I find myself on jury duty for the next two weeks or more, which makes it harder to complete my usual tasks. Instead of preparing a Beacon Lite item this week, I'm including, with permission a revised version of the opening devotion Elder Harold Kolenbrander offered during our September session meeting.
Grace and Peace,
LP
Why Do We Pray?
"This is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, Thy name be hallowed; Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us the wrong we have done, as we have forgiven those who have wronged us. And do not bring us to the test, but save us from the evil one." -Matthew 6:9-13 (NEB)
I did not begin with the reading of the Lord's Prayer because I plan to try to provide an exegesis of the prayer. I lack competence to do that. I began with the prayer because I hope each of us will reflect on how the prayer and my remarks about prayer intersect for each of us. Or, perhaps, for you they will not.
A week ago in our Beacon Lite, LP had some thought provoking comments about prayer. I hope we all had the opportunity to read the piece. He suggested that God is about relationships, a concept that is a regular part of LP's sermons. He went on to suggest that prayer is about relationships and helping us establish more meaningful ones, and that the power of these relationships becomes the basis for the salutary effects of prayer that some attribute to direct divine intervention.
I do not know about you, but my journey in the world of prayer began with bedtime prayers said on my knees invoking God's presence with me through the night and his taking my soul to be with him should I die before I waked.
Moreover, prayer was a regular part of each meal at my boyhood home, both before and after each meal. With very few exceptions, we ate each meal as a family. Prayer in those situations was offered to thank God for the food we had and to invoke God's blessing on family and friends and God's assistance in healing the sick, etc. Prayer was offered to thank God and to ask God for his continuing blessings, fully believing that God intervened directly in the affairs of all humans including dispensing or withholding favors depending on the fervent, honest supplication offered in the prayer.
I am certain that my parents moved to the church triumphant with full belief in the accuracy of those perceptions of God and the purpose of prayer. I do not want in any way to make light of or to denigrate the faith that they had in prayer. But it is no longer mine. That is not because my concept of God has moved to believing that God is not omnipotent, but rather that God chooses to give us the freedom, the capacity, indeed the responsibility to use the minds he has given us and the ability he has given us to love and help each other to do what we might pray for him to do for us. In my mind this does not diminish God. Rather, it places, appropriately, on us the responsibility to use our God-given abilities to do what needs to be done - whether that is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those who are in prison, or any of the other myriad responsibilities that we have to each other as we truly seek to live in community - in relationship - with each other.
As LP noted in his comments, my goal is not to convince you that my concept is correct, but rather to share with you a bit of why I am where I am and to encourage each of us to explore more deeply how prayer can strengthen our relationships and the effectiveness of our work together.
Will you join me in prayer?
Triune God, we ask your blessing on this Session as we seek to discern your will for each of us and for MWPC. Help us to understand and truly appreciate the opportunity you have given each of us to fully realize the gift, indeed the joy, that comes from serving others through our relationships with all the other wonderful people with whom we share this world. Bless our deliberations this evening, that they may all be done seeking to further your love for your world. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Harold M. Kolenbrander
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