I did not go to those sorts of camps where the preacher told us what God was saying and then had us repeat a one-size-fits-all-prayer of salvation so that we would be saved from going to Hell when we die. I’m not saying that a Prayer of Salvation is a bad thing. There are times when we need to turn away from bad decisions in our lives, and make a clear turn toward God. I am all for that.
But church camp was different for me. I grew up in a good home with parents and older sisters with values of compassion, justice and peace-making. The spirit of Jesus just seemed to hang out with us so I never felt I had to make a big turn away from my sin and toward God. I am was a little confused as I didn’t fell like I had to turn away from any horrible things.
And yet, these worship services at church camp, when the preacher would somehow lead us to a point of being in the presence of God, in a time of prayer, are times I can still remember, with feelings of great awe. I can remember sitting in an open air tabernacle in Ceta Canyon, Texas, and beginning to hear my call to ministry at around age 17, and being overcome with emotion. There were not a lot of people in Ceta Canyon, Texas who thought a woman should be a minister. But, there were a few though. And I prayed and asked God to help me.
I can remember being at another youth leadership camp in the Ozarks in Arkansas, sitting in the sanctuary and as we sang some songs, and took communion, and had time to pray in silence, I knew that I belonged to God and that God would see me through the perils of high school and all that drama. That awkward time when you don’t fit in anywhere.
Can you remember some of your earliest memories of prayer? As a child, a teen, a young adult, or an older adult? How do you pray?
In several periods of my life, I have returned to the Psalms, when I need to reconnect with God. Sometimes, I lose touch with God. I can’t really explain how it happens. I go in and out of seasons when my spiritual life has a rich harvest, and time when I am in a drought. Gasp, say it isn’t so that the Pastor has those same down times. I guess I just started a scandal in the church.
Sometimes I am in a good rhythm; I get up every morning and get the kids off to school, and then I sit in my rocking chair with my cup of coffee. I light my candle to remind me of the presence of God, and I take my bible or some other inspirational reading, I take a journal to write in. Sometimes I start by sitting on the floor and doing some yoga stretches and meditative breathing just to clear my mind and be open to God. Then I read and write; I listen and pray. The LISTENING is the most important part, OPENING to God. You see, I believe this OPENING to God is the source of our HOPE.
Our theme for the year, and maybe beyond as this is something we need much more of, is “Hope grows.” We want to see HOPE grow through The Village Church. Last week we started this series with H, healing for our brokenness; This week we are going to look at O, Opening ourselves to God; Next week P, Purpose for our lives; and then E- Everyone is included.
So, today, we focus on “Opening ourselves to God” through the practice of daily prayer. At various times in my life I have found the practice of praying the psalms to be a wonderful daily ritual. There are psalms that call me to count my blessings. There are psalms of deep lament that remind me that people throughout all generations have suffered, but have still put our trust in God. Those are some of my favorites.
If you think you don’t really know how to start praying, then using the psalms for your daily prayers is a great place to start. Consider this psalm for today. It was the one we used in worship. Psalm 46:
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
This Psalm is written by someone with some hard stuff going on in life. The world is changing, it feels like mountains shaking and it sounds like the sea water roaring. This person is crying out to God for help. Anyone having things like these in their lives?
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
But there is the comforting river where God lives and where we can rest in God.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; God utters God’s voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations God has brought on the earth.
God makes wars cease to the end of the earth; God breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; God burns the shields with fire.
Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
This phrase is a powerful call to us. Be still in the presence of God. When pastors get ordained in the West Ohio conference we’re asked to have a banner made for us by our home congregation. We process, parade, into a huge auditorium together. My kids love to watch them go in every year. Most candidates put some significant scripture on it. It has those words: “Be still and know that I am God.”
I chose those words 22 years ago, because I knew that it was important for me to remember then, and it’s still important for me to remember now, to take time and to find space to open myself up to the presence of God, and to listen.
To Be still is very counter cultural. Can you imagine your boss telling you, go away, be still, and center? It just doesn’t happen. But this is the way of Jesus – he was always finding ways to be still. He would speak to thousands, heal dozen, but he would always go away and pray.
Why don’t we do this? What blocks us? The answers from our worship service were the same ones we came up with in our home:
- Don’t have time
- Don’t know how
- Never done it before
Why would we even try to do this? We hopefully take the time to take care of our bodies. We eat, we sleep, we bathe, we change our clothes, maybe we exercise. Because when we open ourselves to God, on a daily basis, we grow closer to God. It’s just that simple. We know this. We know that you can’t have a connection to anyone or anything without intentional time and attention. God is no different from your mother, or your child, or some goal in life, in that respect. The relationship that gets our attention grows stronger.
Why wouldn’t we want to get strength from God, who made us, who created the world, and who is the source of all love and strength and goodness in the world? We would be crazy NOT to give a chunk of time to listening to God every day.
How can we do this? This isn’t rocket science. You know this, as you took the time to come to worship or read this. It’s about making it a priority and you are right now. You have to make it a priority. That’s the first step. The next step is to get others in our life who affect our scheduling have to respect this priority; my children and my husband understand that I need my quiet time. Then need theirs too.
I put it on my daily schedule; so that I will try to remember not to schedule over it. Be flexible about the time of day. You don’t have to pray first thing in the morning. One summer I had a rich season of prayer, sitting on my front porch every evening around 10 p.m. You could pray on your lunch hour if you can find a quiet spot and you will protect that time.
Find others who are able to help you and make you accountable. How can we help one another do this? It never hurts to have an accountability partner. I go see our Spiritual Director, Sr. Breta, once a month. She keeps me accountable. There was a time in my life when I had a prayer partner. We met for lunch once a week, and checked in to see how we were both doing with our prayer life. We had both been on a spiritual retreat together and part of the follow up commitment was that we would have this accountability with someone, to help us keep the commitments that we really wanted to keep.
Then the question becomes how will we do it? Well, if you are completely satisfied with your daily practice of prayer, and you feel really centered and connected to God all the time, that’s great. In fact, if you are that person, let me know because I would like to learn from you. Let’s schedule lunch and we’ll talk about how you can teach me.
But they call it a daily practice of prayer, but we never “get it right.” We are always growing and deepening our connection to God. And prayer is an essential entry point for doing that. You were here or reading this later because you want a relationship with God.
Opening ourselves to God is where this all starts: finding time and space, to set aside everything else in the world, and listen and watch for God. You see God wants to speak to us; God wants to gently guide our lives in a small voice. Sometimes God wants to give us a big kick in the pants. But we have to open ourselves to God. What usually works best for me is to take some time each morning, in the quiet. I do some simple ritual to remind me that this is my time with God. I’m not just “praying on the run” as I drive down the street. Yes, sometimes I do that, but it’s really not giving God my full attention.
So my ritual is usually lighting a candle. Then I take some deep breaths, and clear my head of the to-do lists for the day, and just listen for God. Eventually I may take out my journal and write my worries to God – and try to let go of them.
Also, I write my dreams – so that God can help me make them come true.
When I go through seasons of doing this faithfully every day, you’ll be able to tell. I will be more centered, and calm. You will be able to tell.
I must confess to you that I have not been in my best season of prayer in recent weeks. I have let the overwhelming tasks of launching in this new location get the best of me. Some of you may have noticed I’m a bit frazzled. But I saw my spiritual director, Sr. Breta, on Friday and I told her I’m preaching this sermon today. She really let me have it.
She said, “So you’re going to preach a lie.” You’re going to tell them that praying every day, to stay centered, is essential to the life of a Jesus follower, and yet you are not making time and space for that. “Well,” I said, “There HAVE been seasons in my life when I have prayed well. So it’s not exactly a lie.” Let me tell you that such arguments do not get you far with a spiritual director who has known you for almost 20 years.
She’s right of course. So today I prayed. And tomorrow I am going to start praying the Pslams, using this plan that we will be giving you on the Village website. If you’ll do it too, then you can hold me accountable. You can e mail me or chat with me on FB about the psalm for the day.
We are growing HOPE here at The Village. And the more we open ourselves to God, with intentional time and space for prayer, the more our hope will grow and spread over this whole city. So I urge you to find that time and space. And let me know how it goes. I want to hear about it.
I believe this is true: HOPE really does grow, when we open ourselves to God. If you want to be part of a Community where Hope Grows, come join us at the Village Church. We’re at the Maumee Indoor Theater on Sundays at 10:30 AM, at the corner of the Anthony Wayne Trail and Conant Street in Maumee and in the world the rest of the week.
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