This week's author is Karen E. Ziel, Minister of Christian Education for the Connecticut Conference, UCC.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples."
Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say this:
Father:
May your holy name be honored;
may your Kingdom come.
Give us day by day the food we need.
Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong.
And do not bring us to hard testing."
And Jesus said to his disciples,
"Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, 'Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!' And suppose your friend should answer from inside, 'Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
How then shall we pray?
Prayer is one of those Christian disciplines, those habits of the heart, that takes a lifetime of practice. We take the model Jesus gives us and we ask, we seek, we knock, we connect with the One in whom we live and move and have our being. Often, we begin as children with rote prayer in order to learn the form and substance of this universal Spiritual practice.
In my childhood I learned the Lord's Prayer, but it was not the first prayer I recall learning. The first prayer I learned may be familiar to some of you: "Now I lay me down to sleep... if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
As an adult, I became keenly aware that words matter. Language has power. As a young mother, I wanted my children to have a few rote prayers to say as a way of going to God in times of difficulty. It is often during these times that our own words fail us, but those memorized prayers, those of our childhood or youth, will not. In times of joy and thanksgiving, words don't fail me; in times of grief or deep loss, words are much harder to come by.
But I could not share that prayer with my young children. Consequently, we found a book of children's prayers with a gentler version of my own bedtime prayer:
Dearest Jesus, be my light, through the darkest hours of night. Watch and keep your little one, until you bring the morning sun.
Our life of prayer is informed by our understanding of the very nature of God. The practice of praying is one that takes a lifetime to craft, and then, our longing being what it is, our practice will never be fully formed. Yet our life of prayer perhaps reveals as much as any of the Christian Practices. It is a habit of the heart that I seek as often as it seeks me.
O Most Compassionate Life-Giver, may we honor and praise you; may we work with you to establish your new order of justice, peace and love. Give us what we need for growth, and help us, through forgiving others, to accept forgiveness. Strengthen us in the time of testing; that we may resist all evil, for all the tenderness, strength and love are yours, now and forever. Amen.
- Bill Wallace, New Zealand
Please remember:
the family and friends of the Rev. Dr. John Butosi, pastor emeritus of the United Church of Christ of Bridgeport and bishop emeritus of the UCC's Calvin Synod, who died on July 12.
Please remember:
Our churches in Haddam Neck, Hadlyme, Middle Haddam, and Mystic that have suffered burglaries in the last couple weeks.
the staff and conferees at Silver Lake Conference Center this week, growing, learning and taking joy together in God's creation.
Hilary Willard, daughter to Bob Willard and the Rev. Claire Bamberg, transitional pastor of the Congregational Church of Plainville, UCC, who was injured in a car accident and discovered additional health concerns;
the Rev. Noel Velez, former Minister of Hispanic Ministries in the Connecticut Conference, recovering from surgery in Florida;
Elizabeth Naylor, daughter-in-law of the Rev. Robert Naylor, pastor of the Second Congregational Church UCC in Greenwich, who is being treated for lymphoma;
the Rev. M. J. Hinchliff, pastor of First Church of Christ, Congregational, UCC, of East Haddam, who is being treated for cancer;
the Rev. Marcia C. Eveland, pastor of the First Congregational Church UCC of Ansonia, who has suffered a seriously broken wrist;
the Rev. Dr. Davida Foy Crabtree and her spouse, David, and their daughter Elizabeth, who suffered a stroke on December 12 and is undergoing rehabilitation;
the Rev. Nancy Allen, associate minister of Immanuel Congregational Church UCC in Hartford, as she undergoes cancer treatment;
our partners in the Kyung-Ki Presbytery and their communities on the Korean peninsula, with prayers for peace in the midst of increased tension;
the people of Kyrgyzstan, particularly in the region of Osh, where violence and rioting have left hundreds grieving and forced from their homes;
residents of the Gulf Coast affected by the disastrous oil rig failure, the families of the workers who died, and all those seeking to contain the well and protect the coastlines;
the people of Haiti recovering from the devastation of the earthquake and the people who seek to aid them;
this nation, that it may continue its difficult work to end the practices of racism;
the Conference's partners working for peace in Colombia amidst violence;
the leaders of this nation, that they may meet the challenges of the day with insight, wisdom, and compassion;
those suffering due to the ongoing financial woes of the nation, be they struggling to meet an unaffordable mortgage, confronting the loss of a job, or working to find just resolutions to the crisis; and
those serving or living in war or conflict zones around the world, or where terrorists have struck, particularly in Uganda, Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Israel, Gaza, and the Sudan.
To be added to the prayer list, please send an email to Rev. Eric Anderson at: webmaster@ctucc.org.
First Church of Bethlehem, UCC
IN The Rev. Marc Trister
MM Mr. Allan Kakowski
Bloomfield
First Cong'l Ch in Bloomfield
P The Rev. Deborah J. Blood
CE Ms. Dorine DeCarli
Bolton
Bolton Congregational Church UCC
P The Rev. Charles H. Ericson
CE Ms. Jane Hooper
Branford
First Cong'l Church
P The Rev. Gary W. Smith
AP The Rev. Susan Trucksess
AP The Rev. Theresa Borchetta
AP The Rev. Vance A. Taylor
MM Ms. Kathryn Nichols
CE Ms. Lisa O'Brien
Bridgeport
First United Church of Christ
IN The Rev. Karen DeWerth-Wamester
To read previous editions of the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/spiritcalendar/
To learn more about or subscribe to the Spirit Calendar, visit:
http://www.ctucc.org/fido/
The Spirit Calendar: July 19, 2010 by Karen E. Ziel, Minister of Christian Education
