Walking and Talking with God

When I accepted the invitation to become a ‘blogger’ on this website I thought I’d be writing once a month on a faith-related topic of my choice. No such luck. I found out there are faith-practice‘themes of the month’. My first assignment was for July, and wouldn’t you know it, the subject is prayer. Which is ironic, because I am such a lousy pray-er.

I really wanted to write about several of the other faith-practices. Like worship. Or Bible Study. One I could vent my laments over, and the other I could pontificate about and maybe educate. But I got prayer. This was definitely the work of the Holy Spirit. She’s big into humility, at least where I’m concerned. You’ve gotta love it. It’s either laugh or cry, you know? So I laugh at myself because if there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the Holy Spirit has a deliciously devious sense of humor.

So here I am, wondering what to say. I wish I knew some magic prayer formula that I could impart to you. I don’t think there is one. Do I believe in prayer? No. But I believe in the God I’m talking with and Who listens to me when I pray. Do I get down on my knees, fold my hands, bow my head and admit what a low-down dirty rotten scoundrel I am? No. I know that. God knows that. But mostly I don’t because I don’t think I’m all that bad. Am I perfect? No way. Do I do things I wish I hadn’t? That I’m sorry for? Sure. If I’ve hurt someone in a fit if pique, or inadvertently, I beat myself up, suck it up, and do what I can to make amends. I need to set things straight with that person. You know, get the log out of my eye before I think about the speck in another’s. Only then can I think about going to God with it.

When I do, finally, go to Him with it, I find that more often than not I have to refresh His memory. Then He reminds me that He gave me the Spirit to be my guide and counselor and then of course I have to thank Her for that elbow in the side or swift kick in the butt of my conscience that spurred me into the action I took.

I find I say ‘Thank you,’ a lot. I also walk a lot. It’s nigh unto impossible to walk and feel ungrateful at the same time. Yesterday an ambulance passed me, lights flashing, siren wailing as it turned toward the hospital. I said ‘Thank you’ for all those people who are and will work together to help this person in need.

Every day I thank God for myself, my husband, for the two of us together. For my children and their families. For my larger family and friends. For my Sacred Circle, my Spiritual Direction group, my Bible Study group. For my pastors and my church, for the larger church and the church universal. I thank God for how richly He has blessed each and all of us and yes, I ask that He continue to bless us.

Once while talking with a friend about prayer, I mentioned how often I say ‘Thank you’. She said, ‘How can you say God has blessed you richly when you sister died of cancer, your son-in-law committed suicide, you have two special needs granddaughters and your son was never married to your grandson’s mother? How can you feel blessed by all that?’

Well, I don’t. What I feel blessed with is the 54 years I had with my sister. I am grateful and feel blessed by the awesome strength of my daughter as she holds her family together and guides and nurtures her 3 teenage daughters toward healthy, promising futures. I am humbled by the strength and love and work my son and his wife put into their marriage so that it doesn’t shatter under the weight of raising 2 special (special needs) children. I am blessed by respect for my son for accepting fully his responsibilities for his son, and for the time, effort and money he puts into being a vital part of our grandson’s life.

I am grateful that they, we, all of us have been abundantly blessed with the strength that we need to be who we need to be when we need each other. For that I cannot say ‘Thank you’ often or profoundly enough. I simply lift them, and all for whom I pray to God - and trust.

That’s all I can do. Peace be with you as you continue to walk in the mystery.

~ Janet M.

Embracing the PASSION of Prayer!

A few weeks ago I had one of those unexpected ‘AHA’ moments that struck me like a whoosh of air entering a room.  I love music…all kinds…generations….instrumental and vocal.  Still, there are 3 sounds which especially speak to my soul and spirit: the strings of a violin, the soul of a sax, and the heartbeat of a drum.  That day I was listening to a favorite of mine, Russian born violinist, Maxim Vengerov.  The piece was Maxim Vengerov.  To get a sense of what I was listening to and observing, I invite you to listen to at least the first 2 minutes of this hour long piece.

What I heard and saw was a musician’s passion which transcended his music. and seemed to penetrate into other areas of his life...or maybe it was the other way around.  Anyway, I started thinking about how this kind of passion connects with prayer.

This month’s prayer blogs have focused on the methods and connecting avenues we can access for prayer.  Rachel shared information on ways to pray and Paul on ways of hyperlinking our lives to prayer. 

For many of us (self-included) prayer tends to be thought of in a more serious note, whether practiced alone or in community.  Yet what if prayer is not always plainly serious, whether we are giving thanks, offering praise, seeking healing, reflecting on God’s presence, or meditating? Listening to this YouTube piece led me to reflect on our senses: seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, and touching....all orchestrated through our brain and heart, along with our thoughts and emotions.  Nothing extra-ordinary so far?  

Well bear with me.  Let’s say we believe our Creator fashioned us with all 5 senses, these organs, our soul and our spirit. YES!!!  A good place to start. I also believe our Creator has a sense of Joy, Humor, Compassion, Mercy, Tenderness, Anger, Justice, and…yes PASSION.  And that God is very passionate about all these tributes….and about you and me!  So what does this have to do with our passion in prayer?  Just that you and I were created in God’s image, with a divine spirit.  If prayer is a way for us to connect with and relate to and with God….then passion in prayer is a good thing!  

Still, I have to say there are times when my prayers are subdued, pensive, no so passionate and very still.  So when I speak about the passion of prayer, I’m not referring to assertive shouts or hallelujahs (though this is okay! )....but rather to engaging our senses, our heart, our reflections, and our spirits. 

Here are some suggestions:

*  Feel closer to God in nature?  Utter a prayer while you breathe in the air and soak in the colors, get close to the earth.

*  Like to create?  Invite God to be with you in your hands, your eyes, your spirit…and let yourself feel God’s presence in your work (i.e. Maxim Vengerov)

*  If the words won’t come….try this link for praying in color.  Praying in Color

*  Music?  Listen to a favorite piece and sing, move around, or imagine playing an instrument and feel God’s presence in your movements.  You to might utter a prayer of thanksgiving or joy.

*  Like to write?  A journal of gratitude prayers does wonders for the soul.

*  Enjoy food (who doesn’t)?  Offering thanks for what we have and praying for those who don’t is the best seasoning.

*  Evening prayers…light a candle, read a poem, listen to the end of the day and sense the quietude.   Evening Meditations

*  Is there a prayer ritual which connects you with your roots…your heart.   Here is one of mine: Sabbath Prayer around the world  

*  Meditation?  Meditation journeys

I encourage you to engage one or more of your five senses, including your heart and your soul. If this is new to you….start by trying one small thing and make it a habit.  Play around ‘til you find a new comfort zone…and then explore using another sense.

We are created to be fully alive, as much as we are able. Should our prayers not be the same?  Just as I ask the breath of God, the Holy Spirit to walk with me in exploring new ways of bringing passion in my prayers.  I invite you to give this a try.  

Come as you are, wherever you are, and bring your senses with you.  Passion in prayer can be  catchy :)

Susan

Sharing The Grace of Prayer

I’ve been thinking lately about Sharing the Grace  and Living the Passion of  Prayer. The word ‘grace’ usually reminds us of God’s unconditional love, forgiveness and mercy....much can and has been written about this.  And the meaning of ‘passion’ in this context, well it can be extensive, so for the sake of blog space, I will write about these thoughts later in the week.  For now, it's 'grace'.  So, what might the 'grace of prayer' look like in our lives….in our community...... and as a ‘light’ of God’s grace spread across our globe?  Seem all encompassing or a little vague?  Bear with me and read on.

At English Lutheran, as in most churches, each week we offer prayers during service, and during the week  through avenues like small groups and prayer chains.  These are often prayers spoken for specific needs,  and each one is gift or blessing for sure.  Yet, I think there is an added gift or Grace which casts a light when we share the act of prayer with others.  This is the ‘grace of prayer’, the presence of God’s love shared in community. Letting others know our prayers are extended to, and/or wrapped around them, often serves as a way to build  bridges personally and communally, near and far.   

Some examples.  I've attended conferences and assemblies where sand candles are openly placed for people to light a candle, as a sign of prayer during presentations or devotions.  

             On a personal basis, I have received emails from loved ones letting me know they are with me in prayer…not for specific needs, just simply because we are joined in heart, in spirit, and often in Christ.  

            Many ministries like Lutheran World and Disaster Relief programs, Voice of the Martyrs serving isolated Christians, and senior outreach programs become strengthened in their work when the light of prayer is shared with them. These ministries and the people served come to know they are joined in a community of God’s grace through prayer.

In a world of technology and less personal modes of connecting, sharing the Grace of Prayer offers the  deeply rooted gift that we are joined together in God’s love. This is a grace which offers strength. It offers hope. And it plants roots for possibilities.

Growing up in the Jewish faith, as a child I often felt a sense of mystery during those special Holy Synagogue Services, as I watched and listened to men and women chanting their prayers, so passionately and  focused.   They often wore Tallit or fringed prayer shawls draped around their shoulders, like a cloud of witnesses bowing together before God.  The sense of community in prayer sometimes stayed with me and cast a light, even when I was too young to understand the spoken chants. 

During my ministry in hospitals, hospice, and nursing homes, I’ve seen a wide variety of prayer shawls,  fashioned stitch by stitch, created in a gathering of community and or in quiet lone times.  Each shared gift created in prayer to serve as reminders of love, hope, memory, gratitude, and compassion.

Over the years. many folks have told me that in the sharing of prayers, through whatever means, the one offering the prayer(s) often receives just as the one receiving.  In the sharing of Grace through Prayer, the light which is cast can shine near and far.  It does not burn out.

Sharing the Grace of a Hebrew Prayer:  May God's grace and our humble prayers offer sacred places of security and well-being, sustaining and embracing all in good times, as well as difficult ones.

More to come on the passionate side.

Shalom,  Susan

What's the cost of a Mission Trip?

It's summer, so for those of us who work with youth, it's mission trip season. After months of recruiting, planning, and fundraising, we're almost there.

But what's the cost of these trips? The planning committee and parents can tell you exactly how much they are paying for these experiences--often thousands of dollars per person. I sometimes wonder if the money would be better spent if it were given to organizations already on the ground, if local people were able to rebuild their own communities and given a sense of empowerment--rather than dependence. I wonder if we're actually helping THEM and not ourselves.

I've been on the being helped end of a service project when a tornado destroyed my home. It was powerful, to say the least. But it also wasn't a solely youth trip, we traveled a grand total of ten minutes from the church parking lot, and were done in two hours. Cost? Probably less than $5 per person. Not exactly the same as traveling to a different state or country for a week or more. I know trips can be fun, create lifelong memories and friendships, and make huge impacts on faith. Who wouldn't want that, particularly for our youth? Who can put a price on that kind of experience?

So what's the answer to the cost of short term missions? The ChurchRelevant blog has an interesting discussion on the topic. It seems the consensus, at least as far as I can tell, is:
[drumroll please]
There is none.

There are, however, practices that can make trips more effective  for all involved, adding a significant benefit to the cost. Leaders can communicate why the group is there. The organizations that coordinate work can share what they do--and why it's so important. Leaders on all ends can teach skills of sensitivity, empathy, flexibility. They can foster a group culture of accompaniment, that is, walking alongside Christ, each other, and those served. They can envelope everything with prayer, and allow time for reflection and discussion. They can teach about our Lord who humbled himself to wash his disciples' feet, and what that means for us.

I believe in youth and in the future of the church they will shape.  I know they need to form community with each other. I want them to be exposed to different cultures, ranging from urban St. Paul to Appalachia to foreign countries. I yearn for them to experience what it's like to be deeply integrated into the mission of "God's work: Our hands." I deeply want them to live the mission statement that the youth steering committee crafted and to know what that means both for them and for their world: Know God, Grow in faith, Go to serve.

ELC, Our Reedemer and Good Shepherd Youth - getting ready to load the bus!

I left on Monday for my first of two short term mission trips with young people this summer. In one, we'll be joining 36,000 others for the ELCA National Youth Gathering. We are learning to practice justice under the theme of "citizens with the saints." En route, we stopped in St. Louis to do work at various organizations, ranging from painting to planting flowers to bringing cheer to the elderly. We got a sense of what East St. Louis, and stark poverty, can be. A few weeks later, I'm serving on the La Crosse Area Synod Peru Youth Delegation. There, ten of us will walk alongside our Peruvian brothers and sisters of the  Lutheran church and discuss how we can live in mission of the church--together. Though these trips are vastly different, our underlying goal is the same: share Christ's light, humbly serve. Or, as Micah 6:8 puts it, "Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God."

Law: Even when we strive to follow Christ's commandments to love one another and to follow His model of humility, we are ultimately both saint and sinner. There is no perfect way to serve, and rarely clear answers on what is right--including with short term missions. There is nothing inherently easy about doing justice, loving mercy, or walking humbly with neighbor and God.

Gospel: God can do wonderful things through imperfect humanity. God gives us strength in our weaknesses, and I believe there is nothing more fulfilling than being, in some small way, intermediaries for God's great work.

Blessing: In all of our life journeys, we represent Christ. Whether  traveling far away or within the thresholds of home, may you discern how you, like Christ, can humbly wash the feet of others. May you remember that you are deeply loved and reflect that love to others. Amen.

~Rachel

Ignatian Examen: Not a test!

Background music

I've written in the past about the importance of being aware of your soul and the state of it. One practice that can help you get a "soul checkup" is a form of prayer known as Ignatian examen. I love this kind of prayer because it can be lifelong and easily modified as you need. It can be done alone or in small groups; silently or out loud; written, spoken, unspoken. This is a great type of prayer to wrap up your day.

There are a multitude of variations, all based on St. Ignatius of Loyola, described in his book Spiritual Exercises.

My favorite variation is one we do with our confirmation students in small groups that we call "Highs and Lows."

1) Be aware of God's presence. We light a candle, we close our eyes, and breathe deeply before we go into the next steps.

2) Reflect on your high of the day, or the moment when you felt closest to God.

3) Reflect on the low of the day, or when you felt farthest from God.

4) Offer all of these to God.

5) Listen to God.

These questions can be varied, depending on what seems best to you and God at any given time. This is also a great lifelong prayer practice that can be done with children and adults. My favorite book describing this practice is Sleeping with Bread: Holding what Gives you Life.

As always, my prayer is that your prayer life continues to grow, deepen, and that you sense God more and more each day.

~Rachel

Hyperlinking Everything to God in Prayer

Ordinarily I’d have a link for you, constant reader, to provide some appropriate background music for this blog post on Prayer. The song I would choose would be ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus” because of its profound yet simple understanding of prayer as the key to an authentic and vibrant relationship with God. So I went looking for that perfect rendition and got stymied: Was it better in a slow jazz guitar, or saxophone, grand piano, accordion and harmonica, barbershop or maybe frypan guitar? In a Dixieland style, bluegrass, chamber trio, New Orleans gospel or punk rock? By Tennessee Ernie Ford and Odetta, Aretha Franklin, Bill Gaither, Willie Nelson, the Brentwood Jazz Quartet, Mahalia Jackson, Doc Watson or Ornette Coleman? In Chinese, Russian, Japanese, or Spanish? By a choir from Mississippi, Wales, Zambia or a small house church gathering of friends in Russia?

Pick one (or two or three) and play it. [Apologies for any commercials that get tacked onto these links!] Every person that plays or sings this song has a unique voice.

In Susan’s previous blog, prayer is defined as nothing more (and nothing less!) than our connection to God.

When I was little, we had family devotions and prayers for a while. It was largely, as I remember it, a litany without much change “Thanks for mom and dad, for my brothers and sister, for my grandparents, for our dog, Amen.” When I was a teen, my church was big on praying for social problems. When I got to college, I stopped praying. It seemed ….well, kind of pointless. Social problems didn’t seem to go away and the prayers of my youth seemed trite.  It took many years for me to embrace praying again – and I am still learning and growing. At first, it was just “ Bless this food” and “ help my friend with cancer” or “ help me get through this day”.  These prayers are good and I still do them – not at a proscribed time or place usually, but whenever I think about or hear about something.  I do a fair amount of that kind of prayer while reading Facebook.  I think of these as short form prayers – quick connections to God to ask for help or guidance or for a need to be met.

There is another kind of prayer I’m beginning to explore. This is the prayer that is less of the type of “What will you do for me Lord?” and more like “ How can I serve you-- be your hands at work, be your voice in the world today? “ This is the prayer I do while I am walking or biking, or while driving with the radio off.  I mentally run through the challenges ahead: an employee whose performance is suffering, a colleague who was disloyal, a client with unrealistic expectations, a relationship that needs mending. Then I pray for the right words to be said, the right actions to be done [and the strength to do them] so that I am the conduit of God’s grace in the situations I am in.  These are long form prayers. I want to open up a longer connection and have a dialogue to let God speak to me so that God can speak though the unique voice he created in me.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace…..

Where I want to go with prayer is to have “constant contact”.  Where I don’t need to go off alone to mentally prepare, but am able to open myself to this connection all the time. To be in the present, to be breathing in and breathing out, mindful of God’s presence, spirit, strength, and will in all circumstances. Maybe this is the realm of mystics and saints, and like Salieri to Mozart I can only catch glimpses of that connection. 

Until then I will add my voice and take everything to God in prayer.

Into The Heart of Prayer

A Prayer for You To The God of Grace and Light

Above my kitchen sink hangs a small picture of a sunset over water.  It differs slightly from the  one above, as the sunbeam shines like the shape of a cross. A background phrase reads  ‘A Prayer For You To The God of Grace and Light’. The picture has graced my kitchen wall for many  years.

It serves as a reminder to pray in ordinary times (washing dishes?), to know God’s light shines on and in all of us, to know others pray for me and I for others, and to know that even when the language of prayer does not come easily, the Holy Spirit will intercede. 

Throughout the seasons, this one little picture has helped shed light on the meaning and purpose of prayer. In Rachel’s recent blog, she shared some valuable information on various means of offering prayer. In this country, most of us have the privilege of being able to pray in a variety of ways. To whatever extent we are comfortable and for whatever purpose we choose, there is a method available.

Yet, even amid our myriad of choices and prayer formats, three questions come to mind: 

            *   Basically, what is prayer?  

*   How does one living with severe challenges pray....challenges which stem from

     physical or mental barriers, and/or from persecution and restraint?

*   Is there a universal language for prayer which reaches beyond barriers? 

I suspect what lies behind these questions could help alleviate the hesitancies we sometimes hear when people utter, “I don’t know how to pray”, or ‘I feel inadequate or uncomfortable praying”.

To begin with, “What is prayer?”  

On the most basic level, prayer is nothing more and absolutely nothing less than our connection with and between the Sovereign God and our own divine spirit.  When we speak about a Holy  God, the Creator of all life, and of God’s spirit within us…..what is it that connects the two: that is, the Divine Spirit and our own divine spirit?  It is simply the breath of prayer. 

Prayer is the breath or conversation which connects the Holy Divine and our own divine, in  whatever form we are able to choose: whether in silence or in language. 

Reflecting back to the plaque above my kitchen sink which reads; 'A Prayer for You To The God of Grace and Light'. As I wash the dishes or prepare a meal, this simple prayer becomes another way  of saying; ‘God be with me today’ or ‘God hover over me’.  By uttering these words or thinking these thoughts, I am mindfully inviting God to enter into my spirit where God longs to reside. These words serve as a simple reminder, helping me be mindful of God’s presence through the day, in all circumstances, for myself and others, and to give thanks for all blessings.  

This is the heart of prayer. 

I can’t say that I always read this plaque, yet I try to in the morning while ‘putting up coffee’ (an old east coast phrase).  I invite you to read the above paragraph a few times as you breathe in and out, and soak in this basic essence of prayer.  All the rest, all those many wonderful ways we find to amplify and/or specify our spoken or unspoken prayers, are the forms and means we use to help us feel connected.

Recently I heard this simple prayer, ‘Hover over me Holy God and enter my spirit where you  already reside’.  I invite you to find and claim a few simple words to help you sense your spirit's connection with God’s.

In scriptures, we find the two central examples of prayer. Within the Lord’s Prayer, which we offer weekly in Worship, Jesus asks us to remain mindful of our connection with God and of  God’s love and longing for us. As our spirits abide with and in God’s spirit, the road to forgiveness, gratitude, peace, and strength for our journeys can become or remain clear.

The second example comes from the Book of Genesis (one of my favorites). During the creation of all life (forget the timeline), we read about God taking a Sabbath break to rest and to pray. God pray?  Yes!  How?  I would say mindfully, with gratitude for the beauty of all life that has come into being (including you and me).  God prays through the Breath of the Holy Spirit with the intention of a relationship with us.  

Here between Genesis and the Lord’s Prayer, we are given the two basic elements of prayer which connects our own spirit to God’s Holy Spirit.

*    How does one living with severe challenges pray? 

The answer to this may seem more complex considering the myriad of challenges people face and live in. Yet, if we believe each human being possesses a spirit, we can also believe God’s Spirit abides in each and every being, even where the expression of prayer appears limited or nonexistent. Scripture tells us the Holy Spirit will intercede for us where we are unable. The language of the spirit will always reach beyond the everyday language you and I use to communicate.                          

This is where Faith and Prayer reside together.

*   Is there a universal language for prayer which reaches beyond barriers?  

Not so  complex. The language of God’s Spirit breathes through all languages whether it be English, Norwegian, Hmong. Hebrew, Arabic, Sign, Mute, and so on.  Just as you and I pray in  language, hymns, silence, labyrinths, or by whatever means we choose…..our spirit’s connection with the Holy takes place within the breath of our life in God and God’s life in us.  Again, this is prayer and this is faith!

I would encourage you this week, no matter how you define your prayer life, to start and end your  days with a simple phrase which reminds you that you are connected to God’s Spirit and God is connected to yours. Your prayer will be heard in any language spoken or silent. 

A Prayer for You To The God of Grace and Light!

Shalom,

Susan