Posted by vicki on May 29, 2010 in
Stuff stuff A couple of years ago, our pastor, JD, went through a phase where he randomly asked people “Why do you go to church on Sunday?”
Good question.
Here’s one like unto it: “Why do you pray?”
Would you take some time this summer asking yourself this simple question, “Why do I pray?”
Vicki: “Why do I pray?”
Vicki’s reply: “Because I must.”
Vicki: “I mean, really. What does that mean?”
Vicki’s reply: “I must pray because I can’t stand distance between me and my Father.”
Vicki: “That all?”
Vicki’s reply: “I must pray because people need to be prayed for. Let me tell you about what Dutch Sheets says about prayer…”
Vicki: “Dutch Sheets, what kind of name is that? Is his brother named Cotton?”
Vicki’s reply: “Never mind that. Listen to what he said…”
Dutch Sheets: “You can do more than pray AFTER you have prayed, but you cannot do more than pray UNTIL you have prayed.”
Vicki’s reply again: “And listen to what Jim Cymbala had to say, ‘The devil is not terribly frightened of our human efforts and credentials. But he knows his kingdom will be damaged when we begin to lift our hearts to God.’”
Vicki’s reply once again: “And how about what the president of my old alma mater, Liberty University (Jerry Falwell) had to say, ‘Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer.”
The summer is for discovering your answer to “Why do you pray?”
Posted by vicki on May 22, 2010 in
Scripture stuff,
Stuff stuff Hey, Star Trek fans: Do you remember the Next Generation episode “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra”?
It is episode 102, in which Captain Picard of the Federation and Captain Dathon of the Tamarian race are faced with a hostile entity while stranded together on an alien planet.
The Tamarians speak a language of metaphors that completely baffles the Enterprise crew. The individual words are translatable but the sentences that Dathon speaks make no sense.
As they attempt to fend off their enemy, Captain Dathon repeatedly exhorts, “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra!”
This has no meaning for Picard at all, since he does not know the story of Tanagra and what Darmok and Jalad did there.
When finally, he is able make some meaning of the story, it is too late to save Captain Dathon. He has sustained a mortal wound. However, Picard can now speak in more Tamarian-like metaphors: he mourns over the impending death of his new colleague by recounting the Epic of Gilgamesh.
What does this have to do with prayer??
The Tamarians spoke the Tamarian metaphors, stories and idioms. They had no meaning to the Enterprise crew because Picard’s people had no shared experience with them.
The Enterprise crew spoke from Federation metaphors, stories, and idioms. They had no meaning for the Tamarians because Dathan’s people had no shared experience with them.
Both groups had different “family” experiences. Those experiences shaped their communication.
It’s about our metaphors
We, as Christians, have a group of metaphors, stories, and idioms. They are the family stories of our culture- the stories of the people and God’s work in the Bible.
As we share in our “family” experiences through interacting with Scripture (especially memorizing it) we will come to a place that we can talk God’s own language very effectively.
Then we can pray using actual scriptures because the stories, metaphors, idioms have a meaning beyond the individual words.
We can pray a psalm or verse or story. We don’t have to figure out exactly what to say. The symbols carry more meaning than the simple words because we share the stories’ experiences with God, others, and ourselves.
And since the Scripture is really God’s Words- then we are saying something to him that he agrees with.
How about:
“God help me praise like Paul and Silas in prison.”
Or
“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” (When we need comfort and refreshing.)
Or
“Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” (When I need to submit my soul to him.)
I challenge you: pray those family metaphors…
Modern folks have too much to do…
What on earth do we do when there is no time? No time to relax, no time for ourselves, no time to pray, no time to know God’s word?
John Wesley, way back in the 1700’s, used to say that he had so much to do some days that he had to pray for two hours before he got started. He got a lot done- birthed churches all over America, brought people to God, started a revival…
So, none of us is John Wesley. Two hours might as well be two years- but we know we need to pray.
What if we tried the Eggs in a Basket Approach to an overcrowded day.
It goes like this:
1) Imagine every person you care about as an individual “egg” to pray over. Pray a scripture or one sentence over each person. Put each egg in an imaginary basket.
2) Imagine everything you have to do is another “egg”. Do the same with each of these eggs.
3) Imagine all your causes and groups that you hold dear- each one becomes an “egg”.
Now you have all your eggs in one basket- and in prayer that’s a good thing. You can carry that basket- eyes on God- through the day. But you don’t have to worry about each person and thing- they’ve all been prayed over and are under God’s care.