Did you hear the story of the pensioner who had
written a letter to God and had posted it in the mail…. She was living on very
limited resources and did not have much money at all. She had saved 100 pounds
to have a special meal with her two friends who were coming to visit it was
something that she had been longing for and looking forward to. As the time
came nearer to the visit of her friends a burglar broke in to her house and
stole the money.
This theft was the prompt for the letter to God
and she explained all that had happened to God and how she felt.
Seeing a letter addressed to God the local postman
felt moved to open it. On reading its contents he felt moved to do something
and arranged a collection at the sorting office amongst colleagues. 96 pounds
was collected.
He put this in an envelope and delivered it to the
old lady.
A week later he noticed another letter addressed
to God from the old lady. In this letter she thanked God for the money but
wanted to point out that someone in the post office had stolen 4 pounds from
Gods offering.
Perhaps it goes without saying that prayer is
vital to the life of a Christian. Without prayer we whither and die. Without
prayer we will cease to exist.
If you want to know that you are alive you can
either stay quiet for a little while and listen to the sound of your breathing,
or if you are I a bit more of a rush you can put your fingers on your pulses
and feel the heart pumping the blood around your body.
The way a Christian can tell if they are alive is
to find their life in prayer.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
We live the risen life through our praying and
serving. It is not something we can receive and put it in the bottom drawer, or
frame and hang on the wall.
You only have to look at the lives of the saints
to realise this point.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
Prayer of course takes many forms, but the heart
of prayer is always going to be silence. This seems strange to think because we
have so easily conditioned ourselves to think that “to say a prayer” is to use
words.
Silence in worship and silence in prayer is NOT
emptiness…. It is not a gap before something else happens or a pause….. it is
time for GOD. (encountering God)
The times we have in the Eucharist for silence
should become for us the heart of the service… it is then we can hear the heartbeat
of God amongst us and within us.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
Having said that let me also say that familiar
words in prayers are also very important gate openers for me…. As we open this
service with “Almighty God to whom all
hearts are open all desires known…. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration
of your Holy Spirit…”
I feel physically shifted and moved to a new
place…. Through these familiar words that are so important to me I am transported and made ready for further
encounters during the service we share together.
The Eucharist is then littered with such powerful
and familiar words that deepen my silences and strengthen what I feel are
encounters with God.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
Through Easter we are reminded of the presence of
Jesus with his disciples even when they thought life was at best gloomy or
perhaps even “not worth living anymore”
Even when the usual daily labour they knew so well
was fruitless they discovered new hope with the risen Christ.
Even when Paul breathed threats of death to the
church, the risen Christ somehow breathed into him and warmed his heart.
Even when Annanias was thinking to keep clear of a
potentially difficult situation, God enabled life to break through.
None of this happens without silence and prayer.
Our lives today are often filled with busyness and
activity. This may make us feel worthwhile and it may even leave us feel
exhausted, but For the Christian the life of God within us comes to being
through prayer and we ignore this at our peril.
Easter is a time of recognition… of seeing God
alive in our world, bother amongst the people we live with and amongst, and
within ourselves.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
Prayer happens in so many forms and so many
places, but I urge us to use the familiar words and prayers we encounter (in
our Eucharist) to transport us to deeper places and to transform our hearts and
lives.
“Almighty
God give us such knowledge of his presence with us, that we may be strengthened
and sustained by his risen life.”
Amen
One of Paul's central teachings, which some have
rightly called his "sermon on wisdom" can be found in 1 Corinthians
(1:17-3:3). Here, Paul recognizes that many of his new converts were doing
spiritual things, but still in very immature and unspiritual ways (for example,
to feel or look holy, to cultivate a positive self-image, to "get"
God's love, or to "earn" entry into heaven). Paul calls them
"infants in Christ" who are not yet ready for "solid food"
(1 Corinthians 3:2). Many today have settled for religion as attendance or
belonging, which would surely be baby food, instead of religion as inherently
participating in Love.
Consciously, trustfully, and lovingly
remaining on "the Vine," which is to be connected to our source, is
precisely our access point to deeper spiritual wisdom. We know by participation
with and in God, which creates our very real co-identity with Christ: We are
also both human and divine, as he came to reveal and model. The
foundational meaning of transformation is to surrender to this new identity and
to consciously draw upon it.
Richard Rhor( from mediation)
