Prayer

Every once in a while I read a prayer that reminds me that many of the prayers I pray are anemic. It is easy to get into a rhythm of prayer in which familiar words and phrases can flow mindlessly from our lips.

In the fourth century St. Ephrem wrote a prayer that to this day is prayed in the Eastern Orthodox Church nightly Monday through Friday in Lent.

It is simple, yet profound.

O Lord and Master of my life!

Take from me the spirit of sloth, faint-heartedness, lust of power and idle talk.

But give me rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love to my servant.

Yea, O Lord and King!

Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother, for thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen.

I love this prayer.

Robert E. Webber, in Ancient-Future Time: Forming Spirituality Through the Christian Year says, "sloth is a laziness that prevents us from choosing a spiritual pilgrimage." He goes on to say that "faint-heartedness is a despondency, a negative and pessimistic attitude toward life."

The remedy for sloth and faintheartedness is chastity. This word is often used to think about issues of sexuality and sexual purity. However, there is a much deeper meaning. One that St. Ephrem would have understood. Chastity means re-establishing true values in every area of our life, and then living by them.

I love the last part of the prayer....

Grant me to see my own errors and not to judge my brother...

This frees me from the tendency to be a "fruit inspector" when I should be seeking "the fruit."

Distractions

I am easily distracted and I am not alone.

Sitting in church, sometimes my mind wanders off like a lost sheep hiding from the shepherd.

Waiting in line at the store, sometimes my mind meanders around like a spinning top on a marble table.

Listening to people talk, sometimes my mind skips around like a small child bouncing on a trampoline.

Distractions....they are everywhere. Life seems to be a blur of events, sounds, voices and demands. For a person who is easily distracted, these are difficult days. Our senses are stimulated by a variety of situations, and we are being bombarded at every turn.

I am not alone.

It is easy to always think of distractions as negative forces impinging on our psyche, but there may be distractions that are "holy" in their content and character and are formative to our development as "Christ-followers."

These positive distractions have a way of reminding us that He is at work through all situations.

Distractions may easily divert our attention away from the task at hand. They have a way of re-orienting our concentration away from primary tasks and causing us to have our energies given to things of lesser importance.

The writer of the book of Proverbs said..."....keep your eyes straight ahead; ignore all sideshow distractions. Watch your step, and the road will stretch out smooth before you. Look neither right nor left; leave evil in the dust." Proverbs 4:23

Sideshow distractions....hmmmm. Have you had any recently?

"I want you to live as free of complications as possible....All I want is for you to be able to develop a way of life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master without a lot of distractions." I Corinthians 7:32

A lot of distractions...sound familiar? Barbara Ehrenreich, a social critic says it this way, "America is addicted to wars of distraction."

The only remedy to distractions may be to develop a life in which you can spend plenty of time together with the Master.

He is greater than the distractions that I face, and for this I am grateful.

What do you think?

Actions

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was executed for his opposition to the Nazi party wrote these powerful words from a concentration camp.

He said...."Nothing that we despise in the other man is entirely absent from ourselves. We must learn to regard people less in the light of what they do or omit to do, and more in the light of what they suffer. The only profitable relationship to others -- and especially to our weaker brethren -- is one of love, and that means the will to hold fellowship with them. God himself did not despise humanity, but became man for men's sake." Letters and Papers from Prison

In solitude, he wrote about the people that kept watch over him. Even those who treated him with contempt and hatred.

I first read Bonhoeffer in college and then again several years later. His writings are profoundly simply. Provocatively bland. Straightforward, able to pierce callous hearts and minds.

Let me suggest a couple of guidelines that bombard my mind...

God is calling me to treat everyone the same as He treats me.

God is calling me to respond to everyone with the same measure of grace that He applied in my life.

God is calling me to step into people's stories in the same way He stepped into mine.

I must admit, life is a lot simpler, cleaner and easier if I live life by my rules.

But it is a lot more interesting if I choose to live by his Story.

What story is unfolding in your life?

Decks

It has been a long day.

I heard a lot of stories today....everything from the ridiculous to the sublime.

I sat with people who are struggling to make ends meet. I talked with people who are experiencing great slices of life. And I listened to stories of transformation.

Now I am sitting on the deck in my back yard. Did I mention that, "it has been a long day?"

It feels good to be serenaded by birds, interrupted by the sounds of crickets and warmed by the sun.

It made me think.

How often am I quiet enough to hear silence?

Silence is often shunned by people who live busy lives. Noise is welcomed as an anesthetic against the deafening silence.

At the end of a busy day...a day full of stories....I welcome silence.

Silence on the deck....a reprieve from the busy-ness of the day.

Decks are the 21st century expression of the front porch. In an effort to have privacy people moved the gathering place from the front of the house to the back of the house. Thus decks came into existence.

Here I sit on the back deck. Resting...reflecting...recalling a day spent tracing the rhythms of His Story in the lives of His people.

It was a great day... a busy one, but a great one.

In the book of Nehemiah the Levites, in a busy time, calmed all the people, saying, "Be still, for this is a sacred day." 8:11.

Was your day "sacred?"

Consumerism

In my reading this week, I ran across an arresting statement.

"We have all the riches, all the wealth, but do we have human warmth? Just below our mesmerizing surface lies a psychic mix of anxiety, guilt and depression so heavy that it can no longer be relieved by another purchase."

It caused me to wonder how often we anesthetize ourselves by making another purchase. It makes me wonder if we pursue things instead of pursuing the One who makes all things.

If I understand it correctly, in a few weeks we will receive a payment that is part of the "economic stimulus plan" from the US government. What will we do with it? What will I do with it?

Make another purchase?

Move it into circulation for His Kingdom's sake?

Hide it under a bushel?

I am not sure...

Recently an organization created a simple commercial calling attention to our need to curb our consumption at all levels.

It was a power-point kind of commercial. Simple.

Three frames fading from one to another in a slow dissolve.

The first frame had the words....Feeling Empty?

The second frame had the words...Don't Worry

The last frame slowly emerged from the black screen with the words...Consumption will fill the void...

All of the major networks rejected the commercial.

Why?

I have a suspicion. What do you think?

Technoslave

Sitting in Borders just before lunch, I reached for the most recent edition of Adbusters. This is a journal that always has provocative words, pictures and thoughts. I first started reading Adbusters several years ago and have found it to be a scintillating window through which you can get a view of global postmodern thought.

I have never met Eric Slate.

He tells an interesting story that captured my attention. He says, "Once while I was riding on a crowded bus, the man sitting next to me threw his cell phone out the window. When his phone rang, instead of dutifully answering it, he casually tossed it away. I was stunned."

Slate goes on to describe the event...."He looked at me, shrugged and looked away. I had no idea if it was his, if it was stolen or even if he knew what a cell phone was. But in one seemingly careless motion, he managed to liberate himself from something that has completely consumed me."

Recently I watched the episode of Seinfeld in which Elaine is in a limo and the person she is with throws her electronic daily planner out the window. It causes her to panic when she realizes that without it she is lost.

I don't have the courage to throw my cell phone out the window, although there have been times when I have been tempted.

Technology which is suppose to simplify our lives has made it more complex.

I read today that "technology dependence" is now classified as a major health problem. The author says it is in "the same category as alcoholism, gambling and drug addiction."

Say what?

It may very well be that the more connected we are the more distant we have become.

Celente put it this way, "human beings are being trapped in a high-tech cycle that is freezing their minds away from living in the moment, looking at life and taking in what's around them."

Hey...I gotta run, I am getting a text message.

Prayer

Prayer is a mysterious thing.

Donald Miller, the author of Blue Like Jazz, says, "I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. That is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God." p.13

He goes on to say, "there are places in our lives that only God can go."

I have a prayer that I pray that allows me to invite God to those places. It is by Trudy Archambeau, an unknown pray-er, who authentically longed for God.

God of second chances and new beginnings
I am always amazed
that you choose to use me for
your kingdom purposes.
You use me as I am;
imperfect,
flawed,
ordinary,
tending sometimes not to do my best
prone to error
and very inclined to trip and fall.

Always your grace
is greater than my mistakes and stumblings.
Thank you, O God,
for using me in spite of myself!

Unfailing God,
remind me often that,
in your sight,
failure is never final.
By your grace,
enable me to deal with
my own failures constructively
and with the failures of others patiently.

Let it be so.
Amen.

This prayer has helped me move from history to mystery in my prayer life.

Prayer is a mysterious thing.

What do you think?