One of the more difficult aspects of prayer for me use to be offering the Pastoral prayer in church on Sunday morning. Part of my concern was getting out the right words but most of my concern was the audacity of thinking I could pray on behalf of a room full of people. Each had their own joys, concerns and need for prayer. I could pray for the part of our lives we have in common but how could I ever offer a prayer that would cover the needs of everyone in the room?
I finally surrendered that way of thinking about the Patoral Prayer. I believe that time is OUR prayer time. When I pray in those moments I intentionally focus on two thing....the common concerns we share and what is on my heart. I then trust that as I pray, others are entering into their own prayers. If any are in the congregation listening to my pryaer that is fine but not my expectation. I hope more that people are engaged in their own prayer and that the community of faith is strengthened as we share a moment when we are not alone as we come before God.
Often in prayer I ramble on. While driving to work in the morning is a quiet comfortable time that works for me. Any time I suppose will work, but some feel more personal. Yet my thoughts ramble. I am comfortable with this. With different prayer thoughts popping in and out of my mind while my mind highlights some of them more then others.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is OK. I believe God knows me well enough. I believe He has followed my life long enough, knows what I am experiencing and where I am heading to sort those thoughts out and make sense of them. Even if I don't completely finish a thought pattern, i.e. "Lord I am so so grateful you watched over her when" …Oh I need to make a left turn. God can finish the statement, can identify who “her” is and knows the feelings for Him I am expressing. Don’t get me wrong. Many of my prayers have structure, but in any case I believe God is just happy to hear from me.
Am I alone? Learning to pray...I am intrigued as to what exactly that means....count me in.
A few years ago when my son Matt was in the hospital for some major surgery, Rick, you remember when we prayed as the nurses wheeled Matt away? You left and Sherry VanderVeen stopped in to stay with Connie and I for several hours. There was a time when I got up to get a drink of water and the whole room was thick. It truthfully was hard to walk. I could feel them. I could taste them. Prayers were coming in so fast that they absorbed right into my body and into my heart. I Knew God had saved up those prayers, collecting them from friends, from work and from our church family and sent them down all at once, just at the right time. Just at His time. I used to wonder what it meant to have a God moment. I will never forget that warm feeling and that, “Thank you for being there Lord” moment.
Through my prayers I have given thanks, but those who prayed for my son and our family, do they understand how much it meant?
Jeff Smolek
I agree Jeff, prayer is often for me more a matter of direction of my attention than the words I use. Even if I do not get to complete the sentence, what matters most is my heart and mind are seeking and experiencing God. And perhaps the fact others prayed for Matt and your family speaks to not only do they undertood how much the prayer meant, but how much you all mean to them. That is one of the ways the power of prayer binds us together.
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