Kneeling

Recently I have worshipped in the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church.  I am not turning in my credentials as a Methodist pastor, I have just been visiting.  One of the things I have noticed is that these folks spend a lot of time on their knees.  Kneeling rails are on the back of each pew and everyone but me seemed to know exactly when the knee time began and ended.  Some people even come in and immediately go to the kneeling posture.  

I grew up in a Methodist tradition when kneeling was not as uncommon as a shooting star.  We did not kneel on kneeling rails in the pews, but went to the altar up front to kneel and pray.  Most Sunday night worship services (another anachronism) ended after prayer time at the altar.  It has been a long time since I have seen a Methodist kneeling.  Why, we don't even bother to kneel while receiving communion.  We just get up, walk up front, hold out our hands and receive the Communion without breaking stride.  It could be said that it is almost as fast as the drive through at the fast food joint.  

I commend my Catholic and Episcopalian brothers and sisters for kneeling so much.  I wish the church that ordained me could once again embrace the practice of inviting people to kneel.  Kneeling is good for the ego.  It gives it some much needed perspective.   Kneeling is good for the soul.  Modeling a contrite heart is a good thing.  An old friend and Episcopal priest used to say, "There is a God and it ain't you!"  Kneeling helps us remember. 

Morning Repentance

"Lord, I am not what I seem to be.  I find myself doing those things I ought not to do and at the same time I do not do those things that I ought to do. (Romans 8:19).  It is not the visible things I do which trouble me, but those thoughts and attitudes lingering in a heart which looks like to others that it longs for nothing but Your love.  Forgive me, Lord, Jesus.  Each time I come to the moment of receiving the bread and the cup in holy gatherings, I see Your unconditional love and the sin in me which still seeks to control.  

Along with all the others I must confess that I have sinned against You, not once, but more times than I can count.  How grateful I am for Your mercy and grace.  I must also confess, Lord Jesus, that my sin is not just in my thoughts, but also in my word and deed.  I see my neighbor in need and look the other way.  I find it too easy to justify my not doing by saying I know not what to do.  You have never asked anything of me except to love You with my whole heart and even this I fail to do.  The heart I have given is the heart I often reach out to take back.  Lord, how can You invite me to Your table?  

I know I am not worthy to be present, but to be present is life giving to this weary soul.  Lord Jesus, have mercy upon me and once again I ask for the blessing of Your forgiveness.  Strengthen me, Lord.  Keep showing me the way.  Enable me by the power of Your Holy Spirit to live in Your will and to know nothing but hunger for righteousness.  In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit I pray and ask once more for the blessings of grace which abide in Your heart.  Amen"

Morning Blessings

Bless the sun that rises to give light and life.  

Bless the tree that gives shade and fruit.

Bless the squirrels that find their home.

Bless the birds that herald the new day.

Bless the grass sparkling the new light.

Bless the wind that stirs the stillness.

Bless the gifts all these blessings give.

Bless You, Creator God, for every gift.

Bless You, Son, for the light of lights.

Bless You, Spirit, for showing the way.

Bless the gracious grace that gives life.

Bless the precious blood that was given.

Bless the tongues of fire still burning.

Bless the Kingdom here and coming.

Bless the ones overcome with fear.

Bless those who live full of hunger.

Bless lives long empty of any hope.

Bless the old ones living but forgotten.

Bless the bodies being eaten by disease.

Bless those who expect no blessings.

Bless souls who have forgotten home.

Bless the hurried on their way nowhere.

Bless the seekers of a different way.

Bless the souls who have had enough.

Bless the hearts who are thirsty for more.

Bless all those longing only for love.

Bless those who search for truth.

Bless all these folks for they are we. 

Morning Intercession

 "Lord, I am here again this morning to pray for some people in need of Your help.  I cannot help but remember that story Luke tells about four guys who bring a paralyzed friend to Jesus.  "They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way...they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of of Jesus..."  (Luke 5:17-19).  

Lord, I want to pray like those four men.  I really care about the people for whom I pray.  Some of them are not going to live without Your help.  Some of them are battling needs far greater than they can meet own their own.  Some of them are really desperate for you to touch them.  I feel like I have been letting them down.  I know their need and I fall asleep while praying.  They have told me of their hurt and I often give up without being as persistent as those men on the roof who interceded for their hopeless friend.  Lord, I sometimes feel that the folks for whom I pray stay trapped in their circumstance because my prayers lack the expectation and the persistence of those roof top intercessors.  

As I say this to You, Lord, I want to cry for letting them down.  For letting You down, too.  I ask You to forgive me, Lord.  I ask You to use my inadequate prayers because these folks need the help of real spiritual intercessors and not those like me.  Let them not suffer because of my unfaithfulness.  And, Lord, keep looking up.  If You can help me in my weakness, maybe one day You will look up and see my face peering through the broken roof.  Amen."

Not A Snake Handler

There was a time, and perhaps that time still exists in some places, when some churches of the Appalachian mountains practiced snake handing in worship.  Of course, the snakes being handled were not the common rat snake which is found in barns, or the common green snake which stays hidden in the grass, but venomous snakes such the rattlesnake.  It is based on a few verses at the end of Mark which are not normally included in most of the ancient manuscripts. The supposition is that if you have faith the poisonous snake will not bite, or if it does, it will not be a killing bite.  

I thought about this today after coming home from worship in the local Episcopal Church.  This thought came as Communion was offered by use of a common cup.  Dipping the bread in the common cup is about as near as I can go to taking the cup and drinking from it after a hundred or more have had a sip.  Oh, I know wine is regarded as an antiseptic and I watched the priest wipe the cup after each person took a drink from the cup.  I even noticed the cup being turned just a tad after each person shared the common cup.  

Don't get me wrong.  I love Jesus.  The Sacrament which is shared is regarded highly.  There is nothing like sharing the Holy Meal with the people or God.  My problem is I did not even eat or drink after my own children and to drink after a room full of strange people is a bridge I cannot cross.  Intinction is about as close as I can come to sharing the common cup.  I guess I just don't have enough faith to think that a rattlesnake bite would not be fatal.  Neither can I force myself to believe that faith will wipe away all the germs from the holy cup.

Morning Gratitude

 "I ask not on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their words that they may all be one." (John 17:20).  Lord, I am one of those for whom You have prayed.  I am one of those who believes because of the way the word of Your disciples has rippled through the centuries to this very day.  Lord, I am their debtor.  I am Your debtor.  I have had many pray for me, but to know  that You have prayed for me is too high a thing to consider.  Thank You, Jesus, for holding even me in Your heart when You prayed that day long ago before the Father.  

I thank You, Jesus, for letting me know that the effects of praying is not bounded or limited by time.  I know now that the prayers I prayed do not die with me, but their power continues until that day when You might choose to use them for Your good.  I guess I thought that prayers had an expiration date on them, but I surely have been wrong in such a thought.  "How great are Your works, O Lord!"  (Psalm 92:5).  O Lord, You have prayed for me.  How can I thank You for this gift of Your prayers!  

And even more, how can I thank You for the prayers You offer for me today?  I remember what Your Words says and to remember stirs such gratitude in my heart.  "It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us." (Romans 8:34).  Lord, I know no words that are enough. The thought that You have not only prayed for me, but even now, in this very minute, continue to pray for me is more than my spirit can comprehend.  All I know to do is to thank You, Lord Jesus, Son of God.  Thank You.  Thank You.  Amen"

Morning Prayer

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.  Your Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread,  And forgive us...."  (Matthew 6:9-12).   Wait a minute, Lord.  You just said to pray, "Thy will be done."  Seriously, Lord?  If I pray, "Thy will be done,"  there is not much reason to continue to pray.  It seems to me this morning, Lord, that those four words about cover it all.  Maybe I have prayed all that is necessary and I can go back to the sheets from which I have come.  

The truth is my heart tells me there is more.  Before you started this prayer, You said to those who followed you and surely knew about prayer, "Pray then in this way."  (Matthew 6:8).  So, this prayer is not just one directed to the Father in heaven, but also a prayer offered as a teaching tool in our behalf.  After You prayed, "Thy will be done,"  You did not say, "Amen," but went on praying about specific things like daily needs, forgiveness, reconciliation, dealing with difficulties, and struggling with Satan.  Maybe "Thy will be done" appears to say it all, but then again, You obviously did not intend for those words to be a stopping point.  

In fact, I hear You teaching in this prayer that Your will cannot be done if we are not serious about the state of our own heart.  To pray these other things You mentioned points us forward into the unfolding life to which You are calling us.  It points us toward praying for these things to be accomplished in our own life as a way of bringing earth in alignment with heaven's intentions. So, help me Lord, to learn to depend on You, to put my ego aside for Your sake, and to live confident that no darkness or evil can overcome me.  This I know this morning to be Your will for this world around me and for this life You have given me to live within it.  Thank You, Jesus, for teaching us the way. Amen"