Prophets of a Future Not Our Own

The following prayer was shared with my by a professor a couple of weeks ago, Prophets of a Future Not Our Own, in memory of Oscar Romero (1917–1980).

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. 
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation
in realizing that. This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well. It may be incomplete,
but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference
between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
Amen.

Rungs of Fiery Prayer

Sometimes people will say, “I don’t know how to pray.” To which others try to encourage them by saying, “Just talk to God.” I find this advice less than helpful as I feel like a crazy. Not because I feel like I am talking to no one, but because if I can talk to God about anything, then what should I start with? Even improv comics have some raw material to work with. They could just “do anything” but it would be so scattered that it would not make sense, and it I would be hesitant to go see that comedy troupe again.

So yes, you can “just talk to God” in prayer, however if you are like me, and you need some raw material to work with, consider John Cassian’s different forms.

Cassian says the first form of prayer is confession of sin and petition for pardon. Often we when we pray we tend to say things we are thankful for. Thanksgiving is a great form of prayer, but do not overlook some of the more fundamental forms of prayer as well. Confession of sin and asking forgiveness is the practice of humility, and if we are not humble then our prayers are like a noisy gong.

Cassian suggests a form of prayer that seems overlooked in contemporary prayer - offering. This is the vow we make to God that completes the repentance we just made. It is stating in prayer what you are offering or vowing to God in response to the pardon and forgiveness given. I wonder how it might change us if we included an offering or vow to God in our prayers?

In his writings, Cassian says, “Third come pleas. We usually make them for others when we ourselves are deeply moved in spirit.” We offer them for those dear to us or when we beg for peace in the world…” These pleas are sometimes call prayers of intercession, but this form or prayer is common that Cassian does not spend a lot of time talking about it in his Conference on prayer.

“Forth are thanksgivings. Unspeakably moved by the memory of God’s past kindness…” Again this is a very common prayer form. It is so common that many times public prayers are a string of statements of thanksgiving. As Meister Eckhart said, “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, that would suffice.” While sufficient, prayer can be enriched with Cassian’s forms.

Cassian suggests that it takes all four prayer forms to encounter “fiery prayer”. Fiery prayer is when all four prayer types are simultaneously engaged. It is the gift of the Holy Spirit that one receives the gift of fiery prayer. It is also prayer that comes more easily to those rooted in purity of heart (what I call orthocardia).

Perhaps it is fiery prayer that Abba Joseph was speaking about when Abba Lot came to him and said, Father, according as I am able, I keep my little rule, and my little fast, my prayer, meditation and contemplative silence; and, according as I am able, I strive to cleanse my heart of thoughts: now what more should I do? Abba Joseph rose up in reply and stretched out his hands to heaven, and his fingers became like ten lamps of fire. He said: Why not become fire?

Praying the UMC is Broken Into

The UMC is facing a break up in the coming months. There is a Protocol of Reconciliation Through Separation which outlines a way the UMC might separate (break up). There are a number of groups and people who are hopeful this protocol might provide a way for us to split rather than splinter. It reads something like a “controlled break” a doctor might do to reset an previously broken arm that has healed incorrectly.

There are some who find the Protocol less than ideal and even unjust, I am not one of these persons. I am aware that anything generated will be unjust in someway(s). I am aware that the Protocol is not my desire, but it is the best option that is before us. I am aware that all the options we believe we have are all insufficient. I support this Protocol.

That being said, it is clear to me that in all the talk of the break up there is not much talk about being broken into.

Inward/Outward shared a line from Gordon Cosby

Prayer is learning the art of the connection… We believe, if we continue to be faithful, the time will come when our lives will be broken into by another order and we will be transformed and as transformed, will become transformers.

The Protocol is helpful to get us to break up, but it does more than that. We have arrived at that moment “when our lives will be broken into by another order”. May we learn the connection we have with one another and how it is we need one another, even in the break up.

My prayer is that the UMC will be broken into. Because if we just break up, we will never be broken like Christ who for the sake of the world broke into the world for the salvation of all.

So, let us pray.

God Cannot Become Present

Invocations have always puzzled me. I value prayer and I would hope that we all would “pray without ceasing” but invocations seem a bit off. Contributing to my unease with invocations is the idea that we give the impression that we “summon” God to the gathering. Maybe this is not what others feel is happening, but many invocations I have heard use phrases like, “we invite you into this place” and “be here, O God.” These prayers are not evil or “bad” they do however hold an implicit theology of where God is.

There is a story in the Bible where a prophet named Elijah is in a weird contest against different prophets of a different deity to rain down fire. These other prophets cut themselves and yell for a long time in order to “invoke” their god. After a while, Elijah jeers them and suggests… well just read how the Contemporary English Version tells it in 1 Kings 18:27:

At noon, Elijah began making fun of them. "Pray louder!" he said. "Baal must be a god. Maybe he's daydreaming or using the toilet or traveling somewhere. Or maybe he's asleep, and you have to wake him up.

This god never shows up. Elijah then prays that God would answer his request to light a fire and the fire is lit.

Elijah knew something that invocations fail to understand.

God cannot become present because God is never absent.

Examine our prayers and listen for the implicit theology. Is this person praying that God would “please, just be present”? Are we aware that God cannot become present - God is presence.