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Prayer: the grace of Christ working thru me

7/27/2021

Prayer is the Grace of Christ working thru me. I wrote that down recently but can’t recall where I saw it. Those six words, however, resonated deeply with me. Prayer is such as mysterious idea, with no worthy definition. Sometimes we can claim some proof that prayers were answered, but not as any scientific fact. We know and have come to believe--a message given throughout the Gospel of John and many of the epistles.
I know and have come to believe that God has called me to pray for people—the official phrase is intercessory prayer, but I like the more folksy ‘pray for people (and situations).’ But what does this mean? What am I doing? The best I can say right now, today, at this moment, is that I say a name, and feel/picture the grace of Christ working through/around that person. Having that little visual helps me know and believe that Christ is working for the good, and that I have some little, mysterious roll in it. And, I find myself letting go of any power or control I think I might have over it.

Praying for my enemies

5/11/2021

This is what I am hearing today about praying for my enemies. The enemies I am considering are those who in the political arena are not speaking with honesty nor with love. Jesus tells us to love everyone, which means Jesus calls me to love people who do not love everyone (of course that includes me). Enough said. You get my point.
My prayer is simple, short, and frequent. It is more visual than with words. I pray Jesus walking with everyone, which includes individuals, and surrounding them with love. That’s it. That’s all. Anything more leads me to telling Jesus what I think they should do. Love is enough.

How do we pray for our enemies?

5/8/2021

How do we pray for our enemies? Enemy is a strong word, a drastic category. In my everyday life I don’t really have enemies, although in my personal orbit and in the political area there are many who annoy me and with whom I disagree. Regardless of the degree of animosity or disagreement, Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. To do this involves stripping away many of our ideas about prayer until we come to the essence of who God is and what God wants: LOVE.
If love has no judgement, it follows that prayer be free of judgment. So hard! Maybe, when I pray for those I love, I feel I can get away with some specifics positive judgements, which I think of as good suggestions, but it doesn’t work that way for my enemies because I want them to change in big ways so that their ways become my ways, completely. The best I can come up with to pray that love surround them. And, of course this is all that anyone needs, those I love and, yes, those I hate.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:43-48

Intercessory prayer

2/16/2021

“In the matter of intercession, when we pray for another, the Spirit of God works in the unconscious domain of that one’s being about which we know nothing, about which the one we pray for knows nothing; and after a while the conscious life of the one prayed for begins to show signs of softening and unrest, of enquiry and desire to know something,” so writes Oswald Chamber (1874-1917) in Still Higher for His Highest.
   This kind of commitment to faith is not written or proclaimed by theologians or ministers these days—at least I haven’t come across it—at least not with this precise clarity about intercessory prayer. It takes a huge leap of faith to believe this, and it is only by faith that we pray in such depth. This is no throwaway. When we tell someone we will pray for them, we are not saying so with the same attitude we might tell them to have a good day.
   No, believing this puts our prayer in some ineffable place. It is not just that we believe people will be comforted knowing they are in our thoughts and prayers, or that we gain a good feeling by being helpful and loving—although this can be true. Rather, we believe that the spirit works in mysterious and inexplicable ways because we know it is true; and that makes all the difference.
   For clarification. Chamber implies that we ‘know nothing’ when we pray for others. I believe that is true, whether we know the person or whether we hear a name through a prayer chain. What we do know is that God is love, and that God loves everyone.

No more news

4/8/2020

God is definitely speaking to me during this COVID-19 pandemic. In the middle of last night I woke up—I’m talking AWAKE—worrying about our democracy. I finally fell back to sleep, but in the morning God told me, loud and clear, to stop watching the news. For the past thirty of so years God has been calling me to pray for people—individuals, situations and all of God’s world and God’s people. Now I am hearing that to do so I need an undivided mind/body/spirit, and seeing a DO NOT ENTER the News Room sign.
      I am reminded of the Rich Young Man * who asks Jesus what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything he owns, distribute the money to the poor, and come follow him. The man walks away. Jesus tells his disciples that these difficult task can’t be done alone; we need God’s help, but we can do it!
    Sell everything, means get rid of whatever gets in my way of following Jesus. My possession is not material; rather it is an obsession with the news and the fear it has over me. Whatever we hold on to and believe we can’t do without is an addiction. The good news is that Jesus asks us to get rid of whatever addiction is getting in the way of relationship with God, and that he will be with us as we follow him.
     I feel so relieved. Now I can rest.

* Matthew 19:16-22
* Mark 10:17-22
* Luke 18:18-22

Praying for peace in Rome

10/2/2019

You can read about my experience praying for peace in Rome in September and see a sampling of the pictures I took of some of the thirty-six of the city’s 900 churches. Now that I’m home, I’m still praying.

www.acottagebythesea.net/a-solitary-traveler

Praying for peace in the churches of Rome

9/15/2019

I’m in Rome to pray for peace for six days. My plan was to light a candle for peace in at least 100 of Rome’s 900 churches. However, I’ve ditched that 100-church goal. Most likely it would be impossible to reach, and it would definitely be nonsensical. I’d just be rushing in and out, snapping a picture and adding the church name to my list. I’ve decided not to light a candle, but to pray for peace in some intentional, visual, way. Contributing to peace is my goal.
     Yesterday morning I went to three churches, raising the count to ten. Sant’ Agnese fuori le Mura and Santa Costanza are in the same complex outside the walls. Outside the walls because Sant’ Agnese has as a catacomb, where early Christians were buried. Rome had a policy that no one could be buried inside the city. Then to gaze at Bernini’s Ecstasy of St. Teresa in Santa Maria della Vittoria. I’m glad I had my bus pass. In the afternoon I found myself praying for me in seven more churches. As of last night the count is up to twenty.
     My intention to pray for peace in churches has me aware of all the people I pass along the streets. The sheer numbers, the multiple skin colors, body sizes, ages, languages. I am not other; I am one of them. Our uniqueness makes us one.
      And then there are the obviously loving people, most likely parents, who accompany their children with special needs. At the altar at the Church of San Giovanni in Laterano a mom was supporting her adult son who was draped on her. As he drooled, she wiped his mouth. Then they walked on, arm in arm.
     As I sit in this little park in the early morning it comes over me that regardless of what praying for peace means to each of us, when we think peace we become aware of the equanimity between all people. In wanting peace for myself, I have to want it for everyone.

Praying in violent times~

8/5/2019

Here I am responding again to Carl McColman’s latest blog. This one, posted today, is about mysticism in the midst of the latest mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso.
  viamystica.com/is-mystical-spirituality-an-appropriate-response-to-the-social-and-political-crises-of-our-time-absolutely/
     McColman writes about mystical spirituality, or to use another term of his, contemplative practice. Those of us, whatever our religious tradition, who spend time praying, practicing meditation, contemplating religious texts, and searching for God, can resonate with these terms. For my purposes here I will embrace the phrase mystical spiritualism as I struggle to make sense of my faith journey in light of the violence in these two American cities over the weekend.
     Is it enough to sit praying in my beautiful yard? How does this kind of being compare with the doing others are taking on? As I’ve mentioned before, I believe God has called me to pray for others. For years that call has focused on praying for individuals, but recently I’ve been praying for situations. What is behind my prayer? How do people and situations change? How do I change? How does God change? Those questions are mysterious, cryptic, and vague; any answers will also be mysterious, cryptic, and vague. Of course the answer is LOVE, but that one word answer isn’t easy to comprehend and live by.

      McColman offers a few thoughts to answer the question, “How can mystical spirituality help us to deal with our social and political challenges?”

• Mysticism fosters humility and an ability to listen.
• Mysticism reminds us that God created and loves everyone, not just the people on “our” side.
• Mystical practices teach us how to think creatively.
• Mystical living helps to foster compassion, forgiveness, and healing.

What if everyone prayed for peace?

2/13/2019

I am one of the many (at least 100, maybe 200) intercessors with the Iona Community Prayer Circle. Every two months I receive the prayer requests for Group One, the group to which I am assigned. There are twelve groups and approximately 12 requests per group.

    I am also one of thirteen intercessors (from all over the world) who have agreed to receive emergency requests that come into the head office in Glasgow and can’t wait until the next group mailing.
    Over the years we have become prayer friends, praying for needs that go beyond the Community requests, namely for our friends and families and sometimes for ourselves. It is heartwarming to receive the different words that someone from Australia or Scotland use to ask God for help or give God thanks.
    Recently an intercessor from England offered this: I am getting somewhat elderly (85) and have mobility problems so am no longer able to play an active part in church/community life, and feel that intercession is a small offering I can still make.

      As far as I am concerned, this is no small offering. It may be one of the most consequential and vital ways an older person (in fact, anyone) can contribute to peace and love in the world. What if everyone prayed for peace?

My morning reading

2/2/2019

My morning reading includes a daily section from Around the Year with Emmet Fox (1952). Fox was so wise, so forward thinking. I could quote him every day, and never run out.
     Fox affirms my belief and coming to know that God has called me to pray for people. I continue to reread and ponder the following. I encourage you to do so, as well.

    Prayer does change things. Let us be perfectly clear about this. Prayer does change things. Many people say that prayer is a good thing because it gives us courage and fortitude for meeting our troubles. They say that prayer often gets a man out of difficulty simply by giving him self-confidence which he would otherwise have lacked. Of course, this is not spiritual Truth. The fact is that seeing the Presence of God where the trouble seems to be does not merely give us courage to meet the trouble; it changes the trouble into harmony.
    Prayer heals the body by changing the tissues, and it does this by first changing the mind which forms them. Prayer brings man his salvation by changing his nature fundamentally; not by making the best of him as he can be. The body, the environment, the universe itself, is plastic to our thought; and it always reflects our sincere belief. Emmet Fox (1886-1951)