6/7/23
From the very beginning the rule of this world was always a joint project between God and humans. In Genesis 1 God says, “Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion . . .” and this commission is echoed in Psalm 8, where we read: “You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet.” As N.T. Wright has pointed out, “God is a power-sharing God: he wants to work through human beings.”
And that’s where prayer comes in.
In Genesis 1 and Psalm 8, we see that we’re given responsibility for “our own little world” (to quote Bob Ross), starting with ourselves but then stretching out in all directions around us — our families, our friends and co-workers, our communities, our nation and beyond. Prayer is us holding our part of the world up before God and asking God for healing, justice, mercy, peace . . . whatever the need. Our prayers are part of that partnership we have with God.
Prayer is a challenge for a lot of people, so if you find it difficult, don’t feel like you’re alone. Part of the challenge is the sort of prayers modeled before us. Listening to prayers in church as I was growing up, it was almost as if the pray-er was given a miraculous gift of a King James version prayer language, praying with thees and thous and forthwiths, calling on God to bring about obscure doctrines I still don’t understand.
I remember hearing more than one preacher (and not just preachers) obliquely praying at someone without specifically calling them by name (which, of course, became a game of “Who’s Roscoe praying about this time?”).
Sometimes, our prayers can be self-serving and self-centered (“Bless me and mine”). In my own life, I’ve found myself bargaining with God and even trying to tell God what to do (as if my plans were higher than God’s plans and my ways were higher than God’s ways).
So how do we pray?
Last week I wrote about the simple “magical” words we learn as children: I love you, I’m sorry, please, and thank you. If you struggle with prayer, start by using this basic, simple vocabulary. It’s a perfect outline for prayer! Not impressive, but simple. Not magical, but certainly powerful!
Another simple method is to model your prayer on the short prayers we use in our services. They’re called “collects.” Each Sunday has at least two collects, short prayers that “collect” our thoughts around a particular theme. Pronounced KAHL-ekt, a “collect” is a rarely used noun-form of the verb “collect” that begins by addressing God with some attribute or aspect of his character, then laying before him a request related to that aspect of God’s character, and finally closing in the name of Jesus. Three phrases and you’re in and out.
For example, here’s the prayer for purity I pray at the beginning of every service, broken down in its 3 parts:
Attribute: “Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid . . .”
Request: “Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name . . .”
Closing: “through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Here’s the one for this Sunday:
Attribute: “O God, from whom all good proceeds. . .”
Request: “Grant that by your inspiration we may think those things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may do them. . .”
Closing: “through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”
If that still sounds too “churchy,” there’s nothing wrong with taking that same format and creating your own short prayer. For example:
Attribute: “Dear Father, who heals our bodies and souls. . .”
Request: “please take away this illness and the anxiety it is causing me. . .”
Closing: “In Jesus’ name. Amen.”
Three short phrases and you’re done! Not impressive, but simple. Not magical, but certainly powerful! A benefit of thinking about prayer this way is that it slows us down, allowing us to think about who God is and how God has promised to be with us. If you need inspiration for that, check out Exodus 34:6-7, Psalm 103 (and many others), as well as any of the great hymns of the church.
More on prayer next week!
Blessings,
Pastor Terry