I cry to the Lord with my voice;*to the Lord I make loud supplication. O pour out my complaint before him*and tell him all my trouble. Listen to my cry for help, for I have been brought very low;*save me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. Psalm 142: 1,2,6

When we are in a hard place in life--whether we ourselves have or someone we love has a difficult burden to bear--that is the time that we often turn to God with renewed vigor. We look for answers to our questions--Why me? Why him or her? We raise our cries of fear or worry and our petitions for healing to God and we wonder if God hears us at all. We wonder if prayer really works. Richard Foster in Celebration of Discipline notes several misconceptions about prayer. (p. 177-179) I have found them helpful this week and hope you will too. Again, the misconceptions are Richard Foster's with my editorial comments.

Misconception #1: Prayer mainly involves asking things from God. While it's wonderful to receive direct answers to prayer, the primary purpose of prayer is to be in touch with the Beloved One. Prayer is about relationship with God. Regular prayer is about walking and talking with Jesus day in and day out...about our concerns, our thanksgivings...about life itself.

Misconception #2: Prayer is always a struggle. Ugh! While sometimes we find ourselves needing to go off alone, kneel down and pray fervantly to God, this Garden of Gethsemane style of praying is not the only way. Sometimes prayer involves laughter and levity. Just as we have difficult conversations with those we love, we also have lighthearted ones with God. It's not all drama and struggle.

Misconception #3: We lived in a close universe and everything is fixed. So why pray if everything is fixed? Scripture recounts again and again about how we are to work with God to bring the Kingdom to pass. (See Jesus' parables and Paul 1 Corinthians 3:9) Prayer is one way to do Kingdom work--prayer informs our actions in the world and is an action in itself. A new creation is in the works. Nothing is fixed in stone.

Misconception #4: If we pray about a certain result and it doesn't happen, I'll just give up on God---so why risk it? It's frightening to put it out there with God--especially if we haven't be in the habit. A prayer partner helps with this. Once we begin "to put it out there with God," regularly, it doesn't feel quite so risky. We begin to realize that sometimes we receive an answer to prayer but it's not quite what we are expecting--so at first we don't recognize God's answer. God is always speaking to us and enfolding us in love. We can feel this in our hearts if we can make conversation with God a practice.

Above all, prayer is a process. Often bits and pieces of the answer are revealed one at a time. The most important piece is just to stay in contact with God.

Here is a prayer from Ignatius of Loyola that I love and works in my conversations with God, especially when I am in a difficult place and don't know what to pray. The second line is repeated twice--it is not a typo!

Take, Lord, all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my whole will.
You have given me all that I have,
all that I am,
and I surrender all to your divine will.
You have given me all that I have,
all that I am,
and I surrender all to your divine will.
Give me only your love and grace.
With this I am rich enough,
and I have no more to ask. Amen.

Text: Psalm 142

Pondering: What do you find most difficult about prayer? Can it become a conversation with God?

In Christ's Love,

The Rev. Martha N. Macgill