There’s an old story about a young man who asks the Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Tsanz, a pious man who lived in the early 19th century, what he did before he prayed. The Rabbi responded he prayed that he would be able to pray properly. One writer has commented that preparing for prayer is like stretching before exercising.
So much of our prayer in church is repeating the words in a bulletin or prayer book, but before we begin repeating words that are familiar to us, it’s important to consider how we approach the words we say. It’s probably most important when we say the version of the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew. It’s too easy to skim over the words we say each week.
Luke’s version is shorter and more stark. When we say the words, “Your kingdom come,” for instance, do we wonder what that really means for us today? Even Matthew’s version is challenging: “on earth as it is in heaven.” Prayer before prayer may bring us to a new place we never expected.
Prayer for the Day
At times we do not know how to approach you, O Holy One,
For you seem so far off and distant from the busyness of our lives;
We search for quite times to engage with you, wanting a response,
To our concerns and desires for our lives here and now.
Pull us into your center, O God, so we feel your Presence,
So essential to being your disciples in the world.
In the name of the One who teaches us how to pray,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.
- Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)
Prayer is not about saying, 'Oh, I think I'm going to pray now.' Or, 'Oh, I see I've made a notation here to pray at 2:15.' It's about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience here..
- Anne Lamott, American writer
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
Psalm 51: 10-11