This is not an aspiration. It is not something that you reach for and hope you achieve, not one of those cross-your-fingers-and-hope-it-works-out kind of things.
A View from the Pew: Our Prayer Requests Speak Volumes
October 25, 2022 by
From my childhood to today, the churches to which I have belonged have all engaged in the ritual of voicing prayer concerns. This occurred most frequently and meaningfully on Wednesday nights in what we called “prayer meetings.”
Crossroads: Prayer
August 1, 2022 by
When I was ten, my father asked me where I wanted to go on vacation for my 13th birthday. Turning 13 was a big deal, and so I got to pick our vacation spot. So I thought of the craziest place I could think of, sure that we wouldn’t get to go.
The Sound of Silence
April 6, 2022 by
Silence. We experience it so infrequently, most of us wouldn’t even recognize it. We wake to loud alarms, the drip of brewing coffee, running water as we prepare for our day.
Get Together
June 9, 2021 by
We check boxes to ensure that persons are just right for us, a good fit for our company, to ensure that they are who they claim to be. It’s a tight squeeze—most of who we are doesn’t make it in.
Praying About the Things You Don’t Want to Talk About
May 5, 2021 by
Prayer should never be an awkward conversation. No topic off limits. No taboos and no time limits. It shouldn’t require that I quote scripture to be heard or acknowledged.
Not Another Word
April 7, 2021 by
Suffering in secret, it’s not what Jesus did—not that he had a choice in the matter, but it’s what his followers do religiously. Many of us believe talking about pain and subsequent grief somehow takes away from God’s glory.
Good Talking to You
March 3, 2021 by
My prayer life has had its ups and downs, its verbal love feasts, its spats and silent treatments. But this is the nature of prayer, a catch-all for everything said and unsaid.
What Am I Saying?
December 9, 2020 by
There is no formula for prayer. There is no right or wrong way to talk to God. Sure, address God with reverence even when yelling at the Divine. “My God!”
Just Keep Talking
November 3, 2020 by
What were we talking about? My sentences are running together like my days. I lose my train of thought midway, derailed by one thing or another that was going the other way.
Who Am I Talking To?
September 9, 2020 by
We are now six months into a global pandemic due to COVID-19. I won’t venture to mention the death toll. It will be higher by the time you read this. Someone is on their deathbed now, taking their last breath.
How Do We Pray from Here?
August 12, 2020 by
Nearly 160,000 people have died in America due to COVID-19. So many names. Too many to name or write down on my prayer list.
Blah, Blah, Blah
July 14, 2020 by
How do you pray when life looks like gibberish, when so many words are running together—pandemic, police brutality, protest, Confederate monuments, masks—and you can’t make sense of any of it?
Praying with My Feet
June 3, 2020 by
On Memorial Day, George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American resident, was arrested by Minneapolis police for allegedly attempting to use a fake $20 bill at Cup Foods, a local store.
Connections 05.24.2020: Let Us Pray
May 17, 2020 by
Jesus’ followers had watched him ascend to heaven. Before he ascended, he told them to wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. As they gathered to wait, they “were constantly devoting themselves to prayer…” (v. 14a).
Prayer and Hand Sanitizer Go Together: Praying During a Pandemic
April 21, 2020 by
Rub your hands together with me. I don’t doubt the power of prayer or hand sanitizer. I use both and my health is better for it.
Assume the Position
February 5, 2020 by
Put your hands down. You are not under arrest. I am not a police officer and have no training in law enforcement. Perhaps, this wasn’t the best title but it does make my point: prayer is not a position.
Your Kingdom Come
December 11, 2019 by
Founder of the Advent Project, William H. Peterson, wrote, “While there is scant hope of changing the culture around us, the Church need not be a fellow traveler.
Connections 11.24.2019: Prayerful Hopes
November 17, 2019 by
Since my daughters were very small, I have written them several letters per year in special journals that I bought for them. The earliest entries detail their milestones (“You crawled toward the remote control today” or “You slept in your big-girl bed all night without waking us up”).
Praying Room
November 6, 2019 by
Excuse me. I am going to need some wiggle room, a place to twist and turn, space to squirm under the hands of life’s circumstances. It is a tight squeeze.
Flame: Praying for Sad Situations
October 30, 2019 by
Children can really identify with a sense of sadness, and, as a fact of life, sad things happen. They occur in our lives, in the lives of people we know, and in the world as a whole. Here is a prayer station to help children (especially younger ones) pray that God will bring joy and happiness to those experiencing times of sadness.
Prayer is the Conversation of a Lifetime
October 8, 2019 by
Prayer is a fact of life. Like birth and death, puberty, pimples, and periods, marriage and those mid-life crises, there is prayer. If we are to make it through these moments, then we will need to pray.
Take a Step Back
September 10, 2019 by
Prayer is not a question and answer session, an exchange of whys for how this is all going to work out. Prayer is not God’s tell-all. It is not the time to corner God in our prayer closet and demand an explanation.
Say What?
August 7, 2019 by
When God knows it all and none of it makes sense to you, what do you pray? How do you respond when the posture of prayer doesn’t feel right?
What to Say When You Don’t Want to Open Your Mouth
July 9, 2019 by
At one time or another, I’ve said all of these things or some naïve but well-meaning version of them to family members and friends, church members and complete strangers. Forgive me.
May I Have Your Attention, Please?
June 5, 2019 by
The late poet Mary Oliver in an essay titled Upstream wrote, “Attention is the beginning of devotion.” She’s right. It begins, not on Sunday mornings, but before we get out of bed each day.
A View from the Pew: What to Say When You Pray in Front of People
May 15, 2019 by
Each week at my church we have a “deacon of the week” whose most visible responsibility is to say a prayer before the offering is collected.
Pray Tell
May 14, 2019 by
American philosopher William James said of prayer, “Many reasons have been given why we should not pray, whilst others are given why we should. But in all this very little is said of the reason why we do pray.
The Praying Type
April 10, 2019 by
“I’m not the praying type.” This is what it boils down to when I ask some people about talking to God. These persons talk about prayer as if it is not for them.
Pray Like God Is Listening
March 13, 2019 by
“I don’t know what to say or where to begin.” This is a frequent response when I ask persons about their prayer life. This seems to settle the matter for them. They figure, “I can’t pray so I won’t.”
A Silent Treatment
December 12, 2018 by
This post is not a call to punish anyone, to withhold communication for the purpose of driving home the message. No one messed up. No one needs to come to their senses and apologize. I am not asking you to take my side and refuse to speak to him or her. I won’t ask you to swear to a code of silence.
Pray or Stay the Same
November 13, 2018 by
Prayer and change go together. At least that’s what we tell ourselves. We say, “Prayer changes things.” First line of defense or last resort, we believe that prayer is the answer. Expecting a heavenly thumbs up or when our back is up against the wall, we bow our heads, put our hands together, or close our eyes and pray.
Undivided Attention
October 9, 2018 by
Now, what was I saying? My attention span is not very long these days. I say these days because I don’t remember which day it was that I began to forget when I stopped being able to catch up, to keep up with one day after another. Like these sentences, they all run together.
Our Prayer Language
September 5, 2018 by
We trust God. Of course, we do. We fold our hands and we don’t ever try to raise them to interject our point of view. “Listen God, I’ve been thinking and….” We dare not say a prayer and then intercept. No, God is in control.
Praying with One Eye Open
August 14, 2018 by
These days, I am traveling on “a wing and prayer.” While the familiar adage speaks to poor travel conditions, it is all that I could find. The other options don’t fit in the overhead compartment and, of course, would be an additional fee.
Welcome Home
June 13, 2018 by
Last week, I was studying at the Center for Reconciliation at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina as part of their Summer Institute for Reconciliation. It’s their tenth anniversary and I am certainly benefiting from the depth and breadth of the work of past facilitators, liturgists, musicians, and participants.
Pray at All Hours
January 9, 2018 by
While we have come to expect a twenty-four-hour news cycle and, if we could, we’d stare at our social media feeds for just as long, the idea that God speaks at times and days other than at 11 a.m. on Sunday mornings continues to be a stretch for many people.
Prayer is Not Seasonal
December 6, 2017 by
Commercials tell us that it is time for families to gather around the Christmas tree and the television. Jingle the bells. Add snow to the background. Cue smiling families, dressed alternately in red and green, making snowmen and snowballs. “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”
Feeling Prayer
November 8, 2017 by
At the start, let me say what this meditation is not about. It is not about expressive versus non-expressive prayer, verbalizing versus praying silently. I am not attempting to make you feel “warm and fuzzy” on the inside or judge persons who don’t feel that way during prayer.
Praying Time
August 15, 2017 by
Though there are times for which it seems that prayer does not work, times when it seems like the power of God has hit a dry spell, we are encouraged to keep praying. But, if I am honest, sometimes it is hard to keep the conversation with God going.
Praying in a Non-praying World
July 11, 2017 by
Be “in the world but not of it” is often expressed to help believers understand their place in the world, how not to be affected by its trials or inspired by its temptations. It addresses the tension of being in one place but living for another, namely heaven.
Prayer is a Happy Place
February 8, 2017 by
“Let us pray” is not a call for sad eyes and frowning faces, shuffling feet or sweaty palms. Entering the presence of God with the thought, “How am I going to explain this?” is not the aim. Prayer should not be treated as merely a confessional for the wrongs we’ve done and filled with apologies for not being God’s “little angels.”
Say More
December 6, 2016 by
Why is it so hard for us to “have a little talk with Jesus”? Why can’t we find the words to say? No mouthful here. For some of us, it can be downright awkward. Where do we begin? How do we address God? What do we say to the God who knows our thoughts before we are even introduced to them (Psalm 139:2)?
Believing In Prayer
October 11, 2016 by
Do we really believe that God hears us when we pray? If so, then why do we say the same thing over and over again? “God is great. God is good. Let us thank God for our food. Amen.” Fourteen words. Sixty-six characters shy of the 140-character limit for a tweet.
Praying Hands
September 6, 2016 by
These days, prayer is often seen as insignificant. We place it on our programs as a kind gesture, a pleasantry extended out of respect for our Elder God. It is a routine remark given—though not out of necessity.
A Bowed Head
August 9, 2016 by
“Give us, this day, our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). It is a prayer answered when we sit at a table for a meal—unless we are on a diet and have given up carbohydrates.
Arm-wrestling Prayer
July 13, 2016 by
After more than ten years in ordained ministry, I have found that we do more talking about prayer than actually talking to God. To be sure, we know that we should pray….
A Prayer about Violence
July 12, 2016 by
O God,
Our society is so violent. Why are people so afraid? Why do they assume the worst of others and see them as threats?