~ February, 2012 ~ Letter from |
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~ February, 2012 ~ Letter from |
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Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, Some of you know that I was away last week for continuing education – more specifically an event for all the first-call pastors in the Northeast. It was a wonderful chance to reconnect with other pastors and to do some thinking about ministry. I come away from that week with new insights for myself about our work of ministry together, and in particular I have been thinking about prayer and how it shapes ministry. Rethinking our prayer lives is nothing new – prayer often does and probably should take different forms as we grow and change as individuals. Often I hear from people about trouble finding time to pray or searching for a routine that will work for them, and believe me, pastors are no exception. As we all shared with one another last week (from first-call pastors to bishops) everyone had a past or current difficulty in finding time for prayer and everyone had a different story about what was helping them at this particular stage.
I wonder if perhaps many of us put too much emphasis on prayer doing something. Intercessory prayer (praying specifically for people, events, situations, etc.) is powerful and effective. Prayer actually does do things. And prayer can and should be active and spontaneous. As we cultivate a life of prayer it begins to flow in and out of us as we drive down the road, cook dinner, grade papers, care for our family and friends. Things like yoga, walking, or running, can be done with prayerful intention. But some of us have a harder time with the less active side of prayer. Often it can be difficult to give ourselves permission to be silent and still, to listen. What if someone catches me just sitting there, doing nothing?! I tend to be more influenced by a culture of productivity than I'd like to admit. If I am sitting still for silent or contemplative prayer, I want to know that it will increase my productivity later or help me live longer (to be more productive later) or that it at least will produce a revelation for Sunday's sermon. And sometimes it does. But that robs the time of prayer itself of its value. What if we flipped our usual mindset: what if the other things in our lives are preparing us for the moment of prayer, for the moment of stillness and silence to be with God? How might that shift the way we think about ourselves and our relationship with God? We begin each week's Sunday worship with a moment of silence, a practice that was new to me when I came to Immanuel. I have come to appreciate it very much, especially after a reminder from someone that it isn't simply preparation for worship but an important part of worship itself. A moment to stop and be present to ourselves and to God. How can we carry that into our busy lives? When I set aside time for contemplative prayer in the week I find lighting a candle helps to keep my focus as well as starting the time with a simple song to settle my mind. Having a word or phrase or image to return to helps my mind return from thoughts of to-do lists and problems to solve that inevitably creep in.
As we enter another Lent together this month (Ash Wednesday is only three weeks away!) perhaps this is a time to give ourselves permission to sit, to listen, to pray. To allow ourselves to be found in stillness. To insert moments of stillness in our worship and in our daily lives. May we be a support to one another in granting permission to stop and take a breath, to listen to the voice of God in our midst, for the sole purpose of enjoying who we are as children of God. Peace, Pastor Steven
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