Aloha friends,
Wow, it was great to see so many on the first night of our Lenten series. There are a lot of intriguing ideas to chew on in the Animate: Practices video series and a lot of good conversations to be had around the table.
In our first session, Prayer: Oriented Toward God, author and pastor Brian McLaren talked about how the Lord's Prayer is a helpful guide to navigate frustrations, expectations, and confusion about prayer. He organized the Lord's Prayer into four sections:
Here is how I understand his fourfold pattern.
Wake Up – The first movement is about awareness. It is grounding ourselves in the moment and pausing long enough to focus on what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with. In prayer we are looking to connect with the creator. We are leaning into a relationship. We are moving our mind, heart, and body into something much larger than ourselves or the moment we’re in.
Tune Up – When we pause long enough to focus on the one who is love, it’s not uncommon to feel a longing to be in tune, or to resonate with that love. The “tune-up” is the conscious decision to move our desires in the direction of God’s desires. When we seek to align our heart with God’s heart we are often able to see the way ahead with greater clarity. This part of the prayer is a way we name the longing to see all of creation in harmony with God’s dream for us and for all.
Ask – Throughout the scriptures we are invited to bring our requests to God. We see this modeled time and again in the Old Testament. Jesus repeatedly tells us to ask God. In the epistles we see church leaders encouraging the nascent communities to bring their longings to God. Bringing our needs to God helps us: acknowledge our limitations; see that we are created to be in communion with God and others; identify what lives at the heart of our needs; reduce anxiety and stress; develop compassion for others and their needs.
Re-Enter – Prayer is practice that helps us navigate life. Prayer shapes our heart and reframes our perspective in order that we might live love. The final movement of Jesus’ prayer acknowledges that fear, greed, and disdain find cracks in our soul and blur the eyes of our heart. The prayer ends with the hopeful reminder that we are not alone in our effort to embody grace. The spirit of God moves with us.
How might one (or more) of these moves be life-giving for you if you were to incorporate them into your prayer life?
After the video we divided into small groups in order that we might get to know each other better and through relationship with one another, get to know God better.
Adoration: Offering praise to God. This is similar to the Wake Up above.
Confession: Naming those ways you have hurt others or yourself and asking for forgiveness.
Thanksgiving: Giving thanks to God for the forgiveness we receive and for the many manifestations of grace
Supplication: Presenting our needs, the needs of our loved ones, and the needs of the world to God.
Lent is a journey. This means that we are a people in process. We are wrestling with questions, testing new ideas, and figuring it out along the way. Thankfully, we do not journey alone. Togther we stumble, we have set backs, and we take steps of faith. I hope to see you next week as we meet Sara Miles in our session Food: Eating with Jesus.
Check out this short video of Sara Miles to learn a bit more about her journey.
Wow, it was great to see so many on the first night of our Lenten series. There are a lot of intriguing ideas to chew on in the Animate: Practices video series and a lot of good conversations to be had around the table.
- Wake Up
- Tune Up
- Ask
- Re-Enter
Here is how I understand his fourfold pattern.
Wake Up – The first movement is about awareness. It is grounding ourselves in the moment and pausing long enough to focus on what we’re doing and who we’re doing it with. In prayer we are looking to connect with the creator. We are leaning into a relationship. We are moving our mind, heart, and body into something much larger than ourselves or the moment we’re in.
“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
Tune Up – When we pause long enough to focus on the one who is love, it’s not uncommon to feel a longing to be in tune, or to resonate with that love. The “tune-up” is the conscious decision to move our desires in the direction of God’s desires. When we seek to align our heart with God’s heart we are often able to see the way ahead with greater clarity. This part of the prayer is a way we name the longing to see all of creation in harmony with God’s dream for us and for all.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Ask – Throughout the scriptures we are invited to bring our requests to God. We see this modeled time and again in the Old Testament. Jesus repeatedly tells us to ask God. In the epistles we see church leaders encouraging the nascent communities to bring their longings to God. Bringing our needs to God helps us: acknowledge our limitations; see that we are created to be in communion with God and others; identify what lives at the heart of our needs; reduce anxiety and stress; develop compassion for others and their needs.
“Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
Re-Enter – Prayer is practice that helps us navigate life. Prayer shapes our heart and reframes our perspective in order that we might live love. The final movement of Jesus’ prayer acknowledges that fear, greed, and disdain find cracks in our soul and blur the eyes of our heart. The prayer ends with the hopeful reminder that we are not alone in our effort to embody grace. The spirit of God moves with us.
“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
How might one (or more) of these moves be life-giving for you if you were to incorporate them into your prayer life?
After the video we divided into small groups in order that we might get to know each other better and through relationship with one another, get to know God better.
"I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." - Ephesians 3:18-19The possible discussion questions included:
- What might you experiment with this week in regards to prayer? What might change in your daily rhythms of life?
- If you were going to designate a certain part of your house or a particular time of day to prayer, what would it be?
- How does the promise about prayer in Romans 8:26-27 make you feel?
“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”
- This coming Sunday, the unison prayer in the 7AM and 9AM worship service is written below. What (if any) parts of this prayer might connect with your life this week?
“Father of Lights, search us and know us. Disturb us and rouse us from our sleep. Awaken us by the dawn of your presence. Enlighten our courage; enliven our compassion; illuminate our creativity so that by our works the world would see flashes of you. We pray this in Christ’s name, he who is the light of the world. Amen.”One of the small groups also shared another format and guide for prayer, ACTS.
Adoration: Offering praise to God. This is similar to the Wake Up above.
Confession: Naming those ways you have hurt others or yourself and asking for forgiveness.
Thanksgiving: Giving thanks to God for the forgiveness we receive and for the many manifestations of grace
Supplication: Presenting our needs, the needs of our loved ones, and the needs of the world to God.
Check out this short video of Sara Miles to learn a bit more about her journey.
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