Prayer: Benefiting God's Kingdom

Why is that I always think of my prayer requests of as a “laundry list” of my wants?  It seems that these requests are more about me than they are about God.  They seem to be about what I think is best for the situation.  For me there is a similar feeling when I pray for others.  It often becomes a “laundry list” of what I want for those I am praying for.  It just does not seem very genuine because it does not take into account the relational aspect of God nor does it take into account God’s will.  I am not saying that praying for ourselves and others is in anyway bad.  In fact I think it is an essential aspect of prayer.

Recently, I attended a worship service at Presbyterian Church of the Way in Shoreview, MN.  The focus of the worship service was the twofold.  First, the members of a recent mission trip to Ghana were sharing their stories, reflections and insights.  Second, their reflections centered around the Scripture The Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20).  One member of this trip was reflecting prayer in Ghana.  She said the prayers of the Ghanian people focus on how they hope their requests will better God’s Kingdom.  As I pondered this statement I realized this shift in the intent of our supplications or requests completely change the focus of prayer.  

This shift reflects the intentions rather than the content of our prayers.  The “laundry list” may still be there but we pray the “list” with a different intent.  The intent is no longer to ask for what we want or need because it will benefit us.  Rather, prayer now focuses on how our requests will effect the world and others in a positive and just way.  Our prayers for ourselves become about uncovering our authentic selves and how we will speak our truth in love.  

For me the key word in the above statement is hope.  We are not God and thus do not and cannot know what is best for the God’s Kingdom here on earth.  Our prayer requests do not dictate what will happen instead they convey what we expect or desire to occur.  Our “laundry lists” are not demands of God but rather statements of what we hope God will do to to better God’s Kingdom!

Surrendering to God's Providence

In recent months I have been experiencing a lot of care and support.  I have also been working at caring for myself during this time of transition in my life.  When I came across the phrase “surrendering to God’s providence” I decided to ponder and explore this idea.

Both the first and last words caught my attention.  Providence is the protective care of God.  Thus, it is God who is protecting us from the sin and despair of this world.  It is God’s unconditional love that penetrates the depths of our being protecting us from all that tries to mask our authentic selves.

For me the word surrender has a slightly negative connotation.  I always think of surrendering as giving up total control.  If this were what God wanted us to do we would no longer have free will.  We would essentially be puppets controlled my God.  Thinking there must be another definition I went to my handy dictionary and found the following definition “to cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority”.  In this definition we are longer resisting God but rather we are submitting to God’s protective care.

It can be hard for us to surrender to God’s providence.  We tend to resist God’s love.  We tend to resist God’s nudging to take a sabbath, to get out of an unhealthy situation or relationship, to seek spiritual direction, or to experience something new.  We tend to resist God’s love, comfort, and support shown to us in a stranger or even a trusted friend.  We tend to resist God’s healing love for our soul.

It is when we are open to God’s healing, comfort, and love both in both the expected and unexpected we surrender to God’s providence!

Questions to ponder:

Why do you feel you need God’s protective care today?

What does it mean for you to surrender to God’s providence?

What changes need to happen in yourself so that you are better able to surrender to God’s providence?

Labyrinth and Prayer Walks

I have always liked taking walks outdoors by myself.  There are many times (when the weather is nice) that I find myself out walking in the woods or by a stream.  There is something calming about walking alone in nature.  When I was a child I was prone to walking off by myself in the woods of my grandparent’s property.  I had a favorite path with a stone staircase, I had a favorite tree I like to climb, and I loved to go out into the field and sit by myself with my thoughts.  Looking back I am sure this is how I “recharged my battery”.  I would even go so far as to say these walks were a form of prayer.

Visit www.pathsofpeace.com for more information about Labyrinths.

When I was in seminary I had a prayer ritual.  Every Saturday morning I would walk a set route in the neighborhood around the seminary and talk out loud to God.  I am sure there were people in the neighborhood who thought I was crazy but I didn’t care!  I knew I needed this time away from my friends and fellow students.  My walk with the Holy One was a life giving ritual in the midst of the busyness of seminary life.  

At some point during my time at seminary I discovered the seminary’s labyrinth.  I knew nothing about labyrinths but walked it anyway and found it to be another life giving encounter with the Holy.  However, I didn’t think much of my experiences walking it after that first experience.  However, the day I discovered the labyrinth God planted a “labyrinth seed” in my soul.  In recent years I have become fascinated with labyrinths. I have started to learn more about labyrinths; the different types, their history, and different ways to use them as prayer and meditation tools.  I find I seek them out wherever I go.  I find myself relying on them as part of my prayer life.  Like my walks in nature as I child, on a labyrinth I can walk alone with God in prayer.

I pray you will find walking the labyrinth to be a life giving journey with God!

Christian Education as Testimony

In a recent post I talked about Anna Carter Florence’s idea of “preaching as testimony.”  Recently I have been pondering the idea of Christian education as testimony.  I think this idea has some merit and could change the way we understand Christian education.  

Christian education can be understood in many different ways.  It can be understood as transmitting of knowledge, traditions, and faith from one generation to the next.  It can also be understood as nurturing the faith, growing in faith, and growing in ones relationship with God.  These are just some if the ways we can understand Christian Education.

If we understand Christian education as testimony the primary focus is God and not us.  In her book Anna states that “testimony is passionate truth-telling.”  It seems to me that this is the foundation of what Christian education should do.  Christian education should strive to tell the truth about God and humans relationship with God.  While we will never know the whole truth about God we can see glimpses of God through all of creation.  We see it through our interactions with the Holy in each other and in the world.  It is these glimpses of God’s truth that provide the foundation for Christian education.

If we now understand Christian education as “passionate truth-telling” about God does this change how we do Christian education?  Does it change how and what we teach about the Bible?  Does it change how we conduct Bible studies?  Does it change our view of teaching?  In this view does the teaching take on a different meaning than our traditional understanding?  Does this view change what we include in our Christian education ministries?

I am still pondering this idea of Christian education as “testimony”.  Still fleshing out for myself what it means and what impact it may have on the changing face of Christian education.  As you can see I have many more questions on this topic than I do answers.  Please join the conversation-share your thoughts or answer a question or two!

Who guards our hearts and minds?

Last night after a frustrating day I was getting ready to do my meditation/prayer time.  I have been reading through the Psalms over the past few months and was ready to delve into the next Psalm.  However, in my head I kept hearing the words of Philippians 4:4-7.  Now this verse has a special place in my heart as it was the verse “given”’ to me at my Confirmation by my Youth Pastor Anna Carter Florence.  It rang true for me then and it continues to ring true for me today.  

Usually verse 6 rings true for me and is the message I need to hear and take to heart.  This time reading aloud the verse (not from memory!) I was drawn to verse 7 “And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.”  In particular I was drawn to the verb phrase will guard your hearts and minds.  My first question was what exactly are we being guarded against?  Then my next questions was what does the text mean by guarded?  I have come to realize that I am a word junky.  I love words and I love to know exactly what they mean in each particular context.  So I keep a dictionary in my meditation/prayer corner so I can look up words.

I looked up the word guard in the dictionary it means “to watch over” and the synonym is protect which means “to shield from injury.”  Many of us guard our hearts and minds out of fear.  We decide not to something because we are afraid we will fail or we will get hurt doing it.  We decide not to take a leap of faith into a new job, relationship, adventure etc. because we are afraid of the unknown.  We do not want to risk getting hurt emotionally, mentally, or physically to the point we no longer have hope.

This scripture passage says just the opposite-it is God’s peace that will guard our hearts and minds.  It is not our job to guard our hearts and minds.  Rather it is God that is doing the guarding.  God’s peace guards our hearts and minds from the deep despair and hopelessness of sin and evil.  This does not mean that we will not suffer or get hurt because sin has not been eradicated.  Rather, we are freed to live as our authentic and true selves knowing God’s peace and love has the final word over sin and despair!

Who bolts the door?

A couple of weeks ago I had the wonderful experience of attending the Synod of Lakes and Prairie’s Synod School.  The keynote speaker for this camp/conference was Associate Professor of Homiletics at Columbia Theological Seminary Rev. Anna Carter Florence (she also happens to be a friend of mine as I was in her Jr. High & Sr. High youth group).  Anna’s keynote addresses focused on Preaching as Testimony (which is also the title of her book).  

During her keynote addresses Anna took us through the process she uses with her seminary students as they prepare their sermons.  In a small group the students read aloud the Scripture passage.  The second time reading it aloud they focus on the parts of speech primarily the verbs.  Then each student is asked what verb and/or verb phrase sticks with them and why.  Once the students have verbalized this they are asked the question “What does this passage say about God?”  She stresses to her students that sermons are about God not about them.  The last set of questions are What do you want to say about this?  And what do you hope it will do?

Anna took us through this process with the Scripture passage 2 Samuel 13:1-22, known as the “Rape of Tamar.”  After reading through this passage with the group my verb phrase was “bolted the door after her” (verse 18).  My final day at my previous call felt like the door was “bolted” after me.  I was not allowed to return for a final Sunday to say good bye or have closure with most of the congregation.  It felt to me like I had done something wrong, was no longer welcome, and I was not appreciated by the congregation.  When a door is bolted against someone those inside no longer want that person in their presence. 

Initially it was difficult for me to figure out what this verb phrase said about God.  I realized that it was Amnon who ordered the door bolted and the servant who did did the bolting.  It was not God (in fact God is not mentioned directly in this passage) who bolted the door.  God does not bolt door to keep us out!  In fact God does just the opposite-God says “knock and the door shall be opened”.  There are many times when we feel lonely and it feels like God is very far away.  In my experience it not that God is far away but rather I have not recognized God’s Spirit living with in me.  The Good News is that God is always present in our lives! 

This way of reading and interacting with Scripture has spoken to me in two particular ways.  First, I once again see and experience Scripture as the living Word of God. Anna’s love of Scripture is infectious.  Her way of looking at Scripture as a testimony to God gave me a new outlook on reading and interacting with Scripture-it made Scripture come alive for me.  Second, I am beginning to ponder what implications Anna’s idea of “preaching as testimony” has on Christian Education (more on that in another “post”).  Thank you to Anna for bringing scripture to life for me again!  

Dancing with the Spirit

I have always been fascinated with dancing.  When I was a young child I took dance classes for several years.  I love to watch dancing.  I guess I would consider myself a closet dancer.  I don’t dance in public very often.  That being said I love the metaphor of “dancing with the spirit” as a way to look at our relationship with God and with the world.

If we believe that God is in everything then every interaction we have is an interaction with the Spirit.  Every interaction we have is holy.  In dance every dance move is different and serves a different purpose.  In the same way every dance itself is different.  Some dances are done solo and other are done with one or more people.  Each dance and dance move tells a story.  I like to think of my life as one long dance show.  Each interaction with the Spirit whether that be God or God’s spirit in others is part of the dance.  The dance of life is always changing, never exactly the same, it can be messy, it can be beautiful, it will be emotional and it will be a blessing.

On this blog you will see reflections on this holy dance.  You will see reflections on the changing face of Christian Education, spirituality, theology, worship, relationships, and much more.  I hope you will comment and interact as you become a part of “Dancing with the Spirit.”