What Do Our Prayer Postures Tell Us?

 What did you hear during our Joys and Concerns praying last week?  What did you notice?

I noticed our postures…we didn't bow our heads like we usually do in church when we pray.  And didn’t Jesus often look up when he prayed?  I wonder what our postures can tell us?

Our postures last week were similar to our postures during circle conversation - postures of listening.

“Just as love to God begins with listening to his Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I’ve been thinking a lot about love this week.  I joined the CVC Advisory to serve the church, but now it has evolved into a committee that is surrounded and immersed in so much love that I can’t imagine my life without it.  It reminds me of Paul’s prayer for the church in Ephesus.  In his letter to them we read:

And I ask him that with both feet planted firmly on love, you’ll be able to take in with all followers of Jesus the extravagant dimensions of Christ’s love. Reach out and experience the breadth! Test its length! Plumb the depths! Rise to the heights! Live full lives, full in the fullness of God.

The Advisory Committee prays for each other often.  We hold each other up and we bear each other’s burdens.  We pray for each other because we love each other. 

And that love involves as much listening as it does praying. In order to pray for each other we need to invite confession of problems and weaknesses and then listen. 

That invitation and listening was what I noticed during our Joys and Concerns prayers last week.  It was a joy to see and to hear.  

This week, we will stay with Romans 8:20-28:

All around us we observe a pregnant creation.  The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. But it’s not only around us; it’s within us. The Spirit of God is arousing us within. We’re also feeling the birth pangs. These sterile and barren bodies of ours are yearning for full deliverance. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don’t see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

I know that Rev. Donna will be listening as well as speaking.  

Image by wayhomestudio on Freepik

How is Community Prayer Different from Personal Prayer? Is it OK to Pray for Ourselves During Community Prayer?

 

How is the praying we do in worship (“community prayer”) different from personal prayer?  Is it OK to pray for ourselves during community prayer?  These are just two of the questions that the CVC Advisory Committee grappled with this week.  What are your questions about prayer? 

We probably have all prayed for people we love in personal prayer.  But all kinds of things can affect how each of us enter into community prayer.  We recently talked in Circle Conversation about why community prayer is difficult, and the barriers were many.  We have also discovered through Circle Conversation that many of us are introverts.  This affects how we speak.  Did you know that extroverts think out loud and introverts think about their words before they say them?  

God loves us all just the way we are.  Being silent during prayer time is OK - some of us are thinking and some of us are trying to find the words, the emotions can be difficult…many reasons, right? 

Romans 8:26-28:

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

Community prayer can draw us closer together, though, as I have discovered at the Advisory Committee.  When we pray together we share our concerns with each other.  

What can watching Jesus teach us about prayer?  Did Jesus pray in community or just alone?  We know that Jesus often went away to pray by himself.

But in the passage we read last week, when Jesus taught his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, did you notice that the pronouns are plural?  “Our father…Give us this day our daily bread…Forgive us our  trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”  So the Lord’s Prayer is actually a community prayer.

And in John 17,  just before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus shared a final Passover meal with his friends.  Right before leaving the Upper Room, he prayed for himself, for his disciples, and for all believers.  And he did this with his friends.  I invite you to read it - it’s a great example of community prayer.

So yes, Jesus prayed alone and in community.  And He shows us that it is OK to pray for ourselves in church!

I hope you can join us this week for worship and praying.  Rev. Donna will be reflecting on Romans 8:22 - 28; I invite you to read that ahead of time.

image: Freepik.com

Put Your Own Mask On Before Helping the Person Beside You

For better or for worse, Donald Trump has just been inaugurated as President of the USA.  I say better, not because I don't believe that by many objective measures the country isn't better off now than when Obama took office, but better because I wish him and our closest neighbours well.

Throughout Trump's speech, I was reminded of the airline's instructions to "Put your own mask on before helping the person beside you."  Donald Trump sincerely believes that America needs to help itself for awhile.  He doesn't think that the USA is the "shining city on the hill" any more.  There are too many people living in poverty, there is too much crime and drugs, too much fear of terrorism.

Once again I am reminded of Brexit.  The people who are struggling voted for change.  I hope with all my heart, that in four years these struggling people are living a better life and that America is feeling that it can once again look outward instead of inward.

I am also thanking God that I live in a country where most of the citizens feel that they have enough to share with their neighbours from outside.  We feel like our mask is securely on and that we can help the person beside us.

Amazing Grace

It's been kind of a heavy week.  There is a sense of mourning in the air - Remembrance Day, Leonard Cohen's death, the US election.

And yet, if we are alert, God's amazing grace is all around us.  In an unexpected flower, a rainbow, a spider's web in the rain.

My prayer for us all this day, is that we are able to see and feel God's grace.  Leonard Cohen did.  He asked for it in every poem he wrote.  He knew, that even in the darkness, God is always beside us.  Cohen knew how to talk to God; he was a great psalmist. 

Brexit Lesson 3 - How Should We React When People Leave?

In my last Brexit post, I provided a bit of history to refresh our memories on what has happened in the forty years since Britain joined the EU.

One of the things we saw from the history is that in the European Union, like in most communities, the membership changes over time.  People leave for various reasons and new people join.  That is why it is important to bring in new people, because others will leave.  People leaving isn't in and of itself a bad thing.  It may be inevitable.  So why are those who voted to leave being labelled racist?

I'm not suggesting that there aren't racist people in Britain.  We've seen some ugly evidence of racism since June 23.  But the Leavers aren't all racist.  What is racism, anyway?  Back to the dictionary we go:

Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior

No, the Leavers aren't using racial discrimination based on a belief in racial superiority as a reason for leaving.  Voting to leave due to the economic effects of immigration is not the same as racism.

The other label that the Leavers are being given is ignorant.  Having a different opinion doesn't make them ignorant.

Today's lesson is for everyone who lives in community (i.e. all of us).  We should think carefully before we label someone because they hold different opinions than we do.  Honest and rational debate doesn't need name calling.  If I think honestly about the last time I labelled someone, I catch a whiff of that superiority referred to above in the definition of racism.  Ouch!

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothers eye."  - Luke 6:41-42

Brexit - Lesson 2 - Bigger, Not Better

There was a time when Britain wanted to join the European Union.  They did so in 1973, when it was called the European Community.  And they wanted to stay - in 1975 a referendum was held in Britain, and 66% voted to stay.  This tells me that the objectives of the European Community and Britain were well aligned.  The British people thought that their interests were best served by staying in the Community.

So what changed between 1975 and 2016?  Forty years is a long time.  Here are the highlights of the history of the European Union:

• By 1975 there were nine countries in the European Union:  Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland.
• 1983 - 1985 - Greece, Spain, and Portugal joined.
• 1986 - The Single European Act was signed, creating “an area without frontiers in which the free movement of goods and persons, services and capital is ensured.”
• 1990 - East and West Germany were unified.
• 1993 - The Maastricht Treaty created the Euro Currency.  Britain negotiated an opt out clause.
• 1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden joined.
• 2002 - Euro banknotes and coins were introduced.
• 2004 - 10 new Eastern European countries joined the European Union.
• 2007 - Bulgaria and Rumania joined.
• 2008 - A financial crisis hit the global economy.
• 2013 Croatia became the 28th member country.

By the time of the recent Referendum, the European Union was a very different community from the one that the United Kingdom had ratified in 1975.  Several countries in the Union have had severe banking and fiscal crises.  Youth unemployment in these countries is at an all time high.  Poorer, Eastern European countries have joined.  Migration from these countries to the more affluent countries is occurring.

Had Britain not already have been a member, would they have joined the EU in the last few years?  I don't think anyone would have even tried to argue that it would be in their interest to do so.  So why should we be surprised if they leave?

The lesson here is that bigger is not always better.  As new members join a community, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep everyone's goals in alignment so that continued alliance makes sense for everyone.  Community leaders must work extremely hard to continually monitor and change, if necessary, the constitutions of organizations as membership changes through growth.

Brexit Lessons: A Failed Community - Lesson 1

For the first Part of this series, you can read an introduction here.  In this Part I'll begin to look at meeting the needs of community members.

In any community, at any point in time, you will have some members who are dissatisfied with the status quo.  That is why people move from place to place, in search of better neighbourhoods, better living conditions, better economic opportunities or jobs.  By better, I simply mean more suited to their needs at this point in time.  When people move it does not mean that the community has failed necessarily, although it may mean that.

So, is the European Union a "failed community"?  Everyone seems to be reacting as if it is.  Back to the Oxford Dictionary we go.  What is the definition of failed?

not achieving its end or not lasting; unsuccessful

As I understand it, the European Union is largely an economic union, and many countries have wanted to join since its inception.  I think that one of the ends (or objectives), was to have this economic union continue.  This is the first time that a country has voted to leave.  The leaders of Britain and of the European Union were so unprepared for the result of this vote, that I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this is an example of a failure.

If you are the leader of a community and you would like to keep your members, you must understand their needs and meet them.  Did the leaders of the European Union do that?  Many people in Britain would say not.  Given how surprised and unprepared leaders seem to be, despite continuing polls warning of the very real possibility, I would have to agree with them.

So how should community leaders respond to this lesson?  In order to keep your members, perhaps one should deliberately seek out the disenfranchised and work hard to understand their needs.  Once you understand their needs, you can decide what they mean to the community and how best to respond.  The possible responses are many.  Questions for another day.

From everyone who has been given much; much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  - Luke 12:48

Brexit Lessons: A Failed Community - Introduction

If you've read recent posts on this blog, you will know that I've been thinking about community.  The Oxford Dictionary defines community as:

a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.

So, the European Union is a community of sorts.  As I read about Brexit, I am thinking about lessons we can learn about Britain's (not unanimous) decision to leave the community.  After all, if we are not learning lessons from this, why are we spending so much time wallowing in the sordid details?

These are the questions that are rattling around in my brain:

• What went wrong?
• What does it mean to be a member of a community?
• How can we improve our communities so that this doesn't happen? 
• Or should it happen?  Should communities naturally evolve in this fashion?
• If it should happen, how do we make it less painful?
• What are the responsibilities of people who manage or lead the community?  Of people who live in community?
• How big should a community be - geographically or how many "particular characteristics?"
• How will the community respond now? What new communities will form? 

I'm going to try and answer them in a series of short blog posts, for as long as questions keep rattling.  The questions will change over time, I'm sure; some will become irrelevant, some will be added.

Reminded Again....

...that we are not alone.  



I was struggling with inspiration for this blog and saw on Instagram this morning that #30daysofbiblelettering is returning on July 1.  Yippee!

"This project is about writing one bible verse every day for 30 consecutive days (official start is July 1st) in any style you enjoy. You may hand letter it, do a collage, use an iPhone app like “over” or photoshop, basically anyway you want to. "  You can find out more here.

A Wider Sense of Community

To sketchbook artists, Danny Gregory needs no further introduction.  He is the successful author of several books about creativity and sketching.  He is busy promoting his latest book, in which he discusses the "monkey", the name he uses for the voice in our heads that criticizes and discourages:



 

 

 

This morning on his blog, Gregory wrote about community, and how he has used the Internet to reach out to form communities.  Twice he has formed electronic bulletin boards to bring people together who were struggling with the issues that he was, and says "I found that sharing what I was going through with other people helped me and help them."

 

I have heard Gregory speak about this philosophy before.  Helping others is one of his core values and seems to be at the heart (and start) of every one of his projects.  I can't think of a better way to become commercially successful!  You can read Gregory's blog post at:  Patti and the Monkey.

 

How to Build Community

 

I found this postcard on one of the blogs I follow, Postcards in the Air.  Martha received it from Canada, and I sourced it at Still Eagle, in my home province of British Columbia, Canada.

 

I've been thinking about community a lot lately.  I do many of the things on this list regularly - I walk, shop, and worship in my neighbourhood.  People on the street often look at me strangely when I greet them - Vancouver is not known to be one of Canada's friendliest cities.  Listening to the birds is one of my favorite things, and a few days ago I rescued three pre-school children from a second storey roof, but that's another story.

 

But I always think that I could do more.

 

Special thanks to Janice who encouraged me to keep going with this blog.  "Of course I'll expect you to post every day," she went on to say.  "From your lips to God's ears," I responded, and then today I found this postcard.

 

Who knows what's next?