Living Prayer

October 4, 2020 • Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Reading: Matthew 6:7-13 (recommended: The Inclusive Bible or The Voice)
Pastor Jeff Wells

Let’s talk about prayer. Prayer is one of the seven vows of membership at the Church of the Village. Our Covenant of Membership states it this way: “I will actively engage in a life of prayer in worship and beyond.” I have been reflecting on all of our vows recently and I have come to think this phrase does not quite capture the role of prayer in our relationship with God or in our community with one another. So, I want to propose a revised vow of prayer that says this: “I will strive to live prayerfully, in dialogue with God and in prayer with and for the community of the Church of the Village.” Let me unpack that a bit and expand on what it means to live prayerfully. 

In the very same passage Danielle just read, Jesus says, “when you pray, go into your room, and close the door.” In spite of that, prayer isn’t something we should only do in secret. In reality, prayer is never a solo endeavor. It’s a dialogue – right? – because in every instance at least you and God are present.

Moreover, I believe that prayer is always communal. What I mean is that, even when I go to a secluded place and pray in secret, I am spiritually surrounded by this community in which I work, struggle, worship, care, and love. I am so grateful for this loving and prayerful community. So whenever I engage in personal prayer, I pray for our life together and pray God to guide us, strengthen us, and help us to thrive.

On top of that, when we pray together in dialogue with God and we intertwine that dialogue with praying for one another, our life together in community is enhanced and enlivened in powerful ways. Our communal prayer shapes our collective experience of God and also moves us in the direction of always becoming the embodiment of God’s love and justice in the world. That’s how powerful prayer is among us. And that gets expressed not only in worship, but through our Ministers of Care and our weekly Prayer Partners emails, and in every meeting and small group gathering, among other ways.

So, we have this ancient model for communal prayer in the prayer Jesus taught his followers that appears in Matthew’s Gospel. Please notice there are no “me” or “I” pronouns in this prayer. Instead, it says: Abba God, “Give us bread,” “forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who owe us something,” “lead us away from temptation and evil.” It’s a prayer meant to be prayed together, as Christians have done for 2,000 years.

Of course, there are many ways to “live prayerfully” that do not involve sitting quietly or even being together in worship. The prayer Jesus offered is a great model, but there is not one right way to pray. 

I have a very expansive understanding of prayer myself. Prayer is our participation in life itself. So, prayer can occur whenever we have a moment of consciousness of God’s presence. Now, we know God is not only constantly present, but continually invites us into relationship and dialogue. This means the more we are able to open ourselves consciously to that relationship, the more we are able to live prayerfully. So, prayer is not just something we do in isolated, discrete, intentional moments. The apostle Paul taught we should “pray without ceasing.” [1] You could say our fullest possible participation in life is our prayer. 

This is a very “process theology” conception of prayer. God is constantly luring us and we are constantly “becoming.” That’s true both as individuals and as a community. 

It’s also true that sometimes we can’t put our prayers into words. That’s why Paul also wrote, “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. The Spirit does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. The Spirit knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our condition, and keeps us present before God.” [2] That means that prayer is an ongoing relationship we engage in with God. And as often as not, it is God who initiates it, luring us into prayerful living, when we don’t even realize that’s what we need.

So there is a sense in which just about anything we do can be “prayerful” – that is, it can express our relationship and our dialogue with God. People have many different ways of engaging living prayerfully that are equally valid. One of my favorite examples comes from a 17th century lay monk, named Brother Lawrence, who experienced a deep connection with God in the everyday tasks he was assigned in the monastery, like washing dishes. Here is something he wrote about that: 

“The time of business does not, with me, differ from the time of prayer; and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees.”

Jorge said this week that he prays with his plants. And when he perceives and acknowledges the lessons they teach him, he believes God smiles. He also said his prayer life changes by theme and by seasons – focused sometimes on contemplation, other times on reading Sufi poetry, and still other times on praying with someone else. For me, walking through the woods or along the river are usually very prayerful times. Reading and writing are also forms of prayer for me. 

So, prayer comes in many shapes. The form is not so important but, for most of us, having some specific intentional disciplines or practices of prayer helps us greatly to open ourselves to more conscious engagement with the constant loving, luring presence of the Divine.  

Jesus, himself, was so intimately connected with God that he said, “Abba God is in me and I am in Abba God.” Yet, Jesus regularly engaged in prayerful practices that kept that deep connection alive and strong. Even though it was there all the time, still, he woke up in the morning and prayed. He went to the wilderness, the desert, the mountain, and the lakeshore to pray. And he also prayed with his chosen community. He prayed without ceasing. 

Abba God deeply desires that kind of relationship with us. God is constantly active in our being and becoming. And God loves it when we acknowledge and enjoy our communion with Abba.

Maybe your prayerful dialogue with God gets expressed in quiet contemplation. Maybe you feel it most powerfully in our worship together. Maybe your prayers are turbulent, vocal conversations with God. Or maybe your prayers consciously find expression in nature, music, dance, poetry, writing, washing dishes, vacuuming, or cleaning windows. I invite you now to take just a minute to think about your own experience of prayer. You’ll see a question appear on the screen that may be helpful. It says, “In what ways or circumstances do you live prayerfully in dialogue and connection with God?” If you feel moved, I invite you to share your thoughts in the Zoom chat or Facebook comments.

I think you can see that living prayerfully is a crucial commitment we make to be in loving community with each other. It is also one of the most powerful channels we have for connecting with God and experiencing the fullness of life. 

What better way to end this message than to pray together? Please join me in a spirit of prayer. 

Guiding, luring God, we are so grateful that you infuse our lives and our life together with your love. Thank you for this mysterious and multifaceted avenue for two-way communion and connection we call “prayer.” Help us personally and communally to live consciously, prayerfully, and fully, striving to pray without ceasing in the many ways that are open to us. We pray in the way of Jesus. Amen.

(c) 2020 Jeff Wells
All rights reserved.

[1] 1 Thessalonians 5:13-16
[2]  Romans 8:26-28 (The Message) 

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