Experiment In Prayer

[luthitarian]

As we have our final prayers today, please be mindful of our the past week in prayer.  What has it meant to you?  What effect has it had on your life?  Any struggles?  Do you want to continue?

 

It's difficult to quantify the effects of prayer.  It's also difficult to know what effect it actually has.  My experience tells me that it unlocks doors and unclogs pipes.  We are often taught that we should be vessels holding love/light/God/etc, but my belief and experience tells me that we are at our most effective when we are like pipes.  Blessings should be flowing through us.  If all we do is the receiving, then we will fill up and the blessings can no longer flow (like a stopped pipe). 

 

This week:

 

(DISCLAIMER:  Results may vary    )

 

-I experienced a deeper rhythm of peace

-As I've loved you, I've also experienced more love

-I've experienced unexpected forgiveness with a friend

-I've taken more daring opportunities to love (one of which ended up being a powerful public witness for love in my church community)

-My heart center has stayed open longer and wider than usual (emotional detachment has been a problem for me in the past)

-Lost 2 pounds (hey, not much, but I'm not overweight and it's more than I've lost in all year of trying...and I didn't do anything different than pray)

-I've experienced more abundance in general (this includes material abundance, I've freely received the following: a yoga mat, exercise equipment, clothing, a $320 backyard swimming pool, and two financial windfalls...no kidding  <<UH OH!  That's not very Christian!  You shouldn't be getting stuff!  Fatherman must be playing the back nine with Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, and Wayne Dyer! >>)

 

Folks, I know my experiences this week may challenges your notions of prayer (or simply establish me as a first-class kook!), but I can't control blessings.  The only thing I can control is whether I'm open to them or not, and whether I choose to allow them to flow through or not.  Prayer is a tool that opens the door and unclogs the pipes, and (with practice) a way of life that facilitates God's infinite blessings in the world.

 

Praise be to God for it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

One thing we haven't talked about is prayer in wider contexts such as mindful action or being-as-invitation. To 'pray unceasingly' as Paul urged us to do clearly cannot mean to spend all our time in formal prayer.

 

To develop the awareness that each moment is a gift for which we may be grateful, and to offer back that moment in dedication and service to God--whatever we are doing: caring for those in need, serving those who are hurting, walking a labyrinth, praying the Psalms or lectio divina, and even doing the dishes and the laundry--is, in my view, no less prayer than "Now I lay me down to sleep..." or "Our Father who art in Heaven..." As I understand living 'abundantly', it means no more nor no less than living fully in the moment--whatever it brings: joy or sorrow, peace or struggle, contentment or anxiety--whatever.

 

And, it sounds to me, Fatherman, that this is a part of what you have experienced too. And I am not knocking material blessings. I have been grateful for them as well. My issue has always been with those such as you have been playing the back nine with (LOL) make central to their spirituality and their message. Many of these same preachers, New Age gurus, and others, would perhaps denounce the materialistic nature of evolutionary biology, but preach a message that glorifies materialism. It's an entirely different matter to simply be open to something without making the object of your intention or desire.

[fatherman]

One thing we haven't talked about is prayer in wider contexts such as mindful action or being-as-invitation. To 'pray unceasingly' as Paul urged us to do clearly cannot mean to spend all our time in formal prayer.

 

To develop the awareness that each moment is a gift for which we may be grateful, and to offer back that moment in dedication and service to God--whatever we are doing: caring for those in need, serving those who are hurting, walking a labyrinth, praying the Psalms or lectio divina, and even doing the dishes and the laundry--is, in my view, no less prayer than "Now I lay me down to sleep..." or "Our Father who art in Heaven..." As I understand living 'abundantly', it means no more nor no less than living fully in the moment--whatever it brings: joy or sorrow, peace or struggle, contentment or anxiety--whatever.

 

And, it sounds to me, Fatherman, that this is a part of what you have experienced too. And I am not knocking material blessings. I have been grateful for them as well. My issue has always been with those such as you have been playing the back nine with (LOL) make central to their spirituality and their message. Many of these same preachers, New Age gurus, and others, would perhaps denounce the materialistic nature of evolutionary biology, but preach a message that glorifies materialism. It's an entirely different matter to simply be open to something without making the object of your intention or desire.

 

Yes! That's what it's all about. I used to try to 'pray unceasingly' without setting aside special time for prayer as well, but I couldn't make it work. For me, it has to grow out of my special prayer time. I believe Jesus' model for retreat and return is necessary.

 

What bothers me even more than folks putting the focus on the material is folks who use it as a way to judge another's faith. He's rich, he must have strong faith, he's poor he must have poor faith. The truth is, there are other ways of being rich and other ways of being poor.

 

I think we are seeing eye-to-eye here.

[luthitarian]

One thing we haven't talked about is prayer in wider contexts such as mindful action or being-as-invitation. To 'pray unceasingly' as Paul urged us to do clearly cannot mean to spend all our time in formal prayer.

 

To develop the awareness that each moment is a gift for which we may be grateful, and to offer back that moment in dedication and service to God--whatever we are doing: caring for those in need, serving those who are hurting, walking a labyrinth, praying the Psalms or lectio divina, and even doing the dishes and the laundry--is, in my view, no less prayer than "Now I lay me down to sleep..." or "Our Father who art in Heaven..." As I understand living 'abundantly', it means no more nor no less than living fully in the moment--whatever it brings: joy or sorrow, peace or struggle, contentment or anxiety--whatever.

 

And, it sounds to me, Fatherman, that this is a part of what you have experienced too. And I am not knocking material blessings. I have been grateful for them as well. My issue has always been with those such as you have been playing the back nine with (LOL) make central to their spirituality and their message. Many of these same preachers, New Age gurus, and others, would perhaps denounce the materialistic nature of evolutionary biology, but preach a message that glorifies materialism. It's an entirely different matter to simply be open to something without making the object of your intention or desire.

 

Yes! That's what it's all about. I used to try to 'pray unceasingly' without setting aside special time for prayer as well, but I couldn't make it work. For me, it has to grow out of my special prayer time. I believe Jesus' model for retreat and return is necessary.

 

What bothers me even more than folks putting the focus on the material is folks who use it as a way to judge another's faith. He's rich, he must have strong faith, he's poor he must have poor faith. The truth is, there are other ways of being rich and other ways of being poor.

 

I think we are seeing eye-to-eye here.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I'm afraid we have the Book of Proverbs, especially, to blame for the view that material benefits are signs of God's blessing, and poverty and hardship, the opposite. You can imagine what kind of judgmentalism that invites! It's just the kind of attitude, too, that Jesus set about to overturn when he took his message first to poor, the sick, and the outcast.. Yet, several centuries later wealth-as-blessing would almost be a central teaching of Calvinism.

 

The model of retreat and return, or Sabbath time, whenever it becomes available or whenever it is needed is important. Admittedely, I don't do enough of it, but I appreciate the time when I do. It's important for self care and for staying grounded in what ultimately matters.

[fatherman]

Friends,

 

I might not post much for awhile, but I will continue doing some focused prayer work on each of you who signed up. If time matters to you, I generally spend 9:30 to 10:00 am on week days (CST).

 

Fatherman

[bobve2]

I Recieved "A Prayer Book" in the mail. I've enjoyed the intro by Borg. Thanks for the tip on this book. Any others out there that I should be awhere of. Bob ve

[undone]

Jun 2 2006, 02:58 AM

 

luthitarian said:

 

Okay, I'm a flaming panentheist who sees God as the ground of being moving in and through all of existence and all creation--right down to those funky little subatomic particles.  Luther put it (in his typically graphic manner): "God can even be found in the contents of the belly of a louse!"

 

I was wondering if you could provide a reference to this quote from Luther. I Googled it but didn't come up with anything, and I'm curious to read more of what he had to say, to get context, so forth.

 

Thanks!

Edited June 21, 2006 by undone