This Sunday we will shape worship around Aaron’s chapter on PRAYER in his book “Weird in the World: Living Towards the World God Wants.”
We will also explore the story of Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus: two faithful people, having a respectful conversation about the realm of God and our way of participating in that – is it body? Spirit? Both?
And, how does prayer fit in to figuring that out?
What a gift it is to focus on prayer for a whole worship service. I imagine it’s not often we consciously think about prayer, what it does, what we’re scared to hope for, how it disappoints us, confuses us, enlivens us. Hopefully, through a good investigation, we will bring prayer from the passive into the active!
When I was little I had a roster of lullabies for bedtime – some of them were the Lord’s prayer, the 23rd psalm, and “now I lay me down to sleep.” In my early 20s I didn’t like praying because all sorts of negative thoughts would enter my head and heart whenever I got quiet, so I tried hard not to pray. In my 30s I spent some time shaking my fists at a God I supposedly no longer believed in. And, in my 40s I developed some pretty cool prayer practices that were rich in what they offered.
I’d wager all the above are forms of prayer … because God is present in it all.
What about you? Have a think about your earliest prayer memory, when you have been conscious and unconscious to prayer, how prayer has shaped parts of your life, and how you pray today.
See you Sunday!