A thought for this Lenten season:
One way of thinking about prayer is that it is cooperation with the One who seeks our wellbeing, the One who seeks the well being of the world in which we live, the natural world, the political world, the economic world.
Douglas Steere said, “The great Christian men and women of prayer have always looked upon prayer as a response to the ceaseless outpouring of love and concern with which God lays siege to every soul. Prayer for them is a response to the prior love of God… the only appropriate reply that a man or woman could make who had been made aware of the love at the heart of things.” To sense God’s ceaseless outpouring of love is to want to love God back through every relationship that a man or woman touches, which prayer helps us do.
Prayer is step one in how we actively cooperate with the One who seeks our wellbeing and the wellbeing of others. We are to pray for ourselves and for others, including the city or towns in which we live and work. In Jeremiah 29:7,8 the prophet tells the exiles to Babylon, “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.”
We may sometimes forget that we’re all in this thing together, but the Bible never does. It’s not just “God and me,” but “God, others, and me.” And because God is the Love at the heart of it all, my task is to enjoy this love and help others experience it also.
1 comment:
One of the changes we've noticed the most at Grace is all the required standing during the service.
We have to stand for almost ten minutes of the opening and almost as much during the end....plus another song during the service..
In the past we stood for the opening song and was able to sit for the prayer of confession.....which seems much more appropriate.
The service is not near as comfortable in the past......and please don't suggest we have the option to sit.
I know this the feeling of many members, not just myself.
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