Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, NC

Lent is a time to be more attentive to our discipline of prayer. I am speaking here, not only of our common liturgical prayer, but also of our personal prayer. Using the Prayer Book (esp. "Daily Devotions for Individuals and Families," p.136), or "Forward Day by Day" (available here where sermons are distributed), or scripture or simply quiet time for prayer in our own words, we are regularly to make time for God. What theological principles underlie our prayer?

God initiates; we respond. God initiated the world out of love, not in response. God creates us, forgives and redeems us, calls us, before we are even aware of needing that initiative. "We love because he first loved us" (I John 4:19). While we think we have to get God's attention, God is always out ahead of us, inviting us closer. Even our desire to pray is a sign of God's grace. We need to respond to that God-given desire.
Prayer is relationship. Prayer is not simply an action, anymore than a hug or a kiss is just an action. At their most genuine, these signs of affection flow from the relationship. So too does prayer express and nurture our relationship with God. Prayer then is not so much doing as being. It is not saying the right things ("Lord, Lord..."), but keeping our hearts open to God. Prayer is being ourselves with God.
Prayer is not equal relationship. Our egos do not want this to be true. We want to "carry our weight," to deserve God's love. But that is denial - denial of Good News! We are not what God is - awesome and holy, forgiving and loving, dynamic and eternal. We do not have to be! We can let God be all those things and let God love us, as imperfect as we are. When we really grasp who God is, we see ourselves in contrast and realize how undeserving of God's love we are. I do not mean in a self-hating way. We are "fearfully and wonderfully" made in God's image. We are each a gift of God to ourselves and to others. But when we realize with the Psalmist, "Who is man that Thou art mindful of him?", we are ready to receive God's love and hear God's forgiveness and proclaim that love to others.
God forgives and loves and sends. God never rejects us for acknowledging who we are. "A humble and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." God always loves and forgives; we are not taking a chance that we might be the first to get refused! Nor will God simply "keep us for himself" but send us to others. Scripture equates loving God with loving others. "As long as you did it to one of the least of these..." Prayer will always send us back to others. It will strengthen us to respond to God by loving those whom God gives us.
Prayer will change us. The old saying is that God loves us exactly where we are but too much to leave us there. Our changing, however, is not a condition of God's love, but the result. Any love transforms the other, and God's love does so even more. We resist that change, fearing it will diminish us. But God always calls us to the more, to the abundant life. That path involves death, but never for its own sake. God always calls us to the life beyond whatever deaths we face.

This Lent take some time, even ten minutes each day, to be with God. Whether or not you have joined one of the contemplative prayer groups, be present and let the transcendent God be present with you. Listen for God's love, a love which will slowly transform you and call forth your love for others.

- Stephen

Send items for inclusion in future "Cross Roads."
The deadline is the first Thursday of the preceeding month.