Andy Wade –
Creation sings, giving glory to God. It’s easy to imagine this while out hiking in majestic mountains or watching the explosion of color as the sun sets over the ocean. But it happens all around us, every day, every moment, if only we’re alert enough to notice. One way to hone our sense of wonder as we join with creation in praising our Creator is to discover this symphony of worship in our own backyard. The garden is my sanctuary and, in it, God beckons me to draw near. Here are my top five ways to listen, and then join, this ongoing celebration of God.
Lectio Tierra: I described lectio tierra in detail in a post at the end of last month. This is really a simple way to pray that works well in the garden, in the neighborhood, or surrounded by nature in a forest. In the garden I simply wander around asking what God would like to speak to me through. It could be the splashing of birds in the birdbath, a particular flower or vegetable, or a worm wriggling around in the moist soil. The point is to find that element in the garden that seems to catch your attention, observe, try to discern its story, discover the intersections of that story with your own, and sit with this common message from God shared with another of God’s creation.
Star Gazing and Scents: There’s something special about going out to the garden on a cloudless and moonless night. Because of the darkness where I live, the stars seem to pop out of the sky. I always feel so small and yet so awe-struck by wonder sitting under the this bejeweled canopy. But it’s not just the stars that compel my thoughts toward God. Scents from all around the garden flood my nostrils with a banquet of goodness. Head back, eyes fixed on the stars and various garden fragrances rising up around me I’m reminded of a passage from the Revelation to John: “The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand”. Indeed, the whole creation seems to join in my prayer, and that in itself fills me with wonder.
Praying Barefoot: If you don’t have bark dust all over your garden or prickly leaves like from a holly tree, this is a fun way to get out of a praying funk. Shed your shoes and socks and slowly walk through the garden. What do you feel? Sauntering through the soft, cool grass you might be reminded to pray for those who live in harsh climates and rarely experience this kind of comfort. A sudden poke by an unnoticed stick might prod you to recall an area of pain or brokenness in your life or a relationship that needs healing. Pray for wisdom and pray for avenues and opportunities to bring healing. What are the textures you feel as you wander through the garden? How do they relate to other areas of your life? Bring these things to God in prayer. If you want a more detailed example of this, check out my earlier post about praying barefoot in the neighborhood.
Releasing Fragrance with Touch: I love to meander the garden touching various plants as I go. Brushing up against the lavender, my senses are engulfed in a wonderful fragrance while running my hands through the hyssop yields a skunk-like odor. The Apostle Paul talks about our lives being an aroma to the world around us:
But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 2 Cor. 2:14-16
Bee on Hyssop
Personally I’d prefer to smell like lavender to the world rather than the skunky smell of hyssop. “Lord, make my life a pleasing fragrance to those around me.”
While rubbing my fingers over the tomato leaves, a very strong and distinctive fragrance is released. It’s not pleasing, nor is it offensive. It’s an odor that reminds me of the oils in the leaves that protect against aphids and other pests. I’ve never thought of odors as protection and yet in the garden there are many. “Lord, how can my life radiate a sense of protection or peace in my neighborhood?”
There are so many ways one can pray just by paying attention to the bouquet of the garden. Now try it again with taste (but be sure you know what you’re tasting!).
Death and Dying: This time of year in the Pacific Northwest, many of the plants in the garden are beginning to fade. There is a cycle to all of life, and far too often we avoid admitting that we, too, are a part of that cycle. Wandering into the garden I notice at once the sunflowers. Towering over the summer garden like golden-crowned princes, they seem to make the garden glow. But during this season, that brightness is beginning to fade, like the grandfather whose spark and wit still brightens a room even though worn around the edges. Full flowers dazzling in their brilliance is what I want to see. The fading flowers remind me that life, here, has its limits. Many lessons can be found in one plant.
- Why is it that I have trouble enjoying the full cycle of life?
- Is there something in death I need to embrace to be fully alive?
- What does the presence of flowers from a single plant, some just begging to bud, others in full bloom, and still others starting to fade…
- what do they have to teach me about God?
- what do they reveal about the beauty of generational diversity?
- which flower am I on this plant and how do I feel about that?
This is but one example of exploring our own mortality in all its beauty and brevity by intentionally praying in the garden.
These are my top five ways to pray in the garden. What have you tried?
Here in North America it’s the end of summer. Bees are still buzzing in my garden, pollinating the last of the summer crops and the new flowers emerging on the fall/winter crops. MSA/Godspace also continues to buzz.
For those of you that follow our Godspace Community Blog, you’ve probably noticed that, although Christine has officially retired from her Director of MSA job, she has not retired from writing. I’m excited and a bit relieved that Christine will continue writing her Monday Meditations as well as prayers which show up on our various Facebook pages.
Christine and I are also in discussion about how to revamp our two main workshops and find new ways to lead, and co-lead, and bring updated ideas and content to those who attend. We’re still looking for catchy titles for these workshops, so if you’ve attended “The Spirituality of Gardening” or one of our creative spiritual practices workshops or retreats in the past and have some ideas, we’d love to hear from you. Currently our working titles are “Gardening with God and Neighbor” and “Cultivating Effective Spiritual Practices for Personal and Community Transformation”.
Upcoming Speaking Engagements
Andy and Christine will be in Surry, British Columbia on Saturday, October 15th presenting “Creating Gardens of Hospitality” at A Rocha B.C. From there we head south to Tacoma, where we’ll be presenting at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church’s Celtic Faire on Sunday at 3:30pm. The Celtic Faire is actually going on all weekend, so if you’re in the area, you’ll probably want to check that out.
Tom is busy as ever with his new book, Live Like You Give a Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration. Two weeks ago he was at the national Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) convention in Los Angeles. Last week he attended the SOCAP (Social Capital Markets) convention and held a “Live Like You Give a Damn!” event at Grace Fellowship Community Church, in San Francisco.
Next month Tom will be at Missions Fest Seattle on October 8th, and then in the Twin Cities at Colonial Church to connect with their exciting program, Innove, a community entrepreneurial competition for young folks to “create social and cultural betterment”. While in the Twin Cities Tom will also be connecting with United Seminary as well as Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
Praying with Creation
New prayer cards, “Praying with Creation” are ready to ship! This new set is printed on heavy stock with a glossy finish, which really makes the images pop. I love nature, and discovering new ways to focus on creation in giving glory to God has been a fun and exciting adventure.
Looking Ahead
The Godspace Community Blog has been buzzing. This month’s theme, “The Prayerful Imagination: Praying Creatively for More Meaningful Connections with God and Others” has really taken off. We’ve had a wide variety of posts from all over the world including many new prayer practices that really engage the imagination.
“Living into the Shalom of God” is our theme for October. We’ll be exploring what this looks like in a variety of contexts and would value your contribution. If you’ve not joined us as a writer on the blog, take a minute to see what it means on our writer’s FAQ page. You can write just one post, an ocassional post, or become one of our regular contributors.
Featured Authors for October include:
- Leroy Barber and his new book, Embrace
- Brenda Salter McNeil and her new book, Roadmap to Reconciliation
- Soong-Chan Rah and his newest book, Prophetic Lament
Expect great things in October!
Looking Further Ahead on Godspace Community Blog
November is a great time to start preparing for Advent and Christmas — Not preparing by decorating and buying a lot of stuff we don’t really need, but by “Preparing our Hearts and Homes for Advent and Christmas” (our theme that month) so that it doesn’t end up a whirlwind of stress, busyness, and anxiety.
We’re going to take a little different approach on the blog in November, choosing to focus on specific sub-themes for each week. Here’s a little foretaste to whet your appetite and, for you writers, get you thinking ahead about how you would like to contribute:
- Week 1: Overcoming Consumerism — resisting the drive for more
- Week 2: Resting in Chaos — How to create space for rest when the world is whipped up into a frenzy.
- Week 4: Making Space for Hospitality — Ideas for gatherings of welcome and moments of connecting.
- Week 5: The Beginning of Advent…
Our December Advent theme this year is “Entering the World with Jesus: Looking for Jesus in all the right places”. How do we do that? We’re planning to explore what that means, what it looks like, in very specific places. Again, we’ll focus on weekly sub-themes:
- Week 1: …in our home
- Week 2: …in our neighborhood
- Week 3: …in our city
- Week 4: …in our world
As you can see, there are a lot of great things heading our way! What really excites me about all of this is that our little team at MSA/Godspace isn’t creating all of the content from perpsectives limited by our small staff, but we are connected through our ever-growing community of writers from all over the world. And, just in case you missed it before, we’re always looking to expand that community of writers. If you think you might be interested, or maybe just want to try writing one post to see how it goes, please check out our writer’s FAQ page then drop us an email to find out more.
Please continue to pray:
- For our board of directors as they help us walk through this important time of transition and discernment.
- For Gil George’s continued healing following a bicycle accident in July. We’re grateful for healing that’s already come, for new front teeth, and that he’s back editing and posting our blog contributions for Godspace.
- For our upcoming travels and speaking engagements.
- For Christine and Tom as they navigate the changes in their lives.
- And for me as I continue to adjust to my new role as Director.
Together creating pathways of Shalom,
Andy Wade
Director
Mustard Seed Associates // Godspace
You Make it All Possible!
At MSA//Godspace we work hard to make sure every dollar is well spent and not wasted, but the truth of the matter is that your support is critical to the ongoing ministry of this unique community.
So let me keep this short and to the point: Please take a moment now to send in your financial contribution to continue to make this work possible.
You can GIVE ONLINE or mail a check to:
PO Box 45867
Seattle, WA 98145
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Have more questions about giving to MSA//Godspace? Please check out our online donation FAQ.
by Kristen Leigh Kludt
Creative Commons licensed from Pixabay.
Picnic Table Nature
The day was beautiful. We sat at a picnic table in the shade of a eucalyptus tree hung with yellow balloons. It was a birthday party, and we ate and laughed and ran around the park with the kids.
There were so many kids. Leah Beth and David had two children, Becca and Andrew another two, Katie and Joey had one and another on the way. We had been trying to become pregnant for a year, but our arms were empty.
The sun was too hot, the park too full, the perfect foil for my empty womb. I joined the kids at the playground a while, talked half-heartedly about teaching with the moms, and finally settled in where I often did in those days—hovering at my husband’s elbow, half-listening to the dads talk about theology and church and family and future. That was easier than listening to chatter about baby food and toddler development or—worse—knowing I was the reason such a natural subject was avoided.
An hour into the party, I could no longer hover next to Dave. The pain gnawed at my belly, and it was spilling out. Hiding my tears, I ran to the bathroom.
The cool concrete structure mirrored my heart much better than the glare of the sun outside. It was empty, quiet. The fluorescent lights were sterile, unflattering, clinical. I liked them that way. I locked myself into a stall, wrapped my arms tight around my chest, and screamed the silent scream of loss. What was wrong with me? Why was my body so broken, so unable to do what I thought God created it to do? I murmured “why” after “why” aloud to the dirty metal walls. The emptiness of my womb burned like fire. I sobbed in that empty bathroom under the sterile lights and let the fire consume me. I surrendered to grief.
I remembered the birthday party. I doused the fire, not yet spent, letting the coals continue to ravage my insides. I wiped my eyes, took a deep breath, and headed back into the sunlight with a smile. I did not want to have anything to explain.
Grief in the unknown: It is baffling. How do you grieve the loss of something that never was? I had so much need in that time. I was ragged, broken, trying to keep it together enough to be appropriate in public, then screaming silently behind closed doors. How else could I function? We have to go on at times like that. There is no choice. So I danced back and forth between grief and pretending.
Where was God in all of this? In my heart, God was distant, angry. I assumed God was disappointed with me and maybe didn’t love me much. In reality, I was the distant, angry one—distant, often, even from my own emotions. What would it look like to lessen that distance? What would it look like to enter the darkness unafraid?
I began, slowly, to make space for grief. I started with a simple practice of welcoming my emotions. That practice led to others, and I became less afraid of my own darkness. One day I would believe, whatever my circumstances, that God loved me and was near. The journey toward hope began with this small step.
An Invitation to Practice
How do we come to know the tender places within us in order to experience God’s love more fully?
- Pay attention. Are you angry today? Do you find yourself more easily frustrated than usual? Did something happen that brought you to tears? Are you overwhelmed with gratitude or pride in an accomplishment?
- Pause. Take some time to allow yourself to feel that emotion. If you can, go into a room alone and be still. Dance if you’re happy or cry if you’re sad. If you are in public, go to your car, or to the bathroom. Welcome whatever it is that you are feeling, allow it to course through you, to wash over you like a wave in the ocean, and to recede.
- Mark this moment. Write a simple poem in your journal. Create a crazy hodge-podge art piece. Copy the words of a Psalm of praise or lament. Throw a rock into the ocean or throw a party. Whatever you do, invite God along.
Adapted from A Good Way Through: My Journey with God from Disappointment into Hope, coming in spring of 2017.
This post is part of our September Creative Prayer theme.
by Sujatha Balasundaram. All Rights Reserved.
Prayer takes different forms during different stages of our walk with the Lord. The forms of prayer we use are closely related to where we are in our relationship with Jesus and the life journey we find ourselves at.
For example, when I was little I sat with my hands folded and eyes closed and I talked about things closest to me – my dad , my mom, my brother and myself. It was simple and straight from the heart. As a pre-teen and teen I wanted time with God. I would sit and try hard to listen or just sit and talk/cry/laugh/argue. In my youth, I would be in different postures at different times, sometimes lying in bed, sometimes while working, but God was a friend, someone I could talk to anywhere and anyhow.
Talking to God was a habit my mother inculcated in me, before we eat, before we study, before we start a test, before we sleep etc. As a young adult , I tried more ways to stay in God’s presence. I loved to draw and so I would draw as I remembered God’s word and as I talked to God or listened or just wondered/pondered over that thought/word. As a young mom I prayed while I nursed while I tried to sleep but couldn’t, why I sometimes slept while I prayed. I believe all of these are valid forms of communication with our Creator God. What matters is our heart. However if our posture or form is being a stumbling block to another we would do better to choose another form or another venue. I know as a young person growing up in India I would not be lying down and praying to my Almighty God in front of adults. While at the same time we need to remember that forcing any one posture or legalizing prayer would only quench one’s ability to express oneself before their Maker. There is value in different postures of prayer that can acknowledge our relationship with our Lord: kneeling before our Master, Bowing before the Almighty; sitting in the presence of our best friend etc.
As a mom I wanted my children to know that communication with God is just a part of normal life. So we started while I was pregnant me reading/pondering/talking with God aloud. As a baby I would pray and sing over them, even as they lay in bed. Once they learned to sit we allotted a special time for focused conversation with God just like we would a tummy time or a play date or a snack time or potty time. It would be just a song they could clap to, imitate actions or smile or a simple prayer over them in Jesus name.
When my children could grasp onto things I gave them crayons and paper as I read stories or I prayed. Here is a picture of one such work when they were 6 and 4.
by Sujatha Balasundaram. All rights reserved.
By the first year we were reading stories, memorizing scripture through song and dance and we would have a time of response which could be in words, drawing , dance, or music (they could make up their prayer in song). Children have an amazing connection with God even before they can articulate it. Here is a link to some of my children’s ‘selah moments’ (Selah in Hebrew means to pause and think about that) – https://artresponse.wordpress.com/selah-moments/nadiras-selah/
By understanding ones developmental stage and creating the right environment one can linger in God’s presence for much longer than we give them credit.
More recently I have discovered that people who find it hard to stay still and pray just need to relax. And a tool of relaxation that has been widely used these days is coloring. I am an artist and so I offer my Selah moments in ink for adults and children to color and ponder over the scripture in focus. I have heard back from many people on its effectiveness as a tool.
So praying creatively is creating that environment where we can simply BE in God’s presence (because He sees us through and through and we see a glimpse of His glory).
Inspirational material: Its not really a book but I had the privilege of working along side a team who put together a series of lectures by a professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Reg Johnson. He shares beautiful insights into prayer. He called it ‘learning to pray again’. There are 2 CDs with his lectures and handouts.
The other is as you mentioned “Praying in Color” I attribute Sybil McBeth’s work as ‘my coming-out-of-the-closet-experience’
This post is part of the September Creative Prayer theme.
by Cynthia Helton. All rights reserved.
Here I sit on this steamy afternoon, trying to ignore the mosquito bites from the tiny adversaries who lie in wait for me by the water faucet. Don’t they understand that God “NEEDS” me to give a life-saving drink to the newly planted Hibiscus, the transplanted Monkey Grass, the Gardenia languishing near the drive way??? Won’t they please leave me alone as I fill the bird feeder for the Cardinals who’ve nested in our trees for many of their generations?
Why do I subject myself to this discomfort? Why do I make this effort in triple-digit Texas heat? Out of respect. Out of gratitude for what they give to me. Out of a sense of stewardship. The plants, the animals, the mountains and rivers all have their own purpose in God’s plan? Trees surely have families; as do fish and birds and all wild creatures. They were here on Mother Earth long before we humans. They are our first teachers, if we’d only listen. So, do they really need “me?” In their wild natural habitat, absolutely NOT! However, in this cultivated, manicured plot of foreign soil, they need an advocate. And that would be me! I give them water, fertilizer, good soil, respect. They give me shade, beauty, and the companionship of cherished friends. It’s a reciprocal relationship!
So, what has this all got to do with prayer? In my way of thinking, prayer is so much more than reciting words or attending a church service. That’s a bold statement from this Roman Catholic turned Episcopalian who “toed the line” of organized religion for the better part of 60 years. Somewhere along the way (actually it was on a stony mountain in southwestern Ireland) my horizons broadened. Really they completely blurred – and it wasn’t pleasant! I longed for the comfort of God as I’d always known Him: Father “in heaven,” ready to answer my prayers with miracles granted because I said just the right words or behaved properly. I’d always found comfort in my “go-to” God, who I could ask to take care of everything, irregardless of reality. When things didn’t work out, I could chalk it to “God’s will,” or some lesson He wanted me to learn. The stark realization that things simply don’t work that way scared me – made me angry that I could no longer snuggle down with my comfortable image of God. Not only is God not a “He,” heaven isn’t “up there” either! My notion of God became skewed; but painfully focusing on who God ISN’T slowly gave way to the “pinprick” of awareness of who God IS. “THIS” was the miracle – the answer to my unformed, unspoken prayer ..one I didn’t even realize I was praying! This unsettling course began in nature. The healing balm was generously offered back to me through nature.
So how do I accept this gift? How do I meld together my new-found sense of wonder with any quality of worship? HOW DO I PRAY NOW? Just as a child can’t go back into its mother’s womb, I can’t NOT KNOW what I now understand. The wording in formal worship, at times, tries to drag me back; to convince me that somehow there’s been a misunderstanding. How do I honor this shift in awareness without feeling like I’m shirking my responsibility to worship God? Well … I dig in the dirt. I water the plants. I feed the birds. I rejoice in the abiding essence of God at every turn: at my back door step, in the clearing at the end of our property, on the nature walk trail, on the gravel road east of town. There’s God, just waiting to be loved and love me back. But it’s not easy! I must pay attention; stay awake; stay aware. It’s so easy to get distracted; so easy to fall out of love. Back to those mosquitoes, I still don’t like them, but will keep my distance and use DEET to deflect their attentions away from my ankles without killing them. That’s living in harmony – even with circumstances, people, BUGS!! you’d rather do without. Then creation’s sucker-punch: the cycle of life also contains loss, hardships and death, whether we’re human, forest, ocean, or mosquito. God is in the darkness. God doesn’t “save” us from any of it …God abides within it. To me, that was a very hard and sobering truth to absorb.
At a recent gathering, a song was shared that moved me profoundly. It’s rhythmic melody, the accompanying drum beat, the simplicity of it’s message resonated with this feeling of inter-connectedness I’m struggling to verbalize. It’s lyrics, here, say it best …
“Who am I in the wonder? Who am I in the woe?
Who am I in the darkness? Who am I in the light?I am wind upon the sea.
I am the roar of the ocean.
I am the salmon swimming in the river.
I am the eagle soaring in the sky.
I am the teardrop of the sun.
I am fire burning in the night. I am the light of God.Who am I in the wonder? Who am I in the woe?
Who am I in the darkness? Who am I in the light?…Stefan Waligur
(For the melody, go to https://soundcloud.com/mcfarlandp-1/1-01-i-am-fire)
This post is part of our September Creative Prayer theme.
Many of us believe we are called to be co-creators with God, but when it comes to prayer it seems our creativity suddenly dries up, unless we are kids. Kids are encouraged to explore their creativity by playing games, reading books, walking in nature, planting and watching things grow, listening to music and drawing together. Adults are encouraged to pray only with their minds and not with their imaginations or other God given senses.
According to Albert Einstein:“Creativity is intelligence having fun.” So why should kids have all the fun? It is my growing conviction that we all need to learn to be more creative and more experiential with our prayers. If we truly believe we are made in the image of our creative God and it is through prayer that we connect to God surely this should be one of the primary places we exercise our creativity. Not creativity for the sake of creativity, but creativity that draws us into a deeper relationship with our creator God and with God’s aching heart for our world.
We need to allow the spirit of God to stir our imaginations to create new models of prayer and new expressions of spiritual practices. This doesn’t mean letting go of our prayer life, but rather using the creative tools of ancient spiritual practices to reshape and reimagine how we pray.
Tapping into our Imaginations
Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev said God created the world by imagination, a creative imagination that is still being expressed and that we are invited to be a part of. In Isaiah 48: 6,7 God says: I am telling you new things, secrets hidden that no one has known. They are created now—brand new, never before announced, never before heard. Each moment of the day is a fresh revelation of God. Each moment is alive with new possibilities and part of the power of prayer is the opportunity to tap into the potential of that moment and create something new. It might be a new artistic expression that reflects a growing personal intimacy with God or it could be a creative new idea for a way to become involved in our neighbourhoods.
God Creates in Infinite Variety.
We only need to walk around our gardens for a few minutes, or gaze into the faces of people we pass in our neighbourhood, to know that God creates in infinite variety. No two created beings are alike. Yes there are patterns that God follows for any given species, but within that pattern no two organisms are the same. And even the number of species is almost infinite.
So I think it is meant to be with prayer. There are patterns for us to follow – for instance there are contemplative patterns like lectio divina, intercessory patterns in which we brings our our own needs and those of the world before God, and patterns of praise in which we express our love for God, but within those patterns the way we express ourselves is almost infinite.
One person might like to take photos and contemplate those as an exercise in prayer. Another might like to paint rocks as I do as a reflective exercise. Someone else might go for a walk. The possibilities are endless. Several years ago when I was just starting to explore this creative approach to prayer, I posted a series entitled Tools for Prayer which gives a small glimpse into this variety. This month’s focus on creative prayer is providing all of us with even more possibilities. Of one thing I am convinced, God’s creativity is never exhausted.
God creates from the Essence of Who God Is
Every part of the created world reflects something of who God is. We see God’s love in a mother’s tender caress. We see God’s generosity in an abundant harvest, and we see God’s compassion every time a stranger reaches out to help in the midst of a crisis. As we look for the presence of God in our world and interact with the love, compassion and generosity we see around us, we touch and express something of the nature of God and that is prayer.
My friend, Mark Scandrette, often posts photos of street graffiti. A couple of days ago he posted the image. God’s heart of love is never silenced. Prayer is not about words. Nor is it about images, it is about God’s heart for us and for our world.
God Creates Patterns out of Chaos
It fascinates me that one of the most effective tools for prayer is doodling, a seemingly random and chaotic act that unleashes our creativity and draws us into relationship with God.
God creates patterns from chaos. Nature is full of what are known as fractal images, complex patterns created by repeating a simple process over and over in a feedback loop. Trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, hurricanes are all fractal patterns, what are sometimes called images of Chaos.
We don’t need to start with a pattern for something beautiful to emerge, we create the pattern. All we need are a few simple rules, a little imagination and the creative power of God.
God Creates Out of the Longing to See All Things Made Whole
At the heart of our universe is a God who longs to see all things made whole again and as we tap into the creative power of prayer we cannot help but express this. Out of the creative core of God’s being come new ways to provide homes for the homeless, new entrepreneurial ventures for the jobless, new approaches to the pollution of our planet.
Prayer is not passive it is active, and these responses are, I believe, all forms of prayer. Every time we look around and see newness emerging where there has been decay, or create wholeness where there has been brokenness, we are seeing into the heart of a God who asks to pray constantly not just in words but in actions. I love what Rebecca Joy Sumner is doing to help us reimagine scripture and prayer lived out in the neighbourhood with this kind of intent – like her post I’m Having a Failure of Hope Kind of Morning. The downloadable pdf she has attached is a wonderful resource for using scripture to pray in a different way for our neighbourhoods.
Question: Where do you see God creating wholeness in our broken world and where is God asking you to join in?
by Nils von Kalm
Addis Ababa March 2015 by Nils von Kalm. All Rights reserved
One of the distinctive marks of the Christian faith is the message that the God who made everything wants to have a personal relationship with us. God is both ultimate and intimate. When we look up at the stars on a clear night we can often think like the Psalmist did,
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? (Psalm 8:3-4)
Pondering our existence in the context of the whole of creation can cause us to either see ourselves as the famous astronomer Carl Sagan did, as a “lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark” – so tiny and insignificant that we just don’t matter at all – or we can marvel at the idea that the One who made it all knows the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:30).
Christian belief affirms – loudly and clearly – the latter. God is personal, God is relational. We can know and be known by this God. And the way to get to know someone is through spending time with them, either in conversation or in stillness, just being with them. When we commune with God in this way we call it prayer.
Prayer comes out of a recognition, conscious or otherwise, that we are not God and that we are limited in our power to affect the change we would like. This is why prayer is so crucial to our identity. We want to do everything that is possible to make the world a better place, but we recognise that we simply do not have what it takes to humanly make the changes we want to see.
The vision of transformation that most people have for the world is a prayer not just for those experiencing suffering; it is also for ourselves and our neighbours here in the affluent West, that we will recognise that we too – perhaps we especially – need transforming.
Prayer is something that can be done in many forms. Most of the world’s people have a religious foundation to their lives. Many are Christian, and many are of other faiths. But the idea of prayer is fundamentally the same. It is about seeking God out.
For many people, prayer is a ritual. Rituals are healthy because they give structure to our lives; they help us to live a life of self-discipline. For others, prayer is done loudly, in an atmosphere of something approaching ecstasy; while for others prayer is something that is more contemplative and quiet, done in the stillness of a small group or a Taize service. Each of these expressions has biblical foundations.
Throughout the whole of Scripture we see the suffering heart of God for the poor and oppressed. Many of us would be aware that there are over 2,000 verses in the Bible that relate to poverty. It is through prayer that we get in touch with this God who has a passion for justice and righteousness.
It is through prayer that we become more like this God who walked the dusty roads of the Middle East 2,000 years ago, giving his life that all might experience the joy of being part of the kingdom of love, justice and transformation that is coming. And it is through prayer that our hearts are changed when we ask God, in the words of World Vision founder, Bob Pierce, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
This post is part of our September Creative Prayer theme.
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