prayer cuisine

Each morning when we wake up Winnie and I say a prayer together from the family devotions in the Book of Common Prayer. We’ve done this for over a year now so it’s well-memorized. Of course, there are the occasional brain glitches that result in stumbling over a word or phrase, but generally it pretty much trips off the tongue. It’s a good way to start off the day since it’s a better prayer than I could come up with at 6:30 in the morning, especially if I’ve had to comfort a crying kid at 2 am the night before. In fact, that particular prayer has been a source of comfort and strength for me at other times of the day, and it's rich enough to be an almost inexhaustible fountain for meditation.

Prayer can be as simple as “help!” or “thanks”. If I’m asked to pray aloud without prior preparation, I usually put together a combination of riffs based on prayers I’ve heard before. This isn’t to say that a prayer composed on the spot isn’t sincere. It’s just that composing a well thought-out, meaningful prayer isn’t easy.

So I’ve come to value prayers that have had a lot of thought put into them by people who are masters of Christian spirituality and of the English language. The question is, how do I pray them? In the world of prayer cuisine, “help!” is fast food and a prayer from the Book of Common Prayer is haute cuisine (and I suppose an extemporaneous prayer is leftovers). Unfortunately, it’s easy for me to gulp down a rote prayer as if it were fast food. But if I really want to get the most out of it, a previously written prayer is meant to be savored, chewed slowly so that my soul can access its full flavor and nourishment.

thoughts on faith

Today I heard someone say, “The longer we have something, the less we think we need to trust God for it.” That goes for everything: money, intelligence, health, safety, whatever. With the economy going downhill fast and many losing jobs, homes, and savings, our trust in ourselves is being severely shaken. But maybe that’s a good thing: it’s time to start trusting God again.

This is the third week of Advent. Advent is about preparation, a time of increasing our awareness of how much we need God. This morning I read a prayer from an Advent prayer calendar: “Mary put all of her trust in God without having to know why. Help us Lord to trust even when we don’t have any idea of how things will work out.” Mary reminds me that I tend to put things in the wrong order: I think “I’ll wait to do more of what God says when I’m more settled” when the best time to “practice my faith” is exactly when things are unsettled. I'm supposed to be waiting for God, not waiting to get my life in order.

I had a great conversation with the leader of my men’s group last night about stretching my faith, about doing things that I may think I don’t have enough time or money or ability to do and then trusting that God will show up. Things like tithing (giving an actual tenth of my pre-tax income) or taking time out of my busy schedule to help out at a homeless shelter or going out on a limb and volunteering to teach Sunday School or lead a growth group. He challenged me to exercise more faith.

That last thought might surprise you: “A pastor needs to learn about exercising faith?” A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with the pastor of a new church plant about the difference between leading and controlling. Maybe the difference is faith: who do I think is in charge, me or God?

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6.