{"id":1964,"date":"2013-03-03T19:31:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T02:31:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=1964"},"modified":"2013-03-03T19:31:27","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T02:31:27","slug":"march-3-2013-whats-on-your-mind-to-pray-or-not-to-pray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2013\/03\/03\/march-3-2013-whats-on-your-mind-to-pray-or-not-to-pray\/","title":{"rendered":"March 3, 2013, "What's on YOUR Mind? To Pray or Not to Pray?""},"content":{"rendered":"

Message 123 , \u201cWhat\u2019s On Your Mind?\u00a0 To Prayer of Not to Pray?\u201d, 3-3-13\"prayer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

(c) Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

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Download the message here:<\/p>\n\n

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Around ten years ago when I was in the midst of a phase in my life when conservative Christianity was a way to cleanse me of gay shame, I regularly engaged in many of the rites that I believed were a necessary part of being a good Christian.\u00a0 I prayed a lot – with people I served in Pastoral Care, with small prayer groups I joined, with other Pastors, on my own, and at every meal.\u00a0 I even naively forced it on my daughters – asking them to pray with me at their bedtimes and to hold hands with me in prayer before each meal.<\/p>\n

In one horrifying event for my daughters, we were at a local McDonald\u2019s and I insisted they join me in bowing our heads while I gave thanks for the food.\u00a0 Whether thankfulness for Chicken McNuggets is worthy of God or not, I\u2019m not sure!\u00a0 But my daughters still tease me about that episode and how they blushed and stared straight ahead while I bowed my head and said a far too lengthy prayer.\u00a0 Much like most self-conscious teenagers, they were sure that every person in that McDonald\u2019s was staring at us, talking about us and pointing their fingers at us\u00a0 – \u201clook at that odd praying dad and his girls!\u201d\u00a0 They scolded me for praying in public when private piety would have been much better – and less embarrassing to them!<\/p>\n

I also remember that around that time that a well known Pastor at a very large local church was seriously injured during a minor surgery.\u00a0 His abdominal aorta was punctured and he was actually dead for several minutes.\u00a0 As a result, most of his internal organs lost oxygen and shut down.\u00a0 After his heart was restarted, he lingered in intensive care, near death, for many weeks.\u00a0 His doctors said that he would either die or be in a coma for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n

Pastors and members from evangelical churches around the city and around the world began a prayer vigil for him – one that was organized so that it would be continuous.\u00a0 Tens of thousands of people participated and chose specific times each day to pray for him.\u00a0 I was one of them.<\/p>\n

This Pastor survived and, while his recovery was lengthy, his escape from the brink of death and eventual return to ministry was seen as a miracle.\u00a0 Most said it was due to the countless prayers.\u00a0 The Pastor himself said that prayers were instrumental in his healing. God had answered the many faithful pleas in his behalf.<\/p>\n

About a year after that, a member of my congregation was diagnosed with advanced cancer.\u00a0 She was not given long to live.\u00a0 She was a woman of deep faith with many friends.\u00a0 My church began a prayer vigil for her that included hundreds of people.\u00a0 She also fervently prayed for healing and her life became even more devoted to the God she believed would save her.\u00a0 Sadly, after an eight month health battle, she died.<\/p>\n

In this March messages series entitled \u201cWhat\u2019s on Your <\/i>Mind?\u201d, I\u2019ve chosen a topic suggested to me by Wayne Butterfass.\u00a0 He hopes it might complement a discussion Stuart led on a fourth Sunday a few months ago.\u00a0 As Wayne asked in his e-mail to me, \u201cAre my prayers being answered?\u00a0 The small ones seem to be answered, but the big ones – like asking for a friend with pancreatic cancer to be cured \u2013 they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with that question, we might also ask why should we pray?\u00a0 Does prayer offer us any benefit?\u00a0 What can be said about showy prayers made in public over Chicken McNuggets or prayers for victory before football games or prayers for greater wealth, career success, romantic happiness or our nation\u2019s blessing?\u00a0 Is there a God or any force listening to us?\u00a0\u00a0 For believers and the religiously skeptical alike, does prayer have value?\u00a0 Are prayers answered in any way that can make sense?<\/p>\n

My understanding of spirituality is not concerned with whether or not God or any other supernatural being answers<\/span><\/i><\/b> prayer.\u00a0 Such a concern involves the existence of God and is a matter of personal faith.\u00a0 Here at the Gathering, believers and skeptics are equally welcomed and respected.\u00a0 We participate in the life of the congregation – and in prayer – together.\u00a0 If one believes that an active and loving God or supernatural being is involved in human affairs, then one will believe that she or he answers prayers.\u00a0 Theistic skeptics, on the other hand, refute the existence of God and thus, of course, deny that prayers are answered.<\/p>\n

But such arguments about the existence of a divine being are pointless and ignore the very real benefits of a spiritual life.\u00a0 As a culture, we get caught up in such a debate while overlooking the many common spiritual beliefs and practices we can share.\u00a0\u00a0 All people have a god-force within them.\u00a0 We are imbued with goodness and great abilities to shape our lives and our world for the better.\u00a0 In that regard, prayer is a powerful medium of communication.\u00a0 Prayer speaks the longings in the deepest recesses of our souls.\u00a0 It expresses our hopes, dreams and fears.\u00a0 It gives voice to our collective yearnings and, as a result, prayer helps to unite us, instruct us in the ways of life, and inspire us to act.\u00a0 If WE are the gods and goddesses that can improve the world, then prayer is our communal call to action.\u00a0 It is the soothing song of peace.\u00a0 It is the quiet voice of redemption and forgiveness.\u00a0 It is the vision of a brighter and more just future.\u00a0 Prayer has value.\u00a0 Prayers are truly answered every day.\u00a0 Prayer works.<\/p>\n

It is said that when the human species first uttered a prayer or plea to some higher power, religion was created.\u00a0 Indeed, prayer is the essence of spirituality.\u00a0\u00a0 Prayer is ultimately an expression of human hope which is pretty much what we do here every Sunday with our readings, our songs, our conversations and our attendance.\u00a0 We hope to be better people; we hope to unite and find community with others; we hope to find insight in how the universe works and how we can improve it.<\/p>\n

But, hopefully, we do not leave it at that.\u00a0 Each Sunday, I pray (!) we each leave with some sense of purpose, some inner resolve to take what we have learned, to use what inspired us, to leverage old and new friendships – and then go out and DO something with them.\u00a0 As Mahatma Gandhi once said, \u201cPrayer is not an old person’s idle amusement.\u00a0\u00a0 Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of action<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

And, as I said earlier, world religions largely concur.\u00a0 In his Sermon on the Mount address, Jesus taught a summation of his sense of spirituality.\u00a0 Blessed are the meek, the humble, the peacemakers, and the merciful.\u00a0 Love your enemies, forgive them and never demand an eye for an eye.\u00a0 Seek the way of peace.\u00a0 As a foundation for all of his teachings, he asked that we root out and expose all forms of inner and external hypocrisy.\u00a0 Don\u2019t condemn physical murder when you murder with your angry words.\u00a0 Don\u2019t condemn adultery when you secretly lust in your heart and mind.\u00a0 Don\u2019t claim to be a loving person if you hold bitterness toward anyone.\u00a0 Don\u2019t showcase your charity when all you really want to do is show off how good you are.\u00a0 Don\u2019t pray in public when what you really want to do is appear pious.\u00a0 Do these things humbly, quietly and without fanfare.\u00a0 Ultimately, he asked that we align our heart motivation with how we act.<\/p>\n

And then he taught a suggested prayer – what we commonly call the Jesus Prayer – one that includes ALL of the spiritual elements of a worthy prayer.\u00a0 The Bible offers two versions of the Jesus Prayer – one each in the books of Matthew and Luke.\u00a0 While the meaning is the same in both prayer versions, the words are different.\u00a0 This suggests that those who heard Jesus\u2019 model prayer were not concerned with the exact words.\u00a0 It was the meaning and the ideas of what he taught that had significance.\u00a0 And that speaks to us today.\u00a0 There are multiple versions of the Jesus Prayer and no single one is better than any other.\u00a0 Good versions capture the essence of what Jesus intended for us to pray.\u00a0 Indeed, his overall intent was for prayer to be an expression of universal hopes.<\/p>\n

If we consider the words from the standard Jesus Prayer, we first find an attitude of submission<\/span> to something greater than ourselves, \u201cOur Mother or Father who is in heaven, holy be your name…\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 Such an expression reminds us that we are NOT the center of creation, whether or not we identify a God or a higher power to which we pray.\u00a0 Our prayers should both acknowledge and express this idea – that there are forces and powers and forms of creation much, much greater than we.\u00a0 We submit ourselves to our own personal understanding of what is greater than us – to God, to Jesus, to the power of love, or to the goodness of human intention.<\/p>\n

Further, we find in the Jesus Prayer that our prayers should be inclusive<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0 Prayer should not be self-focused and they ought to avoid pronouns of \u201cme\u201d and \u201cI\u201d, using instead \u201cwe\u201d and \u201cus\u201d.\u00a0 Jesus taught that truth in his suggested prayer – \u201cgive us…\u201d, \u201cdeliver us…\u201d, \u201cforgive us…\u201d, \u201clead us…\u201d<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

Additionally, Jesus teaches us with his model prayer that we should not ask for the desires of life – money, power, and material things but, instead, for simple sustenance. \u00a0\u201cGive us our daily bread…\u201d<\/b> instead of \u201cGrant me a new car, or a romantic partner or a healthy body.\u201d\u00a0 The intent that Jesus suggested in his model prayer is for us to dwell less on ourselves than on others, less on material needs than on deeper life lessons.\u00a0 We ask for ourselves only the basics of life – daily food, shelter and clothing.\u00a0 Such an attitude gets at the heart of spirituality – if we live life not with a \u201cme\u201d attitude but with a genuine desire to serve and love others, we will often find the contentment we seek.\u00a0\u00a0 Universal laws of karma and reaping what we sow apply.\u00a0 When we send out honest hopes for the well-being of others, they will return to us.\u00a0 Good creates good.\u00a0 Love fosters love.\u00a0 Generosity inspires generosity.\u00a0 In this way, Jesus implicitly told us that our prayers WILL<\/b> be answered – not by God but by ourselves and by others.\u00a0 We send out into the world attitudes and acts of love that will return to us.<\/p>\n

As one of the high ethics of spiritual living, Jesus also taught in his model prayer that we must be humble.\u00a0 We pray to be forgiven of our misdeeds as much as we are willing to forgive others.\u00a0 \u201cForgive us our trespasses as we forgive those<\/b> who trespass against us.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 The implied lesson is to forgive as much as we ask to be forgiven.\u00a0\u00a0 Once again, Jesus told us our prayers will be answered not by God but by us.\u00a0 If we forgive generously, we too will be forgiven generously.\u00a0 We will reap what we sow.<\/p>\n

Equal to that teaching is the idea that we are weak people.\u00a0 \u201cLead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.\u201d<\/b>\u00a0 We make mistakes.\u00a0 We sin.\u00a0 We hurt ourselves and others.\u00a0 We daily fall short of our desire to be good and loving people.\u00a0 Our prayer is for help in avoiding mistakes – for insight, encouragement, teaching and modeling of behavior from others.\u00a0 God is not our help in avoiding temptations.\u00a0 Our rational minds, our friends, our faith communities, and our contented hearts all show us pathways to goodness.\u00a0 Prayer inspires us to such goodness and we, indeed, fulfill its request.\u00a0 We seek to be good.\u00a0\u00a0 God does not do this.\u00a0 We do.<\/p>\n

Honest prayer, according to Jesus, is also about trust in a brighter future.\u00a0 It is hope filled instead of angry, defeatist and negative.\u00a0 Prayer is persistent and regular.\u00a0 It is not saved for times of crisis but for frequent expressions of hope, gratitude, love and forgiveness.\u00a0\u00a0 In that regard, once again, prayers are answered!\u00a0 If our attitudes are focused not just on needs – those of ourselves or others – but on joy, thankfulness and generosity – we will be people who find that abundance in our lives.\u00a0 This is an attitude focused not on what we individually or collectively can GET but on what we individually and collectively can GIVE.\u00a0\u00a0 This is how prayer is a language of action!\u00a0 As we pray for the healing of another, we pray for how we can help him or her – how a word of support, a gesture of kindness, a listening ear or a simple expression of love can bind up any wound and heal any aching heart.\u00a0 Instead of asking to be loved by another, we ask instead how we can love another – how we can befriend, care for or love another.\u00a0 Once again, WE insure that prayer is answered because we are inspired to act.\u00a0\u00a0 When we serve, we will be served.<\/p>\n

Such positive and others focused prayers have tremendous power.\u00a0 Science has shown in several double blind studies that those who are sick do better and heal faster when they know they are prayed for and when they themselves pray with attitudes of determination, gratitude and generosity.\u00a0 Hope and love are potent drugs.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 With prayer, we administer them and shower them on suffering friends, family members and total strangers.\u00a0 We cannot claim in all instances that our prayers will be answered with the literal cure of another person.\u00a0 It is the motivation of our loving requests and the positive words of hope that create opportunities for healing of mind, body and soul.<\/p>\n

Those for whom we pray will be encouraged.\u00a0 They will be served by our prayerful calls to action.\u00a0 They will be inspired to think positively and thus promote healing in their own hearts, minds and bodies.\u00a0\u00a0 Someone we know may physically suffer or die.\u00a0\u00a0 But, with our prayers, we can offer and encourage action that comforts and heals their bodies and souls.<\/p>\n

Even in this regard, our prayers must be infused with humility.\u00a0 We cannot pray and demand cures or fixes in all instances.\u00a0 As Jesus implied in his model prayer, we are weak.\u00a0 We are fragile.\u00a0 We each will get sick.\u00a0 We each will die of some frailty or disease.\u00a0 Our humble prayers can acknowledge such truths while expressing the much greater desire for peace and contentment.\u00a0 Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil.\u00a0 The support of others, their love, their prayers<\/span><\/i><\/b> are a comfort to us.<\/p>\n

Most of all, Jesus taught his followers that prayer is a communal language.\u00a0 We can practice it alone but it is best when practiced in community.\u00a0 This ethic is common to many religions.\u00a0 For Jews, the word synagogue literally means \u201chouse of prayer.\u201d\u00a0 To meet, sing and learn together IS prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 The same is true of Muslims.\u00a0 While prayer by oneself is allowed if necessary, one should attend the five times a day \u201csalah\u201d or prayer sessions in a Mosque or in a group.\u00a0 Hindus also gather in mass pilgrimages, as they do at this very moment, to pray together.\u00a0 Indeed, prayer is a language by which a community expresses and shares its collective memory of dreams, thoughts and expectations.\u00a0 We serve one another, we inspire, we support and we instruct by our prayers.\u00a0 As one prays for another, the community as a whole is inspired to act – to reach out, to share, and to love.\u00a0 As one prays in gratitude for all that life gives, those who listen will share such an attitude.\u00a0 Entire communities can be changed by prayer – to seek peace, to forgive, to let go of anger and seek after the greater good of cooperation.\u00a0 Once again, God does not answer such prayers.\u00a0 People do.<\/p>\n

I have seen both sides of the divide between belief and non-belief.\u00a0 I\u2019ve come to a place between those extremes.\u00a0 It is irrelevant to me whether a literal God exists or not.\u00a0 Instead, I try to look at what Jesus and other great thinkers and prophets taught about universal goodness.\u00a0 How can I, in this life, improve my thinking, my attitudes, and my actions so that I can fulfill my reason for existence – to do my small share to improve the world?\u00a0 When we pray together and when we choose to remember others in their need, we speak words of hope. \u00a0We speak words of action, love, and redemption.\u00a0 If there is a god or goddess looking down upon our mortal selves, he or she has granted us the ability to think and act in ways that have tremendous power.\u00a0 Our prayers are expressions of our deepest yearnings.\u00a0 They are calls to act.\u00a0 If they are sincere, if they derive from a humble heart that knows its flaws and failures, if they seek not for ourselves but for others, they WILL be answered.<\/p>\n

Let us pray.\u00a0 Let us act.\u00a0 Let us, in turn, answer our own prayers.\u00a0 We are god and it is to us, to all human-kind, that we must pray, honor and love.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message 123 , \u201cWhat\u2019s On Your Mind?\u00a0 To Prayer of Not to Pray?\u201d, 3-3-13 (c) Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved   Download the message here:     Around ten years ago when I was in the midst of a phase in my life when conservative Christianity was a way to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1964\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}