Getting Lost in the Woods

  Today’s teaching sermon is focused on the daily office and daily prayer.  I thought we might begin by exploring the role of prayer in our lives, share a bit of history about the daily office, and reflect together on how we might continue to grow in our prayer practice.  In her book, Beginner’s Grace: Bringing Prayer to Life, Chaplain Kate Braestrup suggests we need prayer in our lives.  She writes:  "What it can do—what prayer, at its best and at our best, has always done—is help us to live consciously, honorably, and compassionately. Because I am not stronger, more self-sufficient, smarter, braver, or any less mortal than my forebears or my neighbors, I need this help. As long as prayer helps me to be more loving, then I need prayer. As long as prayer serves as a potent means of sharing my love with others, I need prayer." 2 Biblical scholar Walter Brueggeman, in his book, Prayers for a Privileged People , also emphasizes our need to be vulnerable and to co...

Who taught you how to pray?  This is the question Matt Skinner, a Luther Seminary professor, reflected on in his  Dear Working Preacher column  focused on this  Sunday's gospel lesson .  He wrote,  "It’s a very personal, intimate thing, one’s prayer life. Getting started at praying is less like learning how to drive a car, how to play the banjo, or even how to preach. For most, it is more like learning how to kiss. You learn some by watching others do it. You should be discerning about whom you will allow to teach you. You certainly make mistakes. And maybe you always worry deep in your head that you might be doing it wrong." Learning how to pray really is a good deal like learning how to kiss.  In New England, we generally don't talk about kissing or praying, or at least not beyond the dutiful agreement to hold someone else in our prayers.  Instead we often stumble into these practices.  Growing up, there was never a parental conversation ab...

I recently found myself running in circles, overthinking various dynamics and relationships in my life. Normally in these situations I would send God a few quick prayers via slingshot, and then begin to problem solve. While this is an okay way of coping with hard stuff, it's not perfect. Primarily because d eep  down I often yearn to control the situation. I want the solution to be according to  my will , instead of  God's  greatest desire and hope for us.  So this time around, I tried something different. I began to pray for the person on my mind, without prescription, simply that God would be with us, guide us, and bless us. The next thing I knew, I was praying for every person I anticipated encountering that day, and those that I would come to meet unexpectedly.  It was freeing. So that night, I did it again, this time praying for every person and situation I had encountered during the day, and all those I was anticipating tomorrow. This time, it fe...