And the people say, AMEN! – January 16
Today’s Readings: Psalm 20, 21:1-7(8-14); Isa. 43:1-13; Eph. 3:14-21; Mark 2:23-3:6
I recently read a reflection on the importance of telling our stories, reiterating a point that is not new news. Sharing stories foments deeper relationships, inviting us into someone else’s lived experience and reminding us of our own. I think about our parish’s shared experience of prayer that has shifted greatly in the last year. One year ago, parishioners emailed or called the church about a prayer request, or they told a member of the clergy at Wednesday night dinner, or on a Sunday morning during the passing of the Peace or after church. There were healing intercessors, parishioners in the transept waiting to pray with people during Eucharist. Pastoral care volunteers reached out to folks in need through cards, phone calls, and meals. Some of this is the same, and yet there is something that is fresh and new.
We witness prayer in action in a different way on Sunday mornings and during streamed weekday services. We watch our clergy and parish family praying for thanksgivings and concerns, births and deaths, hardship and unity – as church does. And now, requests are offered through typed requests in our livestream comments. We lift them up corporately in real-time. What has not changed is that we participate as a community – even when gathering via internet with names scrolling in the comments section – to praise God and grow in faith.
At its heart, prayer is a multi-level dialogue. It is a dialogue between the intercessor – the one speaking the prayer – and the respondents who say, “Lord, have mercy” or “Amen.” It is simultaneously a dialogue between the congregation’s lips and God’s ears. Alexander Schmemann says that “prayer is ‘sealed’ by the gathering with one of the key words of Christian worship, ‘amen’.” If the prayer is said solo by a priest or a lay person, it is still said on our behalf, and with the whole church in mind. Whether on our knees praying (as the apostle Paul alludes today), standing in the Nave of Saint Stephen’s, or sitting comfortably on the sofa, we all say amen.
How are we to pray? There are many who have offered instruction. In scripture, there are many avenues. We have the psalms, those 150 rollercoasters of joy and conflict. We have Jesus’ directive to the disciples in a model of how to pray to God (which we call The Lord’s Prayer) in Luke 11:
He said to them,
“When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.” (v. 2-4)
In Paul’s letter to the Christians at Ephesus, the apostle offers instructions to his audience, sharing how he prays for them. This excerpt from Ephesians 3 that we read today, Paul also offers a model for how they can pray for others. While his language is a little flowery, the nuts and bolts of how he prays for his friends are these:
1. Pray for their spiritual strength through the Holy Spirit;
2. Through faith, may Christ dwell in their hearts.
3. May they have a foundation made of God’s love;
4. See, feel, and know the love of Jesus;
5. Be satisfied fully in the greatness of God;
6. And, glorify God through the work of the church forever.
As we aspire to know, believe, and experience the “breadth and length and height and depth” of God’s love, we join in this prayer by saying together, “AMEN!”
-- Katherine+
Questions for Reflection
The apostle Paul says he kneels in prayer. What posture feels most prayerful to you? Do you pray differently at home than you do when you are in church?
Daily Challenge
Write (or say) a prayer for a friend, based on Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 3:16-21.