Drawing Closer to God

Altar of the Ordinary

Prayers and Blessings

 

Last week I said: “Let’s take it to the next level!”  We begin by seeing people.  We must recognize the ordinary people around us as more than ordinary; made in the image of God; each with their own story.  Then we go from seeing them, to helping them.  We engage in the “random acts of kindness” thing.  Then, we take it to the next level by blessing them.  Our innate desire to say, “Bless you” when someone sneezes and our need to say, “Good luck” to those we meet, -those desires- need to be transformed into blessings.  We are called to bring streams of living water to all those we meet.  One way we do that is to bring blessings.  Wouldn’t it be great to be Abraham by being a blessing to all people?

 

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This morning, I want to follow those thoughts with some thoughts on blessings and prayer in general.

 

I have struggled with prayer for… the last 10 years.  As we have seriously prayed for this person or that person, sometimes are prayers have been granted.  We rejoiced when God has intervened in people‘s lives.  That was great.  But more often, the people we have fervently prayed for… nothing appeared to happen.  God has frequently not moved to grant our requests.  It felt like God was going to do what God was going to do regardless of my/our prayers. 

 

I understand God, in his wisdom, is certainly not going to rubber stamp every prayer and do whatever it is we ask.  That would be a silly expectation.  But, the prayers God has chosen not to move on have been disturbing.  “Why aren’t you fixing this?  Certainly, this must be within your will; why?”  I have struggled with some of the answers God has given to our prayers.

 

I am not a deist, who believes God wound up the universe like a clock and has been on vacation ever since.  I very much believe God is involved in our world and interacts with individual lives.  I have seen God move.  He is here.  God interacts.  Where I struggle is more with what Jesus said…

 

Matthew 6:7-8  “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”

 

If God knows what I need before I ask Him and he loves me, why would I need to ask him at all?  If God is going to do what God is going to do, then my prayers become praise and thanksgiving.  But my prayers ask little.  I can thank God for his blessings and I can praise God for who he is, but why ask God for anything?  God is going to do what God is going to do, anyway.

 

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There seems to be two sides of a cliff.  We can fall off either side. 

 

One side is the superstitious side.  Prayer/blessing becomes a “good luck charm”.  The Greeks had a god named “Fortuna”.  She was a fickle god.  One day she would give you good luck, the next bad.  As an ancient Greek you could offer her a sacrifice so she would bless you or she would curse your enemy.  You wanted fortune on your side.  Superstitions, incantations, charms, curses were all part of their relationship with Fortuna. 

 

Our God is not Fortuna.  He is YHWH.  YHWH is not fickle or swayed by pagan babblings.  YHWH is love.  YHWH is holy.  So, I don’t want to think of our blessings as, in any way, superstitious.  Our God does not ride on the dashboard of our cars protecting us having an accident, or anything like that.  God is not manipulated by us reciting prayers accurately. We don’t want to fall off the superstition side of the cliff.

 

But, the other side of the cliff is that prayer /blessing is just a psychological trick.  God is going to do what God is going to do, so when we ask for a blessing all that is happening is we think we are influencing God.  We really aren’t.  But when we ask for something and it happens, it makes us feel good about God.  “God answered my prayer.  I must be special.”  Prayer becomes a psychological game that makes us feel good about ourselves… but God is going to do what God is going to do, regardless our prayers.

 

I don’t think God plays games like that.  The next verses, after our “Your Father knows what you need…” verses, are the Lord’s Prayer.  Most of the Lord’s Prayer is requests.

 

Matthew 6:9-13 "This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

 

God is not playing some psychological game.  He listens.  He loves.  He answers.

 

I don’t want to manipulate God with my blessings, nor do I think it is all a psychological game God is playing.  My requests are real.  They are answered by a real God.

 

How do I walk the cliff edge between superstition and mind games?  How do I live with God not answering some of my serious, heartfelt, fervent, faithful prayers?

 

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I don’t want to be flippant in answering so serious a question.  All of us have struggled with God over a prayer that was not answered.  But, perhaps, a metaphor will help.  Praying to God is like asking a grandpa for something.  I say grandpa, not grandma, because grandma is too easily influenced.  Grandma would do whatever she was asked.  The wisdom of the mature grandfather can see there are benefits to sometimes saying no.  Even if, the wisdom into what is going on is sometimes lost on the kids, the grandfather can see that saying no sometimes brings the best good.  Sometimes, although it hurts the grandfather, there is a no answer to the request, because of the greater blessings is somewhere else.  This requires an enormous amount of faith on our part.

 

I say grandfather instead of parents, because parents have too many responsibilities they are so close to the requests it is hard to see their kids hurt.  But the wisdom and compassion of a grandfather is most like God.  “Am I right?” 

 

The grandfather may be waiting for the grandkid to ask for something.  The grandfather may want to give the blessing, but he waits because being asked changes the dynamic.  It involves the grandkid in the result.  The kid asking brings the kid into the equation.  The kid becomes the vehicle by which God brings the blessing.  I think this is why our prayers do make a difference.  We become a part of the blessing.  We actually tap into the power of the Creator of the universe to bring blessings on our neighbors!

 

Sometimes the loving grandfather initiates the blessing, without being asked… because he wants to.  But by responding to the asking of the grandkid, the grandkid becomes the blessing.  It is not a game.  We are God’s grandkids who can be the blessing.  How wonderful for God to involve us in being the blessing! 

 

Matthew 7:7-12  "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

 

In everything we bring to others the blessings of God!  God is not manipulated by superstition.  Nor, is God playing silly games with us.  God brings us into the transaction so that we are the blessing.  Wow, I can get excited about being the vehicle of God’s blessings!

 

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When I think like this, the old wheels start turning.  I want to bless others.  I want God involved in every encounter of my life.  I want my life to be a seamless flow of blessings.  I want to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

 

Matthew 5:13-16 "You are the salt of the earth.  But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.  You are the light of the world.  A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.  Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see (know) your good deeds (blessings) and praise your Father in heaven.”

 

Blessing becomes a way to connect God’s power to my life.  Blessing brings God’s power into the life of others. Blessing is me being salt and light.  If this is true… then we need to bless more. 

 

This brings me to our homework from last week.  We were to either work on our meal blessings or a house blessing or say God bless instead of “Good luck”.  I want to expand that homework assignment.  What if we memorized short blessings for all of our encounters?  Remember we are at the Altar of the Ordinary.  If in the ordinary daily interactions we blessed short blessings, we would bring the blessing of God into our ordinary life.

 

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I want to share some examples of short blessings.  Some of these I found.  Some are traditional.  Some I wrote for me.  Your challenge is to choose if any of these blessings might help you be the salt and the light to those around you.  There is a handout with these blessings on them. 

 

A Morning Blessing:

Bless my first thought to be of You; my first word to be Your name; my first action to be praise for the morning. 

 

An Evening/bedtime Blessing:

Bless my last thought to be of You; my last word to be Your name; my last action to rest in You.

 

Weekly Blessings:

 

Sunday – Father, who raised Your Son on a Sunday morning, raise me this morning to be like Him throughout this Your day.

 

Monday –Bless me with the hindsight to know where I've been; the foresight to know where I am going; the insight to know when I’ve gone too far.

 

Tuesday- O God my Creator and Redeemer, may I not go forth today except You accompany me with Your blessing.

 

Wednesday- This day, O Lord;

give me courtesy:

give me meekness:

give me longsuffering:

give me chastity:

give me sincerity:

give me diligence in my allotted tasks.

 

Thursday- Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

 

Friday- This day is full of beauty and adventure.  Help me Lord to be fully alive to it all.

 

Saturday- O Lord and Maker of all things, from whose creative power the first light came forth, who looked upon the world's first morning and saw that it was good and on the seventh, rested… Bless this day to be spent with you. 

 

Meal blessing:

Blessed are You, Our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

 

People Blessings:

May God's blessings be on you.  

 

Travel Blessings:

God Bless you to walk in the sunshine.

 

 

 

Open Bible:

This is my Bible.  I am what it says I am.  I have what it says I have.  I can do what it says I can do.  Today I will be taught the word of God.  I boldly confess my mind is alert, my heart is receptive; I’ll never be the same.

 

Spouse:

Bless us to be one.

 

Family members:

May God hold us in arms of love.

 

Friends:

Our friendship is a blessing.

 

Strangers:

God bless you.

 

Sickness/Pain/Loss

May you find comfort in the arms of the One who also suffered.

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Let me end with a blessing upon us…

 

Almighty and eternal God,

You are hidden from my sight:

You are beyond the understanding of my mind:

Your thoughts are not as my thoughts:

Your ways are past finding out.

 

Yet You have breathed Your Spirit into my life:

Yet You have formed my mind to seek You:

Yet You have inclined my heart to love You:

Yet You have made me restless for the rest that is in You:

Yet You have planted within me a hunger and thirst that make me dissatisfied with all the joys of earth.

 

You, who alone know what lies before me this day,

 grant that in every hour of it I may stay close to You. Let me be in the world, yet not of it.  

Let me use this world without abusing it.

If I buy, let me be as though I possessed not.

If I have nothing, let me be as though possessing all things.

Let me today embark on no undertaking that is not in line with Your will for my life,

nor shrink from any sacrifice which Your will may demand.  

Suggest, direct, control every movement of my mind;

for my Lord Christ's sake.  Amen.

 

Tim Stidham

Los Alamos Church of Christ

October 16, 2011