I wonder how many Stanford fans were praying last night (Monday, January 2 during the Fiesta Bowl), and their prayers went unanswered. Jordan Williamson missed three field goals, the most heart breaking one being the hooked kick that would have won the game in the final seconds of regulation time. So were the cowboy’s prayers answered when Quinn Sharp made both his field goal attempts? Is prayer all about getting what we want, then it’s understandable why prayer is so much in evidence during sporting events, especially football games.
Too many of us have matured physically and maybe even emotionally, but remain spiritually stunted, especially when it comes to prayer. Prayer for us is still calling in our orders much like I pick up the phone and order Chinese food. That is one aspect of prayer, for God really does want us to check in with what’s on our hearts and minds, and is concerned about every aspect of our lives, no matter how trivial. But if that is all prayer is in our lives, we’re living as spiritual paupers. That would be akin to thinking that making a grocery list with Lorna constituted a marriage relationship. There is so much more.
Metaphors always fall short, but they can help tease us to a deeper understanding and appreciation for that which is not seen. My life, this moment, is being affected by electrical impulses I cannot see, touch, taste, or hear, but are nevertheless as real as real can be. My cell phone is tuned into a network, along with my computer which is constantly interacting with the outside world through my Wi-Fi connection. When I ride my bike, my little computer reveals my speed and location via GPS signals. There is not only a world of electrical impulses, but there is an unseen world of the Spirit in which God is longing to connect with us at a level that includes, but is even deeper than, conscious thought. That connection is what prayer is.
Over the coming weeks, I desire to grow and mature in my conscious and unconscious contact with God. If Christmas really is about Jesus coming as Emanuel, God with us, and that somehow his life and death made it possible for the Holy Spirit of God to surround me with His presence, then I’m woefully stunted in my deep soul connection with the God who loves me and is with me no matter what. As much as I know and have learned, the more I humbly acknowledge my need for more and more of God’s presence and work in my life. Especially when life’s real field goals are missed and life is not going to work out as I desire. Powerlessness is something I feel acutely when I sit with some of you for whom life’s prayers seem to have no answers, or the answer to our prayers is shaping up as “no.” My heart breaks for the ones among us who are losing their battle with cancer, or who look and look, and there is no work as the bills pile up and the stresses tear down the family structure. I’m disheartened by my own inadequacies and inability to control my most basic impulses. What does prayer look like when words are so inadequate or come not at all?
The Bible declares our groaning becomes the prayers God hears. The first groaning identified as prayer is Exodus 2:23-24: Many years later the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery and cried out. Their cries for relief from their hard labor ascended to God: God listened to their groanings. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. The Psalmist cried out in Psalm 130:1-2: GOD—the bottom has fallen out of my life! O Lord, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy. Something is happening even when my soul groans and the words do not come.
Paul pointed out in Romans 8 that all of creation groans in need of God’s intervention and salvation. He then points to a hope we can cling to no matter what happens: In the same way the Spirit also comes to help us, weak as we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us in groans that words cannot express. And God, who sees into our hearts, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. (Romans 8:26-27)
This Sunday we’ll tease out more hope from the promise that even our groans are shaped into prayers by the God who loves us and is with us no matter what.
Now for what’s on my desk…
For those of you who might be interested in learning more about St. Andrew Presbyterian Church and what it means to be a member, join us for a two-meeting (consecutive Sundays) class that will introduce you to each of the staff members, share with each other about how we got to St. Andrew and answer any questions about the church and discuss the values and beliefs of the church.
Child care and lunch will be provided if you RSVP your attendance by using the Communication Card or notifying the church office or Cathy Macy (cmacy@eahhousing.org) or Hal McCown at (halmccown@sbcglobal.net)
The (two consecutive) classes will be held on Sundays, January 22 and 29 beginning at 12:15 PM and going until 1:30 PM in the Conference Room.
Now you know what I know.
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