Agency and Prayer

 

We know that we can act and that our actions produce results. Everyone who believes in God must therefore admit (quite apart from the question of prayer) that God has not chosen to write the whole of history with His own hand. Most of the events that go on in the universe are indeed out of our control, but not all. It is like a play in which the scene and the general outline of the story is fixed by the author, but certain minor details are left for the actors to improvise. It may be a mystery why He should have allowed us to cause real events at all, but it is no odder that He should allow us to cause them by praying than by any other method.

Pascal says that God “instituted prayer in order to allow His creatures the dignity of causality.” It would perhaps be truer to say that He invented both prayer and physical action for that purpose. He gave us small creatures the dignity of being able to contribute to the course of events in two different ways. He made the matter of the universe such that we can (in those limits) do things to it; that is why we can wash our own hands and feed or murder our fellow creatures. Similarly, He made His own plan or plot of history such that it admits a certain amount of free play and can be modified in response to our prayers.

- C.S. Lewis in “Work and Prayer” and republished in God in the Dock, 1970.

C.S. Lewis has a way of saying things that helps me to “get it.” Here he helps me to understand the agency God has given us. We truly are “small creatures” in a very large universe, and yet God has given us the ability to change our neighbourhood, our city, or even our world. We can do physical actions to flour, water, and yeast, making bread that did not exist before we started. With that bread we can feed a family who needs a loaf of bread. We can change the course of history with our actions.

Perhaps equally surprising is that God has given us the agency of prayer. Lewis says there is “free play” in God’s plan of history that can be modified by God in response to our prayers. God’s Kingdom will come and His will, will be done; but there is “free play” in the will of God that can be affected. We have an opportunity to influence the Kingdom and will of God. We can change the course of history with our prayers.

Broken

I am damaged on the inside

My soul don’t quite work true

There are foul spots on my right side

And my wrong side’s looking cruel

I am broken on the upside

Spirit’s broken down

There’s downsides to this arrangement

But I’m hanging in for now

Broken, damaged, injured,

Wounded, cracked, beat-up

Somehow we are all the same

So down we must look up

You know what I am feeling

Cause you are broken too

You’re hiding it away from me

I'm hiding this from you

There are people who are dying

Those who need my care

Seems “my give-a-damn” is busted

Can’t quite seem to care

Broken, damaged, injured,

Wounded, cracked, beat-up

Somehow we are all the same

So down we must look up

Broken, but I want to be whole

Damaged, and needing repair

Wounded, but desiring healing

Injured, and lacking care

The wounds that I am feeling

I can’t heal on my own

Heaven come and help me now

As on my knees I groan

Ten Thousand angels never

Would be enough to heal

The damage done by demons

Who are biting at my heels

Broken, damaged, injured,

Wounded, cracked, beat-up

Somehow we are all the same

So down we must look up

(Lyrics by Key of Zed: Mike Charko and Keith Shields)

We Were Soldiers

The Mel Gibson movie, We Were Soldiers, is one of my favourite movies of all-time, with strong themes of leadership and courage. An example is Colonel Hal Moore’s stunning speech just before the young soldiers ship out under his command?

I can't promise you that I will bring you all home alive. But this I swear, before you and before Almighty God, that when we go into battle, I will be the first to set foot on the field, and I will be the last to step off, and I will leave no one behind. Dead or alive, we will all come home together. So help me, God.[1]

Then there is his prayer with a soldier who is a new dad and is questioning how he can be a soldier and a father at the same time.

Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Our Father in Heaven, before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you each in his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory. And so, we bow before your infinite wisdom. We offer our prayers as best we can. I pray you watch over the young men, like Jack Geoghegan, that I lead into battle. You use me as your instrument in this awful hell of war to watch over them. Especially if they're men like this one beside me, deserving of a future in your blessing and goodwill. Amen.
2nd Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan: Amen.
Lt. Colonel Hal Moore: Oh, yes, and one more thing, dear Lord, about our enemies, ignore their heathen prayers and help us blow those little bastards straight to Hell. Amen.[2]

Yet, some of the most touching scenes, that continue to bring tears to my eyes, are delivered by Madeline Stowe who plays Hal Moore’s wife, Julie. The scenes give insight into the method of delivery of news of the deaths of soldiers and the impact on the wives who live on the army base. Mrs. Moore is both critical of how the army communicates the news and sympathetic to those who must do this task. Regarding the preparation of the bureaucrats, for the sheer volume of death telegrams that had to be delivered, she says, “Nobody expected this. The Army was as stunned as everybody.”

In one of the scenes we see Moore’s wife at the Fort Benning base watching a Yellow Taxi arrive at the home of her neighbour. She finds the new widow sobbing and angry that the news had been delivered by taxi – no chaplain, no officer - just a cab driver who didn’t want to be there, but had to do his job.[3] Next, Julie Moore sees a taxi arrive at her own door, and fears that it is news of her own husband’s death, only to learn that the driver is lost and needs an address. The following dialogue recounts the emotion of the moment.

Driver: [removes his hat] Mrs. Moore? Colonel Moore's wife?

Julie Moore: Yes.

Driver: I need help finding an address. I'm looking for —

Julie: You JACKASS! Do you know what this is?! Do you know what you just did to me?!

[The driver sheepishly walks toward his cab, but stops at the curb.]

Driver: I-I don't like this job, Ma'am. I'm just trying to do it. [continues toward cab]

Julie: Wait. Wait! [runs to the cab] I'll take it to her. [she takes the telegram] And tell the cab company if there are any others, just bring them to me.[4]

Following this, many more telegrams arrive and Moore and another soldier’s wife walk each one to the designated wife. With tears in their eyes and arms that shakily reach out to console, the two do the best they can to remain strong and help the women understand their losses.

The movie pulls no punches as it shows the horror of the battle that occurred at Ia Drang, Central Highlands, Vietnam on November 14 and 18, 1965. For several terrifying hours the U.S. Helicopter Cavalry was seriously outgunned and over-run by the enemy. At least 559 Americans were killed and more than 1000 Vietnamese soldiers died. The movie tells the story in a way that is gripping and at points humorous.

There is a touching and comedic scene in which Colonel Hal Moore is encouraging his children to say a liturgical, Catholic prayer while one of his little charges resists the familiar prayer in preference for “praying whatever she wants to pray.” She tells her father, "I don’t wanna be Catholic. I wanna be nefodist (Methodist) like Mommy so I can pray whatever I want." Moore responds by telling her “that’s alright, that just means that God made you hard-headed.”

If anyone is “hard-headed” it is certainly Colonel Moore. He is true to his word and, as he promised, he is the “first to set foot on the field, and . . . the last to step off.” May God grant us real leaders who live up to this larger than life soldier and commander.

---

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277434/quotes

[2] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0277434/quotes?item=qt0408924

[3] http://www.lehigh.edu/~ineng/ceb3/ceb3-scenelog.htm

[4] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/We_Were_Soldiers

Praying Portions of Psalm 139

Oh God, You see me.
I can't impress You
For You have seen me in all of my circumstances.
Even if I wanted to, I could not get away from You.
You saw me in my mother's womb.
You already see me in my tomb.
You know the days and seconds of my life.

So I open myself to You.
Test me - I do not mind.
I desire to be melted and purified.
Destroy the sin
Wipe away the worry
Keep me from hurting others.
Lead me in Your truth.


Psalm 139 (New International Version)
(For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.)

1 You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

13 For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

19 If only you, God, would slay the wicked!
    Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty!
20 They speak of you with evil intent;
    your adversaries misuse your name.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord,
    and abhor those who are in rebellion against you?
22 I have nothing but hatred for them;
    I count them my enemies.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

A Prayer for Today

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
My one desire is to live a thankful life.
You have rescued me, blessed me, healed me, redeemed me.

Selah

I desire to live this life in gratitude to you.
I desire to find my place in Your will.
I desire to fulfill the role to which you are calling me.
There is a place into which I uniquely and perfectly fit.

I aspire to get as close as possible to that spot.
Forgive me when I fall.
Forgive me when I fail.
Forgive me when I stray from that perfect place.

Selah

I will trust You and allow you to guide my path into that way.
I will trust You.
Lead me into Your perfect will.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.

(a contemporary prayer by Keith Shields modeled after ancient Celtic prayers)

Two Prayers

Two prayers caught my attention today. One is a contemporary prayer from Scot McKnight who prays:

Grant us, O Lord,
To trust in you with all our hearts.
For as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.1

The other is an ancient prayer of the early church:

"Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν."
"Lord Jesus, Christ, have mercy on me, the sinner."2

These two prayers ground me and keep me from focusing on my happiness, my rights, and my abilities. May they be a similar correction for us all.

1 http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2014/09/07/grant-us-o-lord/

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Prayer

Thinking and Doing

(Click on the thumbnail image for a larger picture.)
A recent article published in the journal Science found that "participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do but think."1 Humans are capable of day-dreaming, fantasizing, meditating, and praying but when given time and space to do so, researchers found that most of the participants found it to be unsettling and rated their enjoyment of the time as low.

Participants were put into an unadorned room with nothing on which to focus for 6, 12, or 15 minutes. At the end of the time they were asked questions about the experience. "On average, participants did not enjoy the experience very much: 49.3% reported enjoyment that was at or below the midpoint of the scale."2 When the researchers did further experiments with other participants and gave them the option of "entertaining themselves with their own thoughts" or engaging in activities such as reading or listening to music many chose to do something rather than just think. The participants also enjoyed the activities more than they enjoyed time spent thinking.

The researchers took things one step further and gave people the choice of sitting quietly thinking or giving themselves an electric shock. The participants had previously experienced the shock and knew it to be unpleasant. "Many participants elected to receive negative stimulation over no stimulation - especially men: 67% of men (12 of 18) gave themselves at least one shock during the thinking period . . . compared to 25% of women."3 The researchers found it striking that many participants found being alone with their own thoughts for 15 minutes so unpleasant that they would rather self-administer a shock that they had previously indicated they wanted to avoid.

The paper concludes by saying,

There is no doubt that people are sometimes absorbed by interesting ideas, exciting fantasies, and pleasant daydreams. Research has shown that minds are difficult to control, however, and it may be particularly hard to steer our thoughts in pleasant directions and keep them there. This may be why many people seek to gain better control of their thoughts with meditation and other techniques, with clear benefits. Without such training, people prefer doing to thinking, even if what they are doing is . . . unpleasant . . . The untutored mind does not like to be alone with itself.4

My own times of prayer and meditation certainly require a good degree of discipline. My mind readily wanders and I must push aside some thoughts so that others are kept foremost. Is this a phenomenon of our present multi-tasking, multi-sensory, noisy world or have other generations experienced the same difficulty of thinking? It would be difficult to get at the answer to this question; but it seems to me that we would do well to set aside some time for quiet reflection. I have a sense that my mind would be a calmer, sweeter place if I could train myself to enjoy "entertaining myself with my own thoughts." Perhaps I might even find moments of lucidity that would lead to greater insights about myself, my fellow-human, and the world around me. John Milton, in Paradise Lost, said,

"The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n."

I hope that we might all find more heaven than hell in those moments of quiet solitude.


1 (Wilson 2014, 75)
2 (Wilson 2014, 75)
3 (Wilson 2014, 76)
4 (Wilson 2014, 77)

Works Consulted:

Webb, Jonathan. "Do People Choose Pain Over Boredom?" BBC News Science and Environment. July 4, 2014. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28130690 (accessed July 7, 2014).

Wilson, Timothy D. "Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind." Science 345, no. 6192 (July 2014): 75-77.

It's Only Words

Five-hundred is a nice round, satisfying number. As I write my five-hundredth blog I pause to think of the significance of the words written in this space. Although there are many empty words in our world, words can, and do, make a difference. I pray that some of the words in this blog have made a positive difference and that none, or at least few of them, have been hurtful.

Being born in a country where English is the dominant language, I am blessed to be able to communicate in one of the most prolific languages of the world. People from all over the world seek to learn the language that was modeled for me in my home and taught to me in school. Yet, it is important to note that languages come with a cultural bias; and as a writer, it is good to have a sense of your biases. I recognize some of my own prejudices while other predispositions remain a mystery to me. We can all be helped by those who point out the angle from which we look at our world. I would ask you, my readers, to help me with this as you have opportunity. I also pray that my words might challenge your own understandings of the world and might encourage you to change your thinking on some subjects. I write much about science, faith, God, justice, care for one another, and music. There is plenty of room for disagreement in each of these areas. May we challenge one another to think beyond our parochial perspectives and self-limited understandings.

As in relationships, the most important aspects of writing are honesty and sincerity. Words and relationships are tightly intertwined as illustrated by the words of this familiar Bee Gees song.

You think that I don't even mean
A single word I say
It's only words
And words are all I have
To take your heart away1

We will not have influence, nor will we long have friends, if we cannot be honest in our writing and believe the things about which we write. Although you might say to me, "well, that is obvious," it is important to recognize that we do live in a time where some things that are said and written come from a place of insincerity and obfuscation. If we cannot convince others of the logic of our argument, we can all (and of course all includes me) resort to confusing others or downright lying to people to save ourselves from appearing to be wrong. It was George Orwell that said,

The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns, as it were, instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

We can readily see what an ugly use of words that could be. Words work best when we use them in honest ways to carefully explain our beliefs. Others can then compare them to their own beliefs and honestly challenge them in places where the words may yet be lacking. In this way the discussion moves forward and we walk away with greater understanding and greater truth. It's only words, but words are all we have to help each other understand our thoughts, emotions, and beliefs.

My prayer for each of us is that our words may be true and sincere. May our words be precise and precious. May our words be as few as necessary and as grand as possible. May our words be the seasoning of life that flavours the goodness of the world around us. Thank-you, reader, for joining me on this journey of words on the occasion of my five-hundredth blog.

1 "Words," written by Gibb, Maurice Ernest / Gibb, Robin Hugh / Gibb, Barry Alan.

The Intensity of Prayer

The true work of a contemplative nun is praying. I had never appreciated the power and intensity of prayer until I prayed with nuns.
On the surface, praying seems easy. Knit your eyebrows in concentrations, mutter a few words, and then get on with your day. It’s not like that in a convent. Think of the hardest job you could do—mining comes to my mind—and then imagine doing that in silence and in a dress.
Every day the sisters descended into the Pit of the Soul, picked at the seam of despair, sadness, tragedy, death, sickness, grief, destruction, and poverty, loaded it all onto a cart marked “For God,” and hauled it up from the depths of concern to the surface of mercy, where they cleaned it and polished it. It was heavy, laborious work.
- Jane Christmas, And Then There Were Nuns (Greystone, 2013).1

1 Quoted at the blog of John G. Stackhouse Jr.; http://www.johnstackhouse.com/2014/04/07/the-hard-work-of-prayer/

Follow-Up to Much Afraid

The Much Afraid album contains a song called "Crazy Times." Jars of Clay band members have said in interviews that this song is about how prayer is often "the last place we go." I understand what they mean. We go about life without a thought about God and think that we are fine - for a while. Life soon gets crazy and we find that we need more than just ourselves to get through the complexities of life. Through our tears, we realize that we are not self-sufficient, we cry out to God but, we do not know how to pray. We have lost the ability to rely on a personal God whom we have ignored for so long. We climb the ladder of prayer but there are missing rungs. The ladder has been neglected and damaged and we have failed to notice until we reach out to use it. God, save me from these crazy times!

Crazy Times (Listen to it here.) 

(Words and music by Dan Haseltine, Stephen Mason, Matt Odmark, and Charlie Lowell, copyright Essential Records, 1997.)

You're cold that way
And that's why you say
The things that you say
You can't attract
The things that you lack
You're trying in vain 

It seems it's always the crazy times
You find you'll wake up and realize
It takes more than your saline eyes
To make things right 

You spiral down
You've broken your crown
You don't feel like a queen
You've seen the proof
But you're still crying wolf
You'll never believe 

It seems it's always the crazy times
You find you'll wake up and realize
It takes more than your saline eyes
To make things right 

You try to climb a broken ladder
Grip the missing rungs
And fall down, down, down
Seems sometime ago you said
This wouldn't last
And now you sit here crying 

Beside your bed
You feel left for dead
You kneel in the dark.. 

It takes more than your saline eyes
To make things right 

It seems it's always the crazy times
You find you'll wake up and realize
It takes more than your saline eyes
To make things right

Northumbria

The Northumbria Community is a Christian community which has its beginnings in the Northumbria district of the United Kingdom and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Yet, it is more than a localized community and is a world-wide monastic community with its own order and communal prayers. Their website describes the community in this way:

Inspired by, drawing from, and living in the spiritual tradition of monasticism, the Community is geographically dispersed and strongly ecumenical but with an identity rooted in the history and spiritual heritage of Celtic Northumbria.

In seeking God as the 'one thing necessary' our continuing quest for a 'new monasticism' is the heart of our life whether alone or together. It is this blending of 'a prayer that is quiet and contemplative and a faith that is active and contagious', lived out in the ordinariness of everyday life, which forms a foundational basis for our growth and development.

I often speak of the degree to which I appreciate Celtic expressions of the Christian faith and I find myself drawn to the prayers of this branch of the Christian faith. Northumbria, in particular, has a rich history of prayers and blessings which anyone can use in drawing close to God each day. I encourage readers to explore the prayers of this community of people who are seeking to draw close to God and live out an active, missional, faith. I will leave you with two prayers that I have found helpful in the last few days.

Expressions of faith
Lord, You have always given
bread for the coming day;
and though I am poor,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
strength for the coming day;
and though I am weak,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always given
peace for the coming day;
and though of anxious heart,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always kept
me safe in trials;
and now, tried as I am,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always marked
the road for the coming day;
and though it may be hidden,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always lightened
this darkness of mine;
and though the night is here,
today I believe.

Lord, You have always spoken
when time was ripe;
and though you be silent now,
today I believe.

Blessing:
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you,
wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness,
protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing
at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing
once again into our doors.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Selah

A friend recently introduced me to the spiritual discipline of praying through Psalm 3. It is particularly helpful when we are at a place in life in which we feel that there are many difficulties mounting against us or when the complexities of life seem overwhelming. The word "selah" appears three times in Psalm 3. Selah is a word which has no good English translation but indicates a pause in the Psalm. It may represent a musical interlude (the equivalent of a guitar solo in the middle of a song). Its main purpose is to cause the listener (or reader) to take a few moments to think about what has been said; to stop and listen.

Psalm 3:1, 2 says, "O Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, 'God will not deliver him.'" Selah

Take a moment to list some of the "foes" you are facing in life, whatever genuine or imagined fears and difficulties you sense in your life. Pay attention to what is going on inside of you. Don't be afraid to speak these fears no matter how real or ridiculous they may be. Lay them out on the table and have a good look at them. Examples might be concerns about the possibility of losing a job; relationship problems; money issues; health problems. Speak them out loud and say to God, "These feel like the foes that are against me."

Psalm 3:3, 4 goes on to say, "But you are a shield around me, O Lord, my Glorious One, who lifts up my head. To the Lord I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah."

Make the words of verses three and four your own. Speak these words of affirmation, "God, you are indeed the one who lifts my head. You are a shield that protects me. I cry out and you answer me. You will hear me when I pray." Pray this and allow it to soak into your soul.

Psalm 3:5, 6 says, "I lie down and sleep; I awake again because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side."

Recognize that we need not fear our enemies. The foes listed are known to God. We do not need to fear them for he is ultimately in control.

Psalm 3:7, 8 says, "Arise, O Lord! Deliver me, O my God! For you have struck all my enemies on the jaw; you have broken the teeth of the wicked. From the Lord comes deliverance. May your blessing be upon your people. Selah"

Cry out like this to God. Ask him to deliver you and to save you from your enemies. The fears, worries, difficulties, foes of this life can seem to have teeth that bite into our lives and limit our effectiveness. God can destroy the bite of these things. He can break the teeth that have their grip upon us. Recommit yourself to serving God and trust him to rescue you. Selah.

Occupy Our Calendars

Our times are in your hands:
But we count our times for us;
we count our days and fill them with us;
we count our weeks and fill them with our busyness;
we count our years and fill them with our fears.
And then caught up short with your claim,
Our times are in your hands!
Take our times, times of love and times of weariness,
Take them all, bless them and break them,
give them to us again,
slow paced and eager,
fixed in your readiness for neighbour.
Occupy our calendars,
Flood us with itsy-bitsy, daily kairoi,
in the name of your fleshed kairos. Amen1


1 (Brueggemann 2004, 147, Montreat Conference: Jubilee/June 1, 2000)

Brueggemann, Walter. Awed To Heaven, Rooted In Earth: Prayers Of Walter Brueggemann . Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004.

Prayer Changes Things Follow-Up

Many years ago I read a small book by Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest Christian Church in the world.1 Cho is a man who has devoted his life to prayer and has gone to great extremes to develop his prayer life. The book has had a large impact on me such that several years later I find I am still influenced by his prayer model. As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here is a more specific outline of his "incubation model" of prayer. Sometimes the scripture references are my adaptations of what I believe Cho was referencing even when he was not explicit. In some places the book only alludes to passages of the Bible flowing from the author's vast knowledge of memorized verses.

Four step prayer model:

1. Pray specifically: Mark 10:46-52, Mark 11:24 and James 1:6. (The blind man in Mark 10 is the best and most developed example. Jesus says, "What do you want me to do for you?" Isn't it obvious? The man is blind. But Jesus wants him to ask specifically.)
2. Have a burning desire: Proverbs 10:24 and Psalm 37:4.
3. Pray until you have peace and assurance.: Hebrews 6:11 and 11:1.
4. Speak the word and show evidence of your faith: 2 Corinthians 4:13.

Take some time to consider whether this might be a helpful model for you in your prayer life. Then send me a comment to let me know if it helps.



1. Cho, Paul Yonggi. The Fourth Dimension. Plainsfield: Bridge Publishing, 1979, p. 9-35.

Prayer Changes Things

I have an uneasy relationship with this quote by E. Stanley Jones:

Prayer is surrender; surrender to the will of God and cooperation with that will. If I throw out a boathook from the boat and catch hold of the shore and pull, do I pull the shore to me, or do I pull myself to the shore? Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but the aligning of my will to the will of God.1

On the one hand, it seems to make sense. On the other hand, it seems incomplete. Perhaps, as with many things in God's creation, we must hold two concepts in tension: "prayer changes me" and "prayer changes the world."

Over the years, two other people have influenced how I have prayed. First, in his book, The Fourth Dimension, Paul Yonggi Cho lists four steps in his incubation formula: 1) Visualize a clear-cut goal or idea in your mind; 2) have a burning desire for your objective; 3) pray until you get the guarantee or assurance from God that what you desire is already yours; 4) speak or confess the end result into existence.2

Furthermore, George MacDonald has given me confidence:
“If God heard only perfect prayers, how could he be the prayer-hearing God?”3

My prayers are constantly influenced by all three of these spiritual guides. May we all pray and see more answers to prayer.

1. Jones, E. Stanley. Liberating Ministry From The Success Syndrome. Tyndale, 1988., p. 73.
2. Cho, Paul Yonggi. The Fourth Dimension. Plainsfield: Bridge Publishing, 1979, p. 9-35.
3. Phillips, Michael R., editor, and George MacDonald, author. The Highlander's Last Song. Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1986. p.35.

Pacing The Cage

(Bruce Cockburn - 24 June 1995. Philadelphia.) (Watch him perform this song here.)

Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward
Sometimes you feel like you live too long
Days drip slowly on the page
You catch yourself
Pacing the cage

I've proven who I am so many times
The magnetic strip's worn thin
And each time I was someone else
And every one was taken in
Powers chatter in high places
Stir up eddies in the dust of rage
Set me to pacing the cage

I never knew what you all wanted
So I gave you everything
All that I could pillage
All the spells that I could sing
It's as if the thing were written
In the constitution of the age
Sooner or later you'll wind up
Pacing the cage

Sometimes the best map will not guide you
You can't see what's round the bend
Sometimes the road leads through dark places
Sometimes the darkness is your friend
Today these eyes scan bleached-out land
For the coming of the outbound stage
Pacing the cage
Pacing the cage

The longer I live the more I can relate to this song by Bruce Cockburn. In this world of ever changing careers, values, and practises, I sometimes feel like "I've proven who I am so many times, the magnetic strip's worn thin." We can never rest on yesterday's successes. That holds true for folk-singers, scientists, authors, bloggers, pastors, and church planters. "Sometimes the best map will not guide you; you can't see what's round the bend. Sometimes the road leads through dark places; sometimes the darkness is your friend." All too often I catch myself pacing the cage.

Jeremiah knew these emotions as he wrote Lamentations 3:1-8,

I am the man who has seen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has turned His hand
Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.

It is unclear whether Jeremiah had truly been shut out by God. More likely, Jeremiah is expressing how he feels God has treated him and is prophetically speaking of how God will one day abandon his Son, Jesus, on the cross. Later, Jeremiah seems to realize that God is more gracious and loving and attentive than Jeremiah had made him out to be. In 3:21-26 he says,

Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

So, just as we cannot rest on yesterday's successes, we must use the best map we have even if it is insufficient to the task of guiding us, and we must strike out to where the road leads even if it is through dark places. As we go, we can take a fresh measure of God's great love and his compassions; for they are new every morning and made fresh each day for every one of us. "The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

Calvin on Prayer

My prayer life on a bad day:

(Click on the image to enlarge.)

A New Twist on An Old Tale

The Pharisee sermon by Amos Nidiffe

He also told this parable to some who trusted that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.
Two people went to church to pray, one an intellectual, the other a politician. The intellectual, standing by himself, was praying thus, "God I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, capitalists, conservatives or even like this politician. I garden, eat organic and shop fair trade."
The politician, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven but beat his chest saying, "God be merciful to me, a sinner!"
I tell you, this man went home justified rather than the intellectual; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.*

*"Sermon No. 12," Geez magazine, Summer, 2008, p. 38. Amos Nidiffer lives in his native Carter County, Tennessee.

Celtic Prayer

In the spirit of St. Patrick, I offer this

Prayer for Starting the Morning Fire

I will rekindle my fire this morning
In presence of the holy angles [sic] of heaven,
God, kindle Thou my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbour,
To my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all,
To the brave, to the knave, to the thrall . . . .*

Not many of us kindle our own fire in the morning but we might turn up the thermostat. This morning I flipped on the switch that starts my gas fireplace and as I did I prayed this prayer.

It is a prayer I need to pray more often. It is not easy to love my neighbour. It is much easier to love and protect myself. It is easy to find fault with my neighbour. “God, kindle Thou my heart within – A flame of love to my neighbor.”

*From the Carmina Gadelica as quoted in George G. Hunter III, The Celtic Way of Evangelism: How Christianity Can Reach the West. . . Again (Nashville: Abingdon Press) p. 33.