Mark 11:24-25
I urge you to pray for absolutely everything, ranging from small to large. Include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you’ll get God’s everything.
And when you prepare to pray, remember that it’s not all asking. If you have anything against someone, forgive them — then your heavenly Father will be inclined to also wipe your slate clean.” (MSG)
We’re still here in Mark’s gospel but we’re not where we should be by following the lectionary. We‘re here because I’m following one of those odd proddings I get every now and then that say, “maybe you should preach on this this week.” I don’t know. Maybe someone out there needs to hear this. Maybe it’s me.
This usually comes about when two or three things pop into my attention as once, for no discernable reason. All on the same topic. Then, if I’m alert enough, I begin to wonder if the Holy Spirit is, in fact, trying to tell me something.
The first prod came a couple of days ago when I turned on my computer and went into facebook to locate something I had saved there and the first face I saw when it opened was that of our General Minister and President, Terri Hord Owens. She was doing her “Wednesday Prayer Live,” where she speaks briefly while prayer requests are coming in through the comments of viewers. After her speaking, she quickly but prayerfully skims through the requests so others can include them in their own prayers. What we end up with is a large group of folks from all over, mostly unknown to each other, who come together on facebook each week to pray for people they may or may not know personally (although I did see two names that are quite familiar to me in the comments as they scrolled by.)
Prod #2 – You may remember that a couple of years ago I did a summer sermon series based on the sayings scribbled on a large collection of Sticky Notes that were stuck all over my computer desk – thoughts and quotes that were there for me to think about, but also because I thought they might be worth being turned into sermons someday.
Well, I no longer have the sticky notes. Instead I have a large, messy “saved” file in facebook where I tuck things that merit later reflection and may or may not one day reach you all. This file was where I was going when I got distracted by Terri’s prayer time.
I forgot to mention that this “saved” file has several sub-categories, and sometimes it takes me a while to find what I’ve so carefully saved – so I opened a couple of sub-files and the first words I saw were:
Oh, look! We’re talking about praying again. Now I’m certain someone is trying to nudge my thinking. Never mind that I already have a sermon half written about Jesus healing Simon Peter’s mother – apparently we’re talking about praying this week instead.
The snippet I just read was written by columnist-author Sean Dietrich and is part of a longer short story he’s written. It goes on from here:
He then goes on to give a Master Class in praying (because, of course he goes on regardless of what he said about not asking anything more) all the while insisting he doesn’t know anything much about praying. He rambles through pages of prayers for just about everything that crosses his mind – pleas for help and lots of ‘thank you’s’ for whatever makes his life happy. Some of it’s funny, some sad, but most of it is beautiful.
There are a lot of ways to pray, including a lot of traditional prayers out there. Prayers prayed for centuries, with beautifully crafted phrases hitting all the right notes. And then there are prayers like this one, when we care so much we can hardly manage coherent sentences and we end up simply blurting out what we are feeling about whatever the need is.
The wonderful thing is that God hears them all. God even knows them before we manage to make a sound – because God knows our hearts, knows our needs. We’re the ones who need help putting our thoughts together.
Whether it’s garbled pleas for a child we saw once in a store, when our hearts broke a little at that child’s needs, or it’s prayers on a computer, tossed into the cyber-world of total strangers who add your prayer to their own long lists and pray together with you, and for you, or it’s those beautifully crafted words – words repeated over and over for centuries – given for us for the times we can find no words at all. We find ways to pray.
We talk to God. We pray with others and we pray alone. We lay our fears, our griefs, our joys and our needs at God’s feet, trusting that somehow, something will shift. (And don't ever let anyone tell you that you are somehow annoying God with your constant prayers. God loves us and therefore, it makes sense to me that God enjoys hearing from us.) If we can’t find the words, I have long maintained that “Help!” is a perfectly acceptable prayer, as is “Thank you.”
We all need to pray, whether it’s those of us who randomly chat with God all day like an old friend, or those who, when driven to it by need throw out desperate cries to someone, some-thing they’re not sure they even believe in.
It doesn’t matter how we pray, just that we do pray – that we stay in touch with God. We don’t have to do it like everyone else does it. We can’t do it just like anyone else. We don’t have to fold our hands just so or use certain words, or even quote scripture. We have to open our hearts and recognize our own failings, and lift up each other – whether strangers or old friends, and be grateful for the blessing we receive – and talk to God about life and how it’s going and where we need some help.
And childish as it may sound, it helps to remember to say Please, and Thank you – and do it often. It's good for our hearts and souls.
And if you’re that person who needed to hear this today, the one I was set on this subject for, I hope it helped. You’re welcome. I’ll be praying for you.
And I hope you’ll pray for me, as well.
Thank you.
This usually comes about when two or three things pop into my attention as once, for no discernable reason. All on the same topic. Then, if I’m alert enough, I begin to wonder if the Holy Spirit is, in fact, trying to tell me something.
The first prod came a couple of days ago when I turned on my computer and went into facebook to locate something I had saved there and the first face I saw when it opened was that of our General Minister and President, Terri Hord Owens. She was doing her “Wednesday Prayer Live,” where she speaks briefly while prayer requests are coming in through the comments of viewers. After her speaking, she quickly but prayerfully skims through the requests so others can include them in their own prayers. What we end up with is a large group of folks from all over, mostly unknown to each other, who come together on facebook each week to pray for people they may or may not know personally (although I did see two names that are quite familiar to me in the comments as they scrolled by.)
Prod #2 – You may remember that a couple of years ago I did a summer sermon series based on the sayings scribbled on a large collection of Sticky Notes that were stuck all over my computer desk – thoughts and quotes that were there for me to think about, but also because I thought they might be worth being turned into sermons someday.
Well, I no longer have the sticky notes. Instead I have a large, messy “saved” file in facebook where I tuck things that merit later reflection and may or may not one day reach you all. This file was where I was going when I got distracted by Terri’s prayer time.
I forgot to mention that this “saved” file has several sub-categories, and sometimes it takes me a while to find what I’ve so carefully saved – so I opened a couple of sub-files and the first words I saw were:
- “Dear God,
- It’s been awhile since we last talked. And I know you’re busy. But I have something I’d like to ask, if you have a second...
Oh, look! We’re talking about praying again. Now I’m certain someone is trying to nudge my thinking. Never mind that I already have a sermon half written about Jesus healing Simon Peter’s mother – apparently we’re talking about praying this week instead.
The snippet I just read was written by columnist-author Sean Dietrich and is part of a longer short story he’s written. It goes on from here:
- Please—and I really mean this—let the kid I saw in Walmart play baseball this year. You know the kid I’m talking about. He was wearing a surgical mask. He is small and bony. He’s not well.
- Listen, I know there are droughts, famines, wars ... But that boy wants to play ball, God. ..... Please. Just do some magic. Make his body work again. I won’t ask anything more...
He then goes on to give a Master Class in praying (because, of course he goes on regardless of what he said about not asking anything more) all the while insisting he doesn’t know anything much about praying. He rambles through pages of prayers for just about everything that crosses his mind – pleas for help and lots of ‘thank you’s’ for whatever makes his life happy. Some of it’s funny, some sad, but most of it is beautiful.
There are a lot of ways to pray, including a lot of traditional prayers out there. Prayers prayed for centuries, with beautifully crafted phrases hitting all the right notes. And then there are prayers like this one, when we care so much we can hardly manage coherent sentences and we end up simply blurting out what we are feeling about whatever the need is.
The wonderful thing is that God hears them all. God even knows them before we manage to make a sound – because God knows our hearts, knows our needs. We’re the ones who need help putting our thoughts together.
Whether it’s garbled pleas for a child we saw once in a store, when our hearts broke a little at that child’s needs, or it’s prayers on a computer, tossed into the cyber-world of total strangers who add your prayer to their own long lists and pray together with you, and for you, or it’s those beautifully crafted words – words repeated over and over for centuries – given for us for the times we can find no words at all. We find ways to pray.
We talk to God. We pray with others and we pray alone. We lay our fears, our griefs, our joys and our needs at God’s feet, trusting that somehow, something will shift. (And don't ever let anyone tell you that you are somehow annoying God with your constant prayers. God loves us and therefore, it makes sense to me that God enjoys hearing from us.) If we can’t find the words, I have long maintained that “Help!” is a perfectly acceptable prayer, as is “Thank you.”
We all need to pray, whether it’s those of us who randomly chat with God all day like an old friend, or those who, when driven to it by need throw out desperate cries to someone, some-thing they’re not sure they even believe in.
It doesn’t matter how we pray, just that we do pray – that we stay in touch with God. We don’t have to do it like everyone else does it. We can’t do it just like anyone else. We don’t have to fold our hands just so or use certain words, or even quote scripture. We have to open our hearts and recognize our own failings, and lift up each other – whether strangers or old friends, and be grateful for the blessing we receive – and talk to God about life and how it’s going and where we need some help.
And childish as it may sound, it helps to remember to say Please, and Thank you – and do it often. It's good for our hearts and souls.
And if you’re that person who needed to hear this today, the one I was set on this subject for, I hope it helped. You’re welcome. I’ll be praying for you.
And I hope you’ll pray for me, as well.
Thank you.
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