"Lord Teach Us..."

The one time the disciples as Jesus to teach them something, the one time rather than learning through observation they desire to learn through a lesson, they ask Jesus to teach them…what, do you think? Teach them to stay steadfast and do the right things? Teach them to overcome the enemy? Teach them what to know about God?

Each of those would have been a good thing to learn. Yet what the disciples ask Jesus to teach them was not a lesson on morality or kingdom advancement or even theology. Instead, they asked “Lord, teach us to pray…” (Luke 11:1). Haven learned from Jesus along their journies for nearly three years, Jesus’ apprentices recognized that what is most important is not what you know, but who. They came to realize that a truly “blessed” life—one morally sound, kingdom strong, and biblical wise—came through relationship, communion, and conversation with God.

The same is true for you and I, so over the next several weeks, we’ll follow the disciples’ lead, asking Jesus to teach us to pray and letting his lesson sink into our hearts and out of our mouths.

This week, take a few minutes to pray Jesus’ prayer three times. After each cycle, give yourself a minute to sit in the relational simplicity of Jesus’ conversation.

Now, let’s pray as Jesus teaches us in Luke 11:2-4 (MSG)

Father,

Reveal who you are.

Set the world right.

Keep us alive with three square meals.

Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.

Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

These Things

Jesus’ spontaneous, joy-induced prayer in Luke 10:21, praises the Father for hiding “these things” from the wise and revealing those same things to “little children.” “These Things” being that the source of our confident, courageous, and effective participation in God’s working (see Lk. 10:1-17), is not that we have power and authority to overcome darkness, but instead, that we loyally loved (see Lk. 10:18-20). Both are true, but only the latter is the source of joy that spills into our everyday roles and relationships.

So this week, let us pray with Jesus, and pray to him for a greater revelation of the “these things”!

We thank you mighty and merciful Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden the true source of life from those who are satisfied with power, yet revealed these things to weaned children, content in our mothers persistent affection. How gracious is your will!

Holy Spirit, fill us with truth, and gives us eyes to see the source of our joy which we are to share with spouse, neighbor, children, roommates, coworks, friends. Let us live with compassionate courage and humble confidence in joyous obedience; until all the earth knows the love that has been revealed to us in Jesus.

Amen.

Clean Lips and A Pure Heart

On Sunday, we set out on a journey with Jesus through Luke’s gospel. Over the coming weeks, we will wander through the quasi-spiritual, biblically familiar, yet religiously apprehensive land of the Samarians. Along the way, we will listen to Jesus speak in parables and prayers so that we might learn the how and heart to be faithfully speaking of Jesus.

In preparation for entering the more normatively secular Samaria, Jesus wants his disciples to realize that the way they speak to others, especially about God, is often from a place of judgment, condemnation, bitterness, and ultimately, unacknowledged blindness (see Luke 6:27-42). From such a heart, the words we use, even words about God, don’t bear the fruit of faith that we desire (see Luke. 6:43-45). Rather than cultivating freedom and flourishing (see Luke 4:18-19, & 6:28), the words we use keep us bound and bind others, keeping others and God at a distance. So, before we can go out speaking of Jesus, let’s acknowledge, as the prophet who Jesus quoted to begin his ministry did, that we are “a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:1-7) as we pray in expectation of “clean hearts” being created in us (Psalm 51:10).

Let’s pray together these words, adapted from the Tell It Slant study guide.

Father, you use your Word so well to reveal yourself—your kindness and generosity to the ungrateful and evil, your mercy toward sinners, and impatience with the contemptuous. While your Heart is revealed in your words, Father, I find myself using words to hide, conceal, misdirect, deceive, tear down, and make things abstract. I am a person of unclean lips.

Teach me a new way of using words so that I may be more like the Word, who spoke and new life came into being. May the words of Jesus the Word, by your Spirit, breathe new life in me and through me into your world. Amen.

Wrestling Through Faith

Psalm 73 taught us that prayer sometimes is an honest wrestle of faith with God. In fact, only in wrestling through the struggles of faith with God, does faith blossom into sight, becoming the truthful vision of the world, ourselves, and our God.

So this week, let’s wrestle through faith unto sight. We’ll do so in three movements:

Movement #1 | Take a few moments to admit your struggles of faith to God, confessing where you see His Way not living up to the alternatives. (Ps. 73:2-16)

Movement #2 | Enter His sanctuary (Ps. 73:17). Use these words to find your footing in His presence: “I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for the length of my days…It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Ps. 23:6; Gal. 2:20)

Movement #3 | From the place of faith, God with you, you with God, pray with eyes wide-open:

I am continually with You;

You hold my right hand.

You guide me with Your counsel,

and afterward, You receive me to glory.

Whom have in heaven but You?

There is nothing on earth that I

desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but my heavenly Father is the strength of my heart

and the Son, my portion, my best friend, forever.

It is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord Gdo my refuge,

that I may tell of all Your works.

(Ps. 73:22-26, 28)

A Springtime Prayer

As we noted some forty or so days ago, the Latin word lent means “length” and is a term used to denote the arrival of the Spring season. A season in which the world is filled with newness, from buds to berries, blossoms to babies, the greening of grass to the lengthening of sunlight; in Spring, the whole world seems reborn!

It’s fitting then, that Lent’s destination, Easter, marks the beginning of our “Christian calendar,” the rebirth of life with God through Jesus. Post-Easter morning, we live in a world bursting with newness. Each morning waking in what the apostle Paul dubs, “the new country of grace” (Rom. 6:2).

So this week, let us join together in Springtime prayer, for the newness to birth not only around us, but within as well.

Wonderful Savior, please help us to use this newly revived springtime season to revive a newness in our hearts, a frehness of your Spirit in our homes and in our lives. Help us to respond to life with mercy, meekness, consideraton and love; as Jesus did.

As we live day by day, remind us of the beauty of spring, and what new beginnings mean within us and in the lives of those around us. Place those in our path that need help to see and experience the springing of your life in them. Present us with situations where we can support one another, teach us what to pray on behalf of friend, family and enemy, and give us wisdom to live with courage coupled with compassion.

Becasue Jesus lives, and we live with him. Amen.

Strengthening His Grip

Last week we entered “the” Lenten prayer of the Orthodox Church, reflecting on the ‘negative’ side of repentance. Praying specifically for a weakened grip upon those characteristics that keep us from the life God has (re) created for us in Jesus.

Here on the final Friday, the “good Friday,” of our pilgrimage, we will use this short petition to help us keep our aim in focus once more. But today, we’ll focus on the positive, on those characteristics which mark new life. Pray this prayer four times. Focus on one of the emboldened words each time you pray. Let yourself long deeply for the life God has freed you to live, and the character to experience it in full. To help, I’ve provided a brief descriptor of the ’positive’ words below. Read them over, see in them what you desire to hold to, and then let the Spirit strengthen His grip on our lives.

chastity | the word is better translated for our modern times as ‘whole-mindedness.’ If the spirit of sloth has distorted our vision and energy to see life as it truly is in God, then whole-mindedness is the ability to see Him and life in him clearly. (i.e., lesson #2 from Sunday’s psalm)

humility | “the victory of truth in us, the elimination of all lies in which we usually live…accepting things as they are…God’s majesty and goodness and love in everything”

patience | the opposite of evaluating everything in terms of “me”; my needs, my ideas, my desires, my judgments; because we are open to God and able to reflect that infinite respect which He shows us

love | “the gift which is the goal of all spiritual preparation and practice”

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

Focusing on the Negative

Last week we entered “the” Lenten prayer of the Orthodox Church. This little prayer which plays such a prominent role in the Eastern Church’s Lenten habits, spells out rather succinctly, in a unique way, “all the negative and positive elements of repentance and constitutes…a ‘check list’ for our individual Lenten effort.” And our “Lenten effort” has been nothing less than letting go of all those things that keep us from truly living and clinging to the life of God which is offered to us.

Here on the home stretch of our pilgrimage, we will use this short petition to help us keep our aim in focus. This week, we’ll focus on the negative, on letting go. Pray this prayer four times. Focus on one of the emboldened words each time you pray. Let yourself be honest with God, acknowledging what you need to let go of in this season. To help, I’ve provided a brief descriptor of the “negative” words below. Read them over, see where you are holding on to them, and then let the Spirit search us.

sloth | the laziness and passivity that cultivates an apathy towards the “change(s)” of a new life being worth the effort

faint-heartedness | the result of sloth which is the loss of hope and courage that anything good and positive can be experienced

lust of power | what feels our hearts when the aim of new life—life in God—is lost, an attitude toward life that evaluates everything in terms of “me”; my needs, my ideas, my desires, my judgments

ideal talk | words—written, spoken, heard, seen—which enforce sloth, faint-heartedness, and the lust of power; words that are not Truth, which make life into the absence of Truth (i.e., “hell”).

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

"The" Lenten Prayer

In the Orthodox Church, there is a simple prayer that occupies significant importance within their weekly liturgy. Every Monday through Friday during the weeks of Lent, this short prayer is prayed twice daily. After the first reading, the worshiping participants bow prostrate at each petition for God to “take” and “give.” Continuing the physicality of the prayer, the church family bows twelve times in humble hope saying “O God, cleanse me a sinner.” And then the prayer is prayed for the second time and all fall again in silence.

While the motion and repetition might feel strange and a bit perplexing to most of us, the reason the Orthodox tradition places this little prayer so prominently in their Lenten habits is that it spells out rather succinctly, in a unique way, “all the negative and positive elements of repentance and constitutes…a ‘check list’ for our individual lenten effort.” After all, through the season of Lent, our aim is to let go (turn from) all those things that keep us from truly living and cling to the life of God which is offered to us.

So for the next several weeks, we’ll be incorporating this prayer into our Lenten traditions (we’ve actually already been praying an adapted version of it!). Today, and throughout this week, let this prayer conclude your daily time with our Father. Whatever else you are doing, reading, talking with God about; let the repetition of this prayer keep our aim in focus.

Pray with me,

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth,

faint-heartedness, lust of power, and idle talk.

But give rather the spirit of chastity,

humility, patience, and love to Thy servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors

and not to judge my sisters and brothers;

For Thou art blessed unto ages of ages.

Amen.

For Life After Death

As we enter one final “meaningful, nuanced repetition” of the Litany of Penitence, we do so with our attention toward the light. While we still have a ways to go to Easter morning, and the confines of the grave make dim our eyes, nevertheless, the turn upward from the grave is beginning, and “The sempiternal season of His mercy/Lifts like the sun above our dark horizon.”

Embracing death, “I confess my inquiry; I am sorry for my sin” (Ps. 38:17-18), we discover the first signs of new life (Ps. 38:19-22). A life that leads to more life, for ourselves and for others.

One last time in this Lenten season, pray these words with the intention of getting specific. Let yourself dwell long enough on the emboldened text until there are specific fruits of maturation, new life, which are asking our gracious Father to raise up.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and with one another,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

Restore us, good Father,
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend,
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of Jesus’ resurrection.

Amen

Acknowledging Truth

When the psalmist realizes that the pangs of body and soul are not God’s wrath but the stings of death draining life within, the psalmist can finally open up and say, “I acknowledge my sin to You…” (Ps. 32:3-5).

To “acknowledge” sin, is to accept that the stings of death we feel are often—though not exclusively—of our making. We are contributors to death—big and small—and it is admitting the truth of our contribution to “You,” our heavenly Father that we experience the truth of existence, “I acknowledge my sin to You…and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” (Ps. 3:5). So, let us live openly in the truth together.

We’ll once again pray a portion of the “Litany of Penitence,” with the intention of getting specific. Let yourself dwell long enough in the “general” confession (emboldened) until there are specifics for you to acknowledge before our gracious Father. Then, pray the remainder of the prayer as one whose openness is met with that which leads to life full and forever through Jesus (Ps. 32:1-2).

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and with one another,
that we have sinned.

We turn to you, Father, and away from the wrongs we have done: acknowledging our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
We hold fast to you, always-present Father.

Acknowledging false judgments, uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and prejudice and contempt toward those who are different from us,
We turn to you, ever-chasing Father.

Acknowledging our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
We hold fast to you, never-changing Father.

Restore us, good Father,
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend,
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of Jesus’ resurrection.

Amen.

First Foot Foward

One of the most difficult parts of a journey is the first step. Lacking momentum, generally content and comfortable where we find ourselves, the prospects of a journey may be alluring, but the energy needed to begin has a host of hindrances. This is especially true for a journey like the one we are on through the Lenten season—a pilgrimage with Jesus through the valley of shadows and deaths.

While we know what awaits us on the other side, it still takes courage and faith to confess what keeps us from resurrected life today. So this week, let’s take the first step together, knowing that what we are confessing is being confessed by our sisters and brothers too. And that together, we make our confession within the relational truth that “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” (Ps. 32:1)

We’ll once again pray a portion of the “Litany of Penitence,” but this time, as we pray get specific. Let yourself dwell long enough in the “general” confession (emboldened) until there are specifics for you to share with our gracious Father. Then, pray the remainder of the prayer as one who is already “Blessed…whom the LORD counts no iniquity” because of Jesus.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and with one another,
that we have sinned.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, nor mind, nor strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, gracious Father.

We turn to you, Father, acknowledging our divided, wounded, and self-absorbed hearts.

Restore us, good Father,
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend,
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of Jesus’ resurrection.

Amen.

Dying to Live

The Lenten season (for most of) the Church is upon us. A season that is a journey, a movement through the confines and shadows of death’s valley to the bright and spacious pastures of resurrection life. We are, of course, setting out in Lent to arrive at Easter. And we cannot forget that. For in Lent we are not challenged merely to mourn but to hope, not merely to confess but to live. As the Orthodox priest and theologian Alexander Schmemann notes, “We are challenged,” through the Lenten journey, “with a vision, a goal, a way of life that is so much above our possibilities!” And our prayer this week, and over the next several, is prayer to accept the challenge, to let die all that is the “old self” and live in every detail all that is “new life" in Jesus.

So, let us pray together the “Litany of Penitence,” in the distant but everyday brighter light of Easter’s dawn. Dying that we might live.

Most holy and merciful Father:
We confess to you and to another,
and to the whole communion of saints
in heaven and on earth,
that we have sinned by our own fault
in thought, word, and deed;
by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart, nor mind, nor strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven.
Have mercy on us, gracious Father.

We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Jesus served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Have mercy on us, compassionate Father.

We confess to you, Father, all our past unfaithfulness: the pride, hypocrisy, and impatience of our lives.
We confess to you, humble Father.

Our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our exploitation of other people,
We confess to you, self-giving Father.

Our anger at our own frustration, and our envy of those more fortunate than ourselves,
We confess to you, generous Father.

Our intemperate love of worldly goods and comforts, and our dishonesty in daily life and work,
We confess to you, just Father.

Our negligence in prayer and worship, and our failure to commend the faith that is in us,
We confess to you, patient Father.

We turn to you, Father, and away from the wrongs we have done: acknowledging our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty,
We hold fast to you, always-present Father.

Acknowledging false judgments, uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors, and prejudice and contempt toward those who are different from us,
We turn to you, ever-chasing Father.

Acknowledging our waste and pollution of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
We hold fast to you, never-changing Father.

Restore us, good Father, and let your anger depart from us;
Favorably hear us, for your mercy is great.

Bring to maturity the fruit of your salvation,
That we may show forth your glory in the world.

By the cross and passion of your Son our King and Friend,
Bring us with all your saints into the complete joy of his resurrection.

Amen.

Taking Seriously...

This week we conclude our month of praying the plain and personal expectations of God for us and our neighbors from Micah 6:6-8. Having confessed our poor assumptions of what God desires, and expressed our need for the strength to live simply, we now come to the prayer’s final imperative: “don’t take yourself too seriously…take God with you seriously.”

We’ve prayed these words over and over again this month, but this week, let us make time for them to sink down deep into our hearts, minds, and souls. For, our prayer goes against what is most natural to us: for us to be the center, even of our relationship to God. What we are praying for, for ourselves and one another, is that our attention would be less focused upon ourselves (even us trying to get things “right”) and more attuned to the gracious truth of God with us. When we live aware of His always presence, we will live in the joy, courage, and freedom He desires for us.

So this week, pray God’s Word through Micah three more times. As you read the emboldened texts, take a deep, slow breath. Allow your lungs to fill with not just with oxygen, but with the Spirit of God with you, God for you, God in you. Sit in the words and silence of the fullness of God long enough to finish the prayer with the energy of our Father’s heart for and through you.

Father, how can we stand before YOU

and show proper respect to our GOD of gods?

Do You desire us to bring an armload of offerings

topped off with our finest possessions?

Would You, Father, be impressed with if we emptied our bank accounts,

poured out to You buckets and barrels of all that we can produce?

Father, would You be moved if we sacrificed our firstborn, the precious fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?

No?! That’s not what You require. You’ve already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what You, Father, are looking for in humanity, in us.

It’s quite simple, and personal You say:

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourselves too seriously—

take You and You with us, seriously.

That’s it! And if we know what is good for us, we’ll listen.

Plain But Not Easy

We’ll continue praying the plain and personal expectations of God for us and our neighbors from Micah 6:6-8 again this week. But our focus will shift from our poor assumptions of God’s desire, to what he has “made plain..”

While God’s Word to us is straightforward, it is not easy Doing justice, what is fair and good to others; all while loving kindness, being compassionate and consistent in our affections, takes more strength than we often feel is ours.

So this week, pray God’s Word through Micah three times. As you read the emboldened texts, confess your desire what is plain and simple, but not easy. Allow yourself to be strengthened by the power of the Spirit in your inner being so that you might be able to live the way Jesus lives in you. Sit in the words and silence long enough to finish the prayer with the energy of our Father’s heart for and through you.

Father, how can we stand before YOU

and show proper respect to our GOD of gods?

Do You desire us to bring an armload of offerings

topped off with our finest possessions?

Would You, Father, be impressed with if we emptied our bank accounts,

poured out to You buckets and barrels of all that we can produce?

Father, would You be moved if we sacrificed our firstborn, the precious fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?

No?! That’s not what You require. You’ve already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what You, Father, are looking for in humanity, in us.

It’s quite simple, and personal You say:

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourselves too seriously—

take You and You with us, seriously.

That’s it! And if we know what is good for us, we’ll listen.

Praying for the "Not This"

Last week we began praying the plain and personal expectations of God for us and our neighbors. This week, we continue to pray ourselves and neighbors into God’s Word from Micah 6:6-8. We’ll do so by focusing on the “not this” portion of God’s desires.

Often we—and those most in need, most desperate for God’s favor, clarity, and interceeding—offer to God what he doesn’t want. We think if we give him what we assume he desires, we’ll receive what we desire. Micah helps us pray through these wrong assumptions, giving us the opportunity to let us hear anew what God actually requires.

So this week, pray God’s Word through Micah three times. As you read the emboldened texts, let your heart confess where/how you are assuming good offerings, and wondering why they aren’t paying off. Sit in the silence and words long enough to consider what your neighbor, co-worker, or friend might be offering to God and finding only frustration as well. Confess that for him/her, then finish the prayer for you both.

Father, how can we stand before YOU

and show proper respect to our GOD of gods?

Do You desire us to bring an armload of offerings

topped off with our finest possessions?

Would You, Father, be impressed with if we emptied our bank accounts,

poured out to You buckets and barrels of all that we can produce?

Father, would You be moved if we sacrificed our firstborn, the precious fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?

No?! That’s not what You require. You’ve already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what You, Father, are looking for in humanity, in us.

It’s quite simple, and personal You say:

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourselves too seriously—

take You and You with us, seriously.

That’s it! And if we know what is good for us, we’ll listen.

Plain and Personal

Last month we took Jesus at his word, praying with him for our Father’s kingdom to come and will done in our city as it is in heaven. This month we’ll continue the theme of taking God at this word, praying for the manifestation of what He said is a good life, for us and for our neighbors.

This week, we’re going to familiarize ourselves with His word, praying Micah 6:6-8 three times through. When you’ve finished, give yourself a minute or two to sit in the silence, breathing in the truth of the plain and personal expectations God has for you in life with Him.

Father, how can we stand before YOU

and show proper respect to our GOD of gods?

Do You desire us to bring an armload of offerings

topped off with our finest possessions?

Would You, Father, be impressed with if we emptied our bank accounts,

poured out to You buckets and barrels of all that we can produce?

Father, would You be moved if we sacrificed our firstborn, the precious fruit of our body for the sin of our soul?

No?! That’s not what You require. You’ve already made it plain how to live, what to do,

what You, Father, are looking for in humanity, in us.

It’s quite simple, and personal You say:

Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,

be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourselves too seriously—

take You and You with us, seriously.

That’s it! And if we know what is good for us, we’ll listen.

Galvanize Our Days

This week we conclude our exercise in particularizing Jesus’ instruction to pray for our Father’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our time and place as it is in heaven.

Adapting Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer” we’ll focus our attention on the final stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: the maze of opportunities, of could be’s and what if’s which suffocate hope, and the heart of Jesus which grants us power and clarity to live the Way as people new. Confess and express these things, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, in the presence of the One for whom nothing is hidden. Then conclude within a shared “Amen”.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, allowing the heart and life of Jesus to galvanize our way forward together.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

In, Through, and To Jesus we pray, Amen.

To Live Once More

We’ll continue to make particular Jesus’ instruction to pray for our Father’s kingdom to come and will to be done in our time and place as it is in heaven.

Adapting Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer” we’ll focus our attention this week on the third stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: the masks we and neighbors wear as protection, the longings and pursuits to be who we are truly created to be (and all the false selfs sold and bought in our society), the timidity that keeps us from “issues” and the courage to know our place in salvation's story here and now. Confess and express these things, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, in the presence of the One for whom nothing is hidden. Then finish the prayer.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, seeing through what divides to what and who unites, and trusting that He is working in and through you for those around you even now.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

We Can Resist...But Cannot Overcome

Last week we began praying a prayer as a particularized expression of the way Jesus taught us to pray:

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

We’ll continue the adaptation of Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer” this week, focussing our attention on the second stanza (embolden below). When you get to this part of the prayer, slow down. Let the words sink into your heart, and let the Spirit lead you to express the specifics on which they light: your and our ways of resisting, that are harsh, divisive, and prideful. Confess them, for yourself and as a part of our social collective, and then finish the prayer.

Come back to these words and insights throughout the week ahead, confessing, repenting, and receiving the grace of the One through whom you are reborn, whose will cannot be overcome.

Pray with your faith family…

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!

God of Every Time and Place

When asked by his apprentices how to pray, Jesus gave them a rather straightforward model to get them started. “The Lord’s Prayer” as we call it, begins with the declarative invocation “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” All at once, Jesus proclaims the majestic truth of intimacy and breadth of God‘s rule and humbly summons that authority over the details of daily life.

This month, we are going to pray a prayer together that is learned from Jesus’ prayer. A prayer for our Father’s kingdom to come and his will to be done in our time and place in His-story. In each of the following weeks, we’ll draw out a particular part of this prayer to give us focus. This week though, let’s simply familiarize with the prayer, letting the Spirit lead us to invite the “God of every time and place,” to be the Father whose care and wisdom takes active shape in us, through us, and for our neighbors.

Let us pray together an adaption of Ernest Campbell’s “A City-Dweller’s Prayer.”

Father, our God of every time and place,

prevail among us too;

within the city that we live

among the people whose streets we share

and whose souls we learn to love,

your promise to renew.

Our people move with downcast eyes,

tight, sullen, and afraid;

Surprise us with your joy divine,

for we would be remade.

O Father whose will we can resist,

but cannot overcome,

Forgive our harsh and strident ways,

the harm that we have done.

Like Babel’s builders long ago

we raise our lofty towers,

And like them, too, our words divide,

and pride lays waste our powers.

Behind the masks that we maintain

to shut our sadness in,

There lurks the hope, however dim,

to live once more as your design.

Let wrong embolden us to fight,

and need excite our care;

If not us, who? If not now, when?

If not here, Father, then where?

Our forebears stayed their minds on you

in village, farm, and plain;

Help us, their crowded, harried kin,

no less your peace to claim.

Give us to know that you do love

each soul that you have made;

That size does not diminish grace,

nor concrete hide your gaze.

Grant us, Father, those who labor here

within this throbbing maze,

A forward-looking, saving hope

to galvanize our days.

Let Jesus, who loved Jerusalem,

and wept its sin to mourn,

Make just our laws and pure our hearts;

so shall we be reborn!