9/10/09 James 3:1-12 has a scathing review of our speech patterns, how our tongues can both bless and curse. Today I am praying that God will guard my tongue. I know how easily I can wound others with my words.
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
acceptable
9/09/09 That date is pretty cool as I typed it just now! My breath prayer comes from the last line of Psalm 19, verse 14, "Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." I began my prayer walk this morning by asking God to put a guard on my speech. How often I have said the wrong thing, the hurtful thing, the too glib thing. I asked God to guide my thoughts so that my words would come from a deep holy place. I thought about how God is a rock, a refuge, a strong place of solace. I thought about how God is redeemer, setting us free.
I know many pastors who say this verse as a prayer right before they preach. It works well for every day use as well. May what we say and think be acceptable to God this day.
Love,
Lynn
I know many pastors who say this verse as a prayer right before they preach. It works well for every day use as well. May what we say and think be acceptable to God this day.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Prayers
from my sermon on 9/06/09 from Matthew 6:5-15
We were made to pray. I have a pastor friend who bought a new notebook computer. She was afraid that it would be hard to connect to the internet. She thought she might have to buy an external antennae or purchase software or punch a bunch of buttons. But no, the moment she opened it and turned it on, it instantly found the nearest hot spot and she was connected to WiFi. She said, "It was wired to be connected." So are we! We were made to pray, to be connected to God.
Prayer is not commanded, it is commended. It is normal, natural human behavior. The passage says twice, "whenever you pray." It is expected that we pray.
As I am going through what we United Methodists believe in this sermon series, I remind you that the vows we make are "get-to's" not "have-to's". We get to pray. We were made to pray.
Jesus' teaching on prayer is found in our passage today. He says we don't pray for public show. If we do, our prayers are insincere and go no further than the applause we get. As read the commentaries, this type of public scene was not very common.
He also says that it is not necessary to pile up a bunch of words or fancy words. This feels like we are trying to manipulate God or use magic words to get what we want. He says the Father knows what we need before we ask.
So we go into our closet, maybe literally. I once had a church member, Mary Ann, who had a spare closet off of the master bed room. She put a kneeler in there, some candles, devotional books, etc. She knew that when she went in there, she had but one agenda, and that was to pray. To be alone with God is not being alone.
I had a man in another church who had a prayer chair. He had his devotional materials around that chair. He would get up early in the morning and sit in that chair to pray.
How about you? How, when, where, what do you pray?
Here's a good take-home line that I stole from a great author, "Pray as you can, not as you can't." Not worry about the way you pray, comparing yourself to others. Pray in your own unique way. There are as many right ways to pray as there are people.
Some of you will pray quietly as comtemplatives. Some will need movement. I walk as I pray in the mornings. Some of you will run, or swim, or do yoga, or tai chi. Some of you will pray with music. St. Augustine said, "The one who sings, prays twice." Some of you will pray best with a hammer in your hands as you build wall sections for Habitat for Humanity like yesterday. Some of you will pray as you study and come to new intellectual insights. Some of you will pray with your feelings. I am even not afraid of those who pray in special prayer language, like speaking in tongues.
I have heard a lot of stories about prayer over the years. I once had a woman in my church who said that she prayed while driving to work in the mornings. I said, "That's fine, just don't close your eyes."
Pray simply. Simply pray.
To this end we have a model prayer. It comes right in the center of the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7, in the theological and structural center, in the middle of chapter 6. We call it the Lord's Prayer, but really it is the Disciple's Prayer, a gift Jesus gave us. When we don't have the words, there are words waiting for us. It is amazing how adaptable this prayer is: we say it at weddings and funerals, when we are young and with our last dying breath, in private and in public.
Let's say it now: My father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be my name. My kingdom come. My will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give me today my daily bread. And forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me. And lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. For mine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
OOps. Did you hear some dissonance? What pronouns did I use? (singular) What ones did you use? (plural) The model prayer always invites us into community, even if we are praying alone. The model prayer always invites us to seek God's purposes and not our own.
So we pray Our Father...God sets the agenda. John Wesley who started the Methodist refrom movement that became the UM denomination today said that we could pray in confidence to Our Father, that God is always more ready to give than we are to ask.
May God's reign come, God's will be done....this sounds a lot like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane...not my will, but thy will be done. Today, I am remembering Jill Baggerman, who has been a youth intern at our church. She is in Uganda today. She is foregoing her senior year at Texas, because she is putting her will aside. I read her email this past week as she was leaving. She said, God, get me out of the way, empty me, use me. We will be praying for Jill this year as she asks for God's will to be done in her.
Daily bread....what happened those 40 years in the wilderness? God provided manna daily. In Jesus' time the common laborer got paid at the end of every day's work. That was to provide bread for the morrow. It was a day to day existence. This line puts us in touch with the most vulnerable in our midst. I remind you today of the communion rail offering that goes for Mobile Loaves and Fishes which feeds the homeless.
Debts is really the best translation...for what can we pay to take sin away? All of us are indebted to God. God's essential nature is forgiveness.
The prayer ends with a doxology...for thine is the kingdom, power and glory...but not in the text. If you notice, it is a footnote. The doxology is not in the best and oldest Greek manuscripts. However, there are at least 10 different doxologies found. It shows the wide and persistent use of this model prayer in the early church.
Oh, you nearly let me forget the line about lead us not into temptation and deliver us frm evil....God doesn't tempt us....the best translation is "save us in the time of trial."
And so I end with a story of confronting evil. In Chile, there was a time of the "disappeared." Under Pinochet's government, people who disagreed with him simply disappeared. Some were killed. Some were tortured. A man who was being beaten, in the depths of despair, began to pray....Our Father, who art in heaven...the beating stopped....he heard his torturer say the words with him. The torturer said, "I am a Christian too."
We were made to pray. We keep praying this model prayer until we become what it says. We get to pray. That's the good news I have to share with you today.
We were made to pray. I have a pastor friend who bought a new notebook computer. She was afraid that it would be hard to connect to the internet. She thought she might have to buy an external antennae or purchase software or punch a bunch of buttons. But no, the moment she opened it and turned it on, it instantly found the nearest hot spot and she was connected to WiFi. She said, "It was wired to be connected." So are we! We were made to pray, to be connected to God.
Prayer is not commanded, it is commended. It is normal, natural human behavior. The passage says twice, "whenever you pray." It is expected that we pray.
As I am going through what we United Methodists believe in this sermon series, I remind you that the vows we make are "get-to's" not "have-to's". We get to pray. We were made to pray.
Jesus' teaching on prayer is found in our passage today. He says we don't pray for public show. If we do, our prayers are insincere and go no further than the applause we get. As read the commentaries, this type of public scene was not very common.
He also says that it is not necessary to pile up a bunch of words or fancy words. This feels like we are trying to manipulate God or use magic words to get what we want. He says the Father knows what we need before we ask.
So we go into our closet, maybe literally. I once had a church member, Mary Ann, who had a spare closet off of the master bed room. She put a kneeler in there, some candles, devotional books, etc. She knew that when she went in there, she had but one agenda, and that was to pray. To be alone with God is not being alone.
I had a man in another church who had a prayer chair. He had his devotional materials around that chair. He would get up early in the morning and sit in that chair to pray.
How about you? How, when, where, what do you pray?
Here's a good take-home line that I stole from a great author, "Pray as you can, not as you can't." Not worry about the way you pray, comparing yourself to others. Pray in your own unique way. There are as many right ways to pray as there are people.
Some of you will pray quietly as comtemplatives. Some will need movement. I walk as I pray in the mornings. Some of you will run, or swim, or do yoga, or tai chi. Some of you will pray with music. St. Augustine said, "The one who sings, prays twice." Some of you will pray best with a hammer in your hands as you build wall sections for Habitat for Humanity like yesterday. Some of you will pray as you study and come to new intellectual insights. Some of you will pray with your feelings. I am even not afraid of those who pray in special prayer language, like speaking in tongues.
I have heard a lot of stories about prayer over the years. I once had a woman in my church who said that she prayed while driving to work in the mornings. I said, "That's fine, just don't close your eyes."
Pray simply. Simply pray.
To this end we have a model prayer. It comes right in the center of the Sermon on the Mount, chapters 5-7, in the theological and structural center, in the middle of chapter 6. We call it the Lord's Prayer, but really it is the Disciple's Prayer, a gift Jesus gave us. When we don't have the words, there are words waiting for us. It is amazing how adaptable this prayer is: we say it at weddings and funerals, when we are young and with our last dying breath, in private and in public.
Let's say it now: My father, who art in heaven. Hallowed be my name. My kingdom come. My will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give me today my daily bread. And forgive me my trespasses, as I forgive those who trespass against me. And lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. For mine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
OOps. Did you hear some dissonance? What pronouns did I use? (singular) What ones did you use? (plural) The model prayer always invites us into community, even if we are praying alone. The model prayer always invites us to seek God's purposes and not our own.
So we pray Our Father...God sets the agenda. John Wesley who started the Methodist refrom movement that became the UM denomination today said that we could pray in confidence to Our Father, that God is always more ready to give than we are to ask.
May God's reign come, God's will be done....this sounds a lot like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane...not my will, but thy will be done. Today, I am remembering Jill Baggerman, who has been a youth intern at our church. She is in Uganda today. She is foregoing her senior year at Texas, because she is putting her will aside. I read her email this past week as she was leaving. She said, God, get me out of the way, empty me, use me. We will be praying for Jill this year as she asks for God's will to be done in her.
Daily bread....what happened those 40 years in the wilderness? God provided manna daily. In Jesus' time the common laborer got paid at the end of every day's work. That was to provide bread for the morrow. It was a day to day existence. This line puts us in touch with the most vulnerable in our midst. I remind you today of the communion rail offering that goes for Mobile Loaves and Fishes which feeds the homeless.
Debts is really the best translation...for what can we pay to take sin away? All of us are indebted to God. God's essential nature is forgiveness.
The prayer ends with a doxology...for thine is the kingdom, power and glory...but not in the text. If you notice, it is a footnote. The doxology is not in the best and oldest Greek manuscripts. However, there are at least 10 different doxologies found. It shows the wide and persistent use of this model prayer in the early church.
Oh, you nearly let me forget the line about lead us not into temptation and deliver us frm evil....God doesn't tempt us....the best translation is "save us in the time of trial."
And so I end with a story of confronting evil. In Chile, there was a time of the "disappeared." Under Pinochet's government, people who disagreed with him simply disappeared. Some were killed. Some were tortured. A man who was being beaten, in the depths of despair, began to pray....Our Father, who art in heaven...the beating stopped....he heard his torturer say the words with him. The torturer said, "I am a Christian too."
We were made to pray. We keep praying this model prayer until we become what it says. We get to pray. That's the good news I have to share with you today.
listen
9/08/09 My breath prayer for today is from Proverbs 1:33, "Those who listen to me will be secure and will live at ease, without dread of disaster." I have been trying to listen to my wife, to staff members, to church members, to the birds singing, to my dreams, to God. I have been trying not to prejudge what someone might say and simply receive what is offered. Listening is a form of love.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Thursday, September 3, 2009
law of liberty
9/03/09 My breath prayer for the day comes from James 2:12, "So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty." May it be so, that God measures us by mercy. As I prayed for people this morning, I tried to perceive them through the lens of the law of liberty. I prayed that others might see me the same way.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
shalom
9/02/09 My breath prayer today comes from the very last words of Psalm 125, "Peace be upon Israel." The word for peace in Hebrew is "shalom." I have come to know shalom as more than the absence of conflict; it is the wholeness of God, the being at rest in God. It is found in the name of the holy city, Jerusalem, literally, city of peace.
I pray for peace in the Middle East almost daily, especially peace between Israel and Palestine. This passage today pushed me to send a donation to a woman who was returning to this area for the 12th time as a Volunteer in Mission for the United Methodist Church. I wanted to make my prayers concrete.
Of course I prayed that peace would come to many people and situations as I walked this morning, but it is good to begin in the Holy Land and work out from there to many specific areas.
Peace be upon you.
Love,
Lynn
I pray for peace in the Middle East almost daily, especially peace between Israel and Palestine. This passage today pushed me to send a donation to a woman who was returning to this area for the 12th time as a Volunteer in Mission for the United Methodist Church. I wanted to make my prayers concrete.
Of course I prayed that peace would come to many people and situations as I walked this morning, but it is good to begin in the Holy Land and work out from there to many specific areas.
Peace be upon you.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
eye
9/1/09 My breath prayer is from Proverbs 22:9, "those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor." My old Bible had a translation of "those with an eye of generosity." I am very aware of my eyes today, because I have conjunctivitus, commonly called "pink eye." My condition is really not much of a bother, but it makes me more aware of those who are really vulnerable like the poor--those literally in poverty, but also poor in spirit, in poor health, etc. What is the blessing? I found that as I concentrated on the needs of others, my problems, issues, anxieties, etc. seem so small.
Love,
Lynn
Love,
Lynn
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