The work of being a Christian is hard. It challenges us every day to give more, serve more, and be more. Whether you are working at the soup kitchen or packing hampers at the food bank, maybe you volunteer at your local hospital or work as a lay person in a congregation. Or maybe you use your energy serving others in your family, or in your job.
But it is not just to a life of service for which we are called as Christians. Jesus asks us to let go of our anger, to love our enemies. Love our enemies! How do we do that? How do we trust God enough to love and forgive those who have hurt us? And what about turning the other cheek. Could you do it, physically or metaphorically? If someone hits you or yells and screams at you, are you strong enough to be calm and not retaliate?
This work of building God’s kingdom is hard, messy and tiring. Sometimes, just like Jesus did in the reading we heard today, we need to call timeout. We need to go to a quiet place and listen for God’s voice. We need this rest in order to keep going.
A local church recently had a sign out the front that said, “Prayer is the pause that empowers.” I drove past this sign everyday on my way home from work. And every time I saw it I smiled and exhaled. Not realizing that I had been holding my breath. Taking a deep slow breath I would keep driving and repeat that phrase in my mind. “Prayer is the pause that empowers.”
And it does empower is. It recharges our battery. Like plugging into some huge cosmic cable with a limitless supply of energy and love. We are limited, what we can achieve each day is limited. And without taking a minute or ten or twenty to breathe, meditate, pray, listen for God’s voice, we will wear ourselves out. Prayer creates a powerful connection with the divine. Something we can rely on, take strength from.
In order to live out our lives and our mission as Christians; to love each other unconditionally to offer radical hospitality, to heal those that are sick, to listen to those that are oppressed, we must pray. If we don’t we will burn out.
Many times during the Gospels Jesus either talks about prayer or goes away to a quiet place to pray. He recognizes the need to look inwards, to speak to his father, to ask for help and guidance. In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us how to pray. And once again we are told to go into a solitary place.
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
In Mark 1-29-39, Jesus healed people then took time to pray.
“Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.”
The fact that Jesus himself does this, that it is so important to him that he rises while it is still dark and seeks out a special, quiet space, shows us that prayer and meditation is essential to our spiritual practice.
Someone very wise once said, there are only two prayers “thank you” and “help me” and I tend to agree with this. First the “thank you “prayers. If we really believe that all we have and all we are is from God then why are we not constantly saying prayers of thanks? Yes, when a baby is born or a friend has a successful surgery, or we get that new job we wanted, we say thanks. But what about all those times we forget to say thanks for all the glorious things we have in this world.
When you wake up do you grumble because it is still dark, do you swear when you stub your toe on a hot wheels car left in the middle of the kitchen floor? I do. Or maybe you complain because service in the grocery store is slow, or a waitress messes up your order.
If you find that you are complaining more than you are smiling, try this technique. Before you go to bed think of five things that you are grateful for from your day. Maybe your boss made a terse comment to you, your kids didn’t like the dinner you made, and you were late for your dentil appointment and had to wait. Sounds like a rotten day right?
But maybe you can thank God for the patience you need to deal with your boss. Thank God for the wisdom to realize that it is normal for kids not to like broccoli and to want hot dogs and Kraft dinner instead. Thank God for that extra 25 minutes you had at the dentist office to meditate.
Try to look around more, really see and be present to experience the wonder that surrounds us. This creation we live in for example. We should be jumping for joy that we get to live on a planet that is so rich, diverse and exquisitely beautiful. But sometimes we hardly notice it.
I remember when I first came to Canada I absolutely despised the weather. I thought, “Why would people ever settle here? Whoever thought that living in a frozen, flat, desolate wasteland was a good idea, should have their head examined.”
But then one morning I was walking to an 8am class at the University of Manitoba. It was about 7:15 and it was still dark. There was no wind and everything was covered in freshly fallen snow. Everywhere I looked all I could see was this sparkling, luminescent snow. It was like being surrounded by mounds of crushed diamonds and it took my breath away. It changed my day and my whole outlook on winter in Canada.
So let us be grateful and give thanks.
Then there are the “help me” prayers. We often turn to God or to Jesus in times of extreme difficulty and sadness. When we have nowhere else to go. When we are feeling lost and broken. When we have given up hope. When it feels like prayer is our only hope, our last resort. And this is fine, this is good. But why don’t we turn to Jesus when we are irritable or frustrated? Do we feel he is too busy to listen to our thoughts and concerns?
I used to think this way. That in order for my prayers or meditation time to "count" with "the man upstairs" they had to be about something dire. That they had to happen in a very serious manner, and that they had to happen right before you went to bed. I don't know if this is part of being raised catholic but that was what I thought. I always had a feeling like waiting in front of the principal’s office, or asking your parents to borrow the car on a Saturday night. And usually I was asking for something, a new Barbie doll, a pony, new clothes, a day off school. However as I got older, my understanding and relationship with God changed. I began to ask less for physical things. We need to realize that God is neither a cosmic credit card nor a genie in a magic lamp that grants wishes.
These days I pray so many times a day that I wonder if God will get sick of me. I pray first thing in the morning for knowledge of Gods will and the strength to carry it out that day. At breakfast when my son won’t hurry up and eat his cornflakes I pray for patience. Driving to work in the snow I pray that others will drive safely. At work, in my classroom I pray for tolerance, for compassion for my students who don't always have the best home lives. I also pray that I won't let the urge to beat them with a yard stick get the better of me. I try to pray whenever I feel grateful for things, especially the wonderful creation that surrounds us. The cold breeze on my face, the first shoots of green from the snow, my children sleeping, the buttery pools of sunlight in my living room on a Saturday morning.
Sometimes I start to pray and it ends up in a huge rant. Then I have to ask for forgiveness for being so self-absorbed. I also keep a little book in my bedside table to write down the names of people I want to pray for so I don't forget them. One thing is for certain whenever I pray I feel loved. I feel listened to and renewed.
If you let it, prayer can be a refuge. When we pray we are held in the palm of Gods hand. We are again a child of god. A tiny spark lit by an eternal flame. When we pray we sit at Jesus feet and he loves us, listens to us. God is our Father and Mother. Never be afraid to approach the divine in prayer. God’s love pours over us like a waterfall. It nourishes us in dark times. It gives us a light in the darkness. So remember you are loved, God is listening.
Prayer also offers us Salvation. The word Salvation is related to the word salve. A salve is something that soothes and heals wounds. This is where the word salvage also comes from. Prayer can be a salve, a balm for our wounds. Through prayer we can ask for patience, strength, guidance and healing, but also peace and salvation.
There is a very interesting tale about prayer and it is told in a book called, The Way of the Pilgrim. The author of this text is unknown yet it is a theological classic and very important to the Eastern Orthodox Church. This book is about a man who hears this scripture from Thessalonians and spends the rest of his life trying to follow it.
Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 KJV)
He wanted to know what praying without ceasing really means. On his journey he discovers what is known as the Jesus prayer which goes, "Lord Jesus Christ, son of god, have mercy on me". There are several variations on this prayer although this one seems the most common. This prayer originally comes from the desert fathers, the first contemplative Christian monastics who lived in the Egyptian desert in the year 270 AD. It has been passed down through the Eastern Orthodox Church, as has this practice of contemplative prayer.
So what does it mean to pray without ceasing? This prayer is a spiritual practice that begins with spoken prayer and then becomes a prayer of the mind. You are supposed to repeat it so often that it becomes automatic, a part of you. It becomes a prayer of the heart. Now, I think it matters not the actual words of the prayer. As Jesus said, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
Any simple prayer would have the same function. It is not the words that change you, it is the act of turning inward, to be with God. You see the desert fathers, as in many mystical and contemplative Christian traditions, believed that God exists inside us, that there is no duplicity in our relationship with Jesus. They did not believe that we are down here and he is up there, somewhere. The dessert fathers believed that through contemplation you achieve union with the divine; that you essentially become one with God.
The Jesus prayer, amongst others, is just a catalyst, a point of light to focus on. The change that occurs in you when your mind and heart is fixed on Jesus, the light of the world, is astounding. Prayer becomes an almost physical part of you, like a second heart beat. I really believe that spending time with God everyday changes you almost on a cellular level.
It changes the way we feel and think, the way we act. For example, if we think about a problem we are having with a friend or a work colleague and we see them through the veil of our own frustration or anger, then we will never be able to get along with them. But what if we prayed for them every day? What if we meditated on their life and saw them as a child of God? What if we asked God to help us deal with that difficult person, to love them, be a friend to them? What if we prayed that whatever suffering they were experiencing in their own lives was taken up by Christ, the taker of burdens? What if we imagined this person as our own child and sent them prayers of unconditional love?
I guarantee the next time you saw this person you would feel such love and compassion for them that all your ill feelings and frustration would melt away.
So pray, meditate, talk to God.
