

Scott led us to this verse last week and I've been pondering it ever since.  To 'create' takes time and takes a subject willing to be molded, changed, remolded, tweaked by the creator.

My son's intention was for a clean body but he took a shortcut.  When I read this prayer from David as he poured out his heart to God, it resonates with me.  It speaks to my soul and I too want a clean heart to be created inside me....

But like my son, I'm afraid I often make a different choice.

Was Nick not aware that he needed soap?

Was he too busy?

Was bathing just a low priority?

Was he anticipating that the process would be too slow?

Can we draw parallels from this childhood story? Like my son, perhaps I need a new definition of clean!  For I've tried and tried to become clean in my spirit.  I've said the words, I've prayed the prayers, I've earnestly desired this cleansing yet I still feel stuck in the words.  So, I read further in the Psalm and noticed that David continues his writing as if he senses that this clean heart deal is a process.

Verse 12, reads Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me... 
and

Verse 17, the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart...

(just a heart with the correct priority, i.e. God on the throne on my life instead of the bossy, needy me that usually rules my life).

Could these two verses be the HOW of letting God create in me and in you a clean heart?  

By letting Him do the cleaning in His own time and in His perfect manner...

By being willing to give my own needs and selfishness to Him every day...

Is this second week of Lent such a time in my life?  We're busy people.  We go and we go and yet we all are still seeking something more.

This creating of a clean heart is a process inside each of us.  Am I ready to let Him do His work inside me?  Am I willing?

Or do I think I just don't need the cleansing?

Am I too busy?

Is such spiritual work a low priority in my life?

Is it taking too long?

Create and keep creating a clean heart in me, Oh God.

March 5, 2017--First Sunday in Lent

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10)

Tuesday, wonderful Tuesday!

Tuesday is perhaps my favorite day of the week, for Tuesday is the day the cleaning lady comes!  For going on fifteen years now, she has dutifully arrived at midday each Tuesday for her two hours of miracle-working.  I take leave before she comes so I don’t see her in action—it’s all somewhat of a mystery to me how she does it. 

But when I return—joy of joys!  Every surface is wiped clean! All dust has been banished! Whatever indignities may have taken hold in the bathroom (to which I have skillfully averted my eyes all week)—all have disappeared!  The sweet scent of lavender disinfectant and lemony furniture polish wash over me in a fragrant wave when I walk through the front door, and for a moment…all is well in the world, peaceful alignment has returned to the universe, and I can take on whatever may come at me for the rest of the week!

There is something wonderful about a squeaky-clean house, a spring rain, a hot shower after a day at the beach.   A new beginning, a fresh start, a clean slate!  A second chance, or a third…perhaps too many to count.

Psalm 51 is King David’s ode to a “personal housecleaning.”  David is one of my favorite characters in the Bible.  Shepherd and warrior.  King of Men and Child of God.  Humble in one instance, egomaniacal in the next.  Musician.  Murderer.  Best friend.  Lover of another man’s wife.  He’s so righteous, so scandalous…so human!

In the New International Version of the Bible, the preface to this Psalm reads, “For the director of music.  A Psalm of David.  When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.”

Those familiar with the story recall that David, accustomed to getting pretty much what he wanted, had an affair with the beautiful Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  He had admired her from afar, so he slept with her and then found himself facing the music he had made:  Bathsheba was pregnant.  What to do, particularly about the unknowing husband?  The king sent him off to fight in a no-win battle from which he was destined never to return.

The prophet, Nathan, later confronts David with his own unscrupulous behavior in a masterful twist of storytelling.  The oh-so-human king is laid low by the revelation of his dreadful deeds—both the affair and the plot to get Uriah out of the picture.  “You are the man!” declares the prophet.  There will be more consequences, Nathan tells him, but also redemption, a second chance: “The Lord has taken away your sin.  You are not going to die.” (2 Samuel, 12:14).

Psalm 51 is David’s response to his very human situation.  In the midst of the prayer come some very familiar words:  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10). 

First, David is saying, “Wipe every surface of my soul clean.  Remove all the dust and grime.  Banish every indignity.”  But he doesn’t stop there.  Some translations read, “and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”  The synonyms for “steadfast” include loyal, committed, and faithful.

David’s fall from grace was the result of tripping over his outsized ego.  Oh, how many times we have all stumbled over the same obstacle--I know I have.  “I can do it! I am in control!  I have all the power!  The world is my oyster!” 

Only later do we find that, left solely to our own devices, we fall short, we fall down, we fall spectacularly.  We are laid low, indeed.

David’s prayer is not only to be cleaned, but to stay clean.

The prayer itself is a “making ready.”  I confess here to a bit of neurotic behavior—each Tuesday morning, before the cleaning lady shows up at my house, I scurry around, straightening up the place before she gets here!  I put some things away, pick up here and there, clean up before she…well, cleans up!  Truth be told, I’ve learned that many other folks who indulge in the little luxury of having someone come in to tidy up once a week do exactly the same thing!

So, this verse emerges from an intention of being ready, willing, and open to being “cleaned up.”  David begins with attitude of willingness and surrender…and concludes with an intention to keep things in order, cleaned up, fresh and new.

Of course, as we know, there were more highs and lows in David’s life.  And despite our best intentions we, too, fall again and again.  On Wednesday and Thursday, my house still looks mighty shiny…but as the week wears on, the dust settles, the mirrors are smudged, the floors need to be swept and mopped, and all the countertops are streaked and dirty. 

By the following Tuesday, it’s time for another visit from the “miracle worker.”  How grateful I am that she keeps coming back!  Grateful, indeed!

Lent 2017: "Lord, Teach us to Pray"

One day, Jesus was praying in a certain place.  When he finished, one of his disciples said, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples." (Luke 11:1, NIV)

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent.  For the next forty days, we are called to "reflect," to "inspect," and ultimately to "resurrect" on Easter Sunday.

While some observe this season by ceasing to do something as a representation of "sacrifice," Lent is often taken as an opportunity to adopt a new practice, or renew an old one.  For the next several weeks, we have chosen to consider the practice of prayer.

We will share our questions about prayer, our "successes and failures" in prayer, and what we have come to understand about prayer up to this point in our lives.

What we won't be able to share is "all the answers," because we definitely don't have them!  We are just travelers on a journey who are willing to share, "just as we are!"

Will you join us for these 40 Faithful Days?  There will be a new posting each Sunday, first from Scott on March 5, then from Kathy on March 12...and we will continue our alternating pattern all the way through the Lenten season.

We will use prayers found in scripture as a structure for our reflection and writing, including...

...Create in me a clean heart, O God...
...Our Father in heaven, holy is your name...
...Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses...
...O Lord, why have you forsaken me?...

We hope you will join us and invite others to do the same!

In Christ,

Kathy and Scott