The Practice of Prayer

Almost every morning, I light a candle, sit down with my cup of coffee and pray. After 47 years, this has become a daily practice. But just the other morning, after I had gotten the kids out the door, and I was making my coffee and putting a few things in the dishwasher, the thought came to me: "I have GOT to go sit down and pray. NOTHING else is more important today." And I realized that after years of practicing prayer, it had finally, for at least that particular day, truly become my priority. Years ago my Spiritual Director, Sr. Breta, had told me that she had never seen a person who wanted to pray more than me, yet had a harder time developing the discipline of the daily practice of prayer. I must confess that I hate discipline. That is, I hate routine, I hate being told what to do. I am not an athlete so I have never trained for much of any physical challenge.

I have discovered the word spiritual "practice" works much better for me, rather than spiritual "discipline" (even though they are the same thing). But I have spent most of my life trying to develop the practice, as a follower of Jesus, of daily prayer.

I remember, when I was in college, joining some fellow students in a thing called something like "The John Wesley Great Experiment" where we made a covenant to get up at 4 a.m. (before God wakes up!) to pray on our own at home, and then gather once a week to share our experiences. If it was good enough for John Wesley, then it was good enough for us! At other times in my life, for weeks, even months at a time, I would pray the Psalms every morning. I remember these times as good seasons of feeling more centered and balanced. I was journaling more, and sensing the presence of God. But then there were the days when I just felt too tired to get up to pray and be with God. So the practice fell by the wayside, until another season.

I am not a perfect praying person. I am not a perfect Jesus-follower. So there you have it. My confession. I try to pray every day. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I do not. Right now, I am in a pretty good season of prayer. I would not have the strength to plant The Village Church, were I not in a season of life in which prayer is my priority. But I am here to bear witness to the fact that prayer is something takes practice.

So . . how about you? How is your practice of prayer going these days? What are your obstacles or challenges? Do you have any tips you can share with the rest of us? Want to meet me for a cup of coffee and chat about it? You can give your comments below, or e mail me at Cheri@Villageohio.org.

From Pastor Cheri: Training and Practicing as Followers of Jesus

I have never run a marathon. To be honest, I doubt if I ever will. Lots of people set this as a life goal. They set up a training schedule. And they do it. These are ordinary people, not professional athletes. They are regular people who decide to do something extraordinary, so they train. They make a commitment and then they talk to someone, an experienced marathon runner, a coach, a trainer. They set up a training schedule. They stick to that schedule. They run a marathon. And then they celebrate a job well done!

I suppose I could run a marathon if I set my mind, and my body to the task. But I just don't like to run. So it's probably not a goal I will ever set for myself. I don't have the drive to accomplish this achievement in my life.

But I have other goals. I want to be the person God desires me to be. I want to live my life in tune with God. I don't want to be so hard on myself all the time. I don't want to live in fear. I don't want to rush around so much always trying to please other people. I want to rest in God's love for me, and trust that I'm ok, and that God loves me just the way I am.

I want to live as a beloved child of God.

Guess what? To know. . . really to know without a doubt that we are loved by God, is something that takes practice, and training, just like the training it takes to be a marathon runner. It takes the practice of daily prayer, and meditation, and resting in God. And just like a person who wants to run a marathon, and has to find a good coach, or trainer, or "running buddy," we need some sort of community to walk with us when we want to learn how to be the people God wants us to be.

When I want to practice being the person God put me on this earth to me, I need other spiritual friends, mentors, teachers, or pastors, to walk with me, to encourage me, challenge me, and ask questions of me along the way. The spiritual journey is not something to be done in isolation -- we learn from others who have gone down this road before us.

You see, somewhere along the way, we followers of Jesus have gotten the wrong idea. We got the idea, that all we had to do was make a one-time decision to follow Jesus, and then we were done. It's as if a person can decide one day to run a marathon, and get up the next day and be ready to run it. Marathons don't work that way. Neither does the life of a Jesus-follower.

The radical life of a Jesus follower means a life of practice and training. For most of us, this means a daily practice of prayer. During this season of Lent, the forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, I am encouraging our Village community to take on some new practice, such as the practice of daily prayer, if this is not something you are already doing. There are two daily devotional links on our web site, that I can recommend, as a tool to help: Inward/Outward and the UCC Devotional site. You can subscribe to either or both and have a daily devotional e mailed to you. Or you can simply read a portion of your Bible or some other spiritual reading each day. Another good resource is Brian McLaren's book Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices. In this book, McLaren discusses the importance of spiritual practices in our daily lives.

Or you can simply be still for 5 minutes each day, and breathe, and listen for God. This is also a spiritual practice.

In my weekly blogs during Lent, I will continue to discuss the importance of spiritual practices such as prayer, prayer walking, retreats, and fasting in my own life. I invite you to share your comments in response to this blog. What challenges do you face as you try to develop some training routines around daily prayer practices? How does the practice of daily prayer impact your life? I'd love to hear from you.

An Invitation from Pastor Cheri: Let's Practice Following Jesus

Dear Village friends,

Last night we marked Ash Wednesday with a simple service of prayer. About twenty of us gathered in our coffee house worship space. I invited us to participated in an ancient Christian practice: confession. Of course, God already knows our hearts. God knows what we've said and done, what we've failed to say and do. But we also know a sense of freedom comes, when we say our private confession to God, when we gather in community with other Jesus-followers, and remember that God always forgives us and gives us a second chance. That second chance is grace. No matter what we do, or fail to do, God forgives us. So last night, we wrote our confessions on slips of paper, and put them in a metal can. We stepped outside and set the paper and fire, turned them to ashes. Later in the service, we used these ashes to make the sign of the cross on our foreheads.

We also talked about "practices" that followers of Jesus can take on during this season called Lent -- the 40 days (excluding Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Some of us will "fast" which means we will "give up" something up for Lent. We may give up food one day a week, or one meal a week, or we may give up dessert, or watching TV, or chatting on Facebook. The idea of fasting is this: whenever we reach for that "thing" and long for it, or hunger for it, we will turn our attention toward God. The thing we give up serves as a reminder that during this season, we have chosen to dig deeper spiritually and listen more closely to God.

Some of us choose the "practice" during Lent of adding something, such as a daily prayer routine. One person at last night's service said he writes a note to someone he cares about every day during Lent as a way of nurtuting important relationships. I invited folks to share what practices they want to commit to during Lent. I was amazed at the openness with which people shared. One person committed to sending a care package to soldiers in Iraq every day for the 40 days of Lent. Others committed to pray every day. I committed to write a blog each week here, and I invite you to "sign in" to the blog below so that you can comment each week. Let's have a conversation during Lent, shall we?

In our community of The Village, our stated vision is: Follow Jesus, and Change the World! The season of Lent has always been a time when followers of Jesus make choices to take our walk with Jesus to the next level. I for one, have committed to take a prayer walk each day during the 40 days of Lent, and simply listen and watch for whatever God might say to me or show me. How about you? How are you going to follow Jesus during these next 40 days?

Peace,

Pastor Cheri

"Prayer is the way to stay in love with God!"

In Unbinding your Heart: 40 Days of Prayer and Faith Sharing, Martha Grace Reese writes: "Prayer is the way to stay in love with God" (p. 37). I am a self-identified progressive, AND I love Jesus. I've been told by some, that those two things don't always go together. That puzzles me. But that's a post for another day. . .

My entire life, I have struggled with having a daily prayer routine . . . doing it for awhile, and then falling off the wagon and failing to do so for awhile longer. About 3 years ago, sitting on my front porch (I'll try to post a picture here), I had a deep experience of prayer that changed my life. I came to love Jesus and not be afraid to say that outloud. I'm still the same Cheri -- with a passion for justice and making the world a better place for all -- and now I also have a passion for taking the time to meet God, and rest in God, and listen for God's nudgings. And so, yes, I would have to agree with Martha Grace Reese: "prayer is the way to stay in love with God."

I know that my life is more balanced, and I am more content and centered, when I pray every day. And yet I find this discipline a challenge. (I never really liked that thing: "discipline.") Still, I find myself hungering for a spiritual rhythm -- a practice -- that draws me closer to God on a daily basis.

I'm starting another 40 day prayer practice today, much like the one I did in the Fall of 2005 that eventually led to God showing me a vision for The Village Church. I'm putting this commitment on my blog and inviting my friends to help hold me accountable. How about you? Do you find that prayer helps you stay in love with God? Is the practice of prayer, on a regular basis, a challenge for you?

Peace,
Cheri