Way of Love: Pray

Posted on by harasprice

We began our bible study with a prayer, in the form of what we know in The Episcopal Church as a Collect. A Collect is a prayer to God which calls us together around a common intention, offered in the name of Christ. Last year, we worked to write a Collect for our bible study group, Faith from the Margins to the Web. We prayed this together, and reflected on the way in which our lives are shaped by prayer:

Gracious God who is made known to your people through your incarnate Word, we ask your prayers for those who study, reflect, and share your good news through Faith from the Margins to the Web. Be present in every conversation and through your Holy Spirit, carry the good news to all those who yearn to hear. Be known to us in each other across the divides of this world through sharing the eternal words given to us in the life of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Each member of the group took a turn reflecting on the role of prayer in our lives:

Jamillah:

“I pray at home and in church; in church I pray to the Lord to show me things. At home, I pray with my hands folded before I do to bed. I think of words, you know, I’m actually studying the bible and I put my head down and pray and see what words come to me.”

Paulette:

“I pray anywhere and everywhere. I pray before I eat my food, to bless my food and to bless me. I could be walking along the street and things just hit you and sometimes, you know, you end up praying right there in the middle of the street.

I go to the park sometimes where I can be isolated from people, to get myself concentrating. I sometimes pray with my head down and my hands folded and sometimes I just speak to God like I was talking to my friend. I pray for safety, my health, my strength and for finance. I pray to keep all harm and all danger away from me. I just pray all the time; whenever I feel I need prayer I pray. Amen!”

David:

“Prayer to me is a cleansing. I’m a silent prayer. I might, you know, I might have to get to the point where I break down and then I get silent and that is when I really pray, pouring out myself.”

Marvin:

“I just pray to God like I’m talking to a friend. Just talk to Him, you know, and the Holy Spirit offers me feedback. There’s no specific time or place to pray, you just pray whenever you think about it. I was trying to think of a simple way to put it: you’re getting ready to do something and you know that maybe it’s a problem and all of a sudden you here, “hey hey, don’t do that.” You know, that is also prayer. That’s when I know that God is also talking to me. “

Arthur:

“I pray every morning and every night. That’s the way I was come up in Church to do, every morning and every night. My day say that everything would be alright if you do that. And you know, that’s right. When I keep with that it seems to me that things have a way of working out, or for me understanding them.”

Mrs. P

“I pray constantly. There is always something going on my life with my kids or my grandkids. So you know, I just realize that I pray all the time. Not always for me. But I love them so I pray for them. Anywhere and everytime, I pray a prayer. Pray when I’m happy, pray when I’m sad. Pray all the time.”

Sarah

“I sing; it’s how I most love to pray…there’s this saying that “those who sing pray twice” and for me that is true. There are some chants I sing every day, and sometimes it a song or a hymn that comes into my mind. There are other ways I pray, too. But my soul feels deeply connected to God when I sing.”

Way of Love: Learn

Posted on by harasprice

Psalm 119:33-42

Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,
and I will observe it to the end.

Give me understanding, that I may keep your law
and observe it with my whole heart.

Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.

Turn my heart to your decrees, and not to selfish gain.

Turn my eyes from looking at vanities; give me life in your ways.

Confirm to your servant your promise, which is for those who fear you.

Turn away the disgrace that I dread, for your ordinances are good.

See, I have longed for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life.

Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,
your salvation according to your promise.

Then I shall have an answer for those who taunt me,
for I trust in your word.

Our group read this psalm and then considered the question:

“Who taught you about God, and what did you learn?”

Jamillah began the conversation: 

“For me, ‘teach me oh Lord the way of thy statutes’ this tells me to abide, to learn the statues so that we can live life. My parents first taught me by taking me to church and to bible study, learning the then commandments. You have a lot of bible scholars, but also some people who try to take a verse and just put their own thoughts on it to press on you. I think what they taught me most was how to really read the Bible, how to discern the ways that God speaks to us through His Word.”

Mrs. P considered her own situation, “I know I’m an old lady, but my mother was the minister. We were brought up in Holiness, and that was a women’s movement. Women were the preachers and the teachers. So it was my Mother that taught people, and my mother who taught me. The Church and Family were one and the same for me. And we’re still all together.

Arthur added his recollections as well: “You know, we were made to go to Church because it’s where my Momma was. But, I learned that we have to live the way that Jesus wants us to live. I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that there are rules in the everlasting life. It’s isn’t love and do what you want. It’s that when you align yourself with the things that you want to do but the things that God tell your are the ways that your life should be lived in the world.”

What have you learned about God, and who are the teachers in your own life?

(leave your comments below)

Way of Love: Turn

Posted on by harasprice

Romans 6:3-11

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

There are moments when a group has been working together that someone speaks truth, and others listen. After Paulette read this lesson, it was Mrs. P who gave us words to ponder in our hearts:

“Everything that we do is really there for God to help us. It isn’t that God wants to punish us; we might think that way but when we die to sin, we are asking for God to help us. God has given us every opportunity to know what it is to be pure, to have a relationship with God. But you have to get yourself out of the way!”

We took a moment there in the group to name the ways we each can stand in the way of God’s pull to turn from death to life, and the joys when we remember God’s presence with us and in the wise words of Mrs. P, get ourselves out of the way!

Way of Love: Bless

Posted on by harasprice

Ezekiel 36:24-28

I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

What is one word that describes your blessing: the new spirit that God has put within you?


Here is the word cloud our group created of the new spirit alive in us.

What word describes the new spirit that God has put in you?

(please respond in comments)

Way of Love: Rest

Posted on by harasprice

Matthew 11:28-30

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

The question for the group was: Where do you find rest?

David, who logs miles every day on his bicycle running errands and tying together odd jobs was first to chime in: “When I kick my feet up and I finally get off that bicycle, when I put my feet up on that crate. That is rest!”

Mrs. P was thoughtful, sharing with several pauses:

“I should be really resting now as much as I want to, at this age, but I’m not at peace. I have it a lot of times, and I want to be peaceful. People don’t know that I’m not at peace. But, I carry it. For my daughter, for people I love. But, I have to remember to give it to God. Then, it’s an exhale, I can actually feel it releasing to God’s love and care.”

“When you give your burdens to God; when you really, really release that, then it is like a sigh”

“A mind that is stayed on Jesus is kept in perfect peace.”

Way of Love: Go

Posted on by harasprice

Luke 24:1-12

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.

In our group, we pondered the questions: Where is love needed in this community or the world? Where do you see the hope of resurrection?

“I think with the resurrection, it wasn’t that people didn’t want to believe, it was just so hard to believe. To go and share something practically unbelievable is a risk. But that is how God’s love is.”

“Love is needed on the streets of this world; there are people who come from lives where they have no love. We have so much love to share, and there are people whose hearts need to be filled with that love.”

What are the corners of your world where love is needed?

(Please respond in comments)

Way of Love: Worship

Posted on by harasprice

Luke 1:46-56

And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

The day of this particular group happened to be the Feast of the Annunciation. So, the Magnificat was a particularly significant song of worship to reflect upon.

Jamillah really resonated with Mary’s song and with this question, “I mean, wasn’t she scared?” I acknowledged that I imaged Mary had emotions like any of us, but also (I believe) made a choice to trust deeply in God, and in this she found her steadfast hope. That, to me, is the incredibly significance of the Magnificat, with all its reversals of power and expectation. It is a song of worship, as well as the coming a life-changing, power-reversing intervention of God into our human lives. This brought another reflection from Jamillah:

“God deserves our worship; when we worship and pray it isn’t just about us; it is living into a relationship with God”

We moved together into our question for reflection:

Mary gave thanks to God in this song; what would be the song of thanks your heart sang to God?

This question brought such an amazing response from the group. Not only did each person have a song to offer up, we began singing them. It was easy for this group to become a sort of worship service in itself. For the online version, rather than just naming the songs, I’m posting links to the songs of thanks welling up from our Faith from the Margins participants; I hope this gives you just a hint of the deep faith and worship experiences of our participants:

Rest for the Weary

Posted on by harasprice

9th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11, Year B)

Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

 

The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

 

When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

 

It was a blisteringly hot day in Austin when I sat down beside Carlos, who had found a shady spot under a tree in a local park.  It has been hard to keep up with these interviews during my summer of travel, and my grand plans to organize pairs of people in different cities has met roadblock after roadblock.  But, on this particular afternoon, I just decided to ask one of the local residents who made the public park their daytime residence if he had any interest in talking with me about one of the Gospel lessons.  I was grateful when he nodded and gave me a smiling “yes.”

We didn’t know each other at all, so I introduced myself as a member of this group of Episcopalians gathering for General Convention.  Carlos introduced himself as someone who “made his way around” various parts of Texas.  He chuckled when I told him I was from Buffalo and couldn’t survive long in the southern heat: “You get used to it!” he said with a grin.

I read the Gospel lesson to Carlos.  “I never thought of Jesus as resting” he said “I always think of doing.”

It is interesting how many times Jesus pulls away…or at least tries to.  For all of those stories of healing, teaching, and preaching there are plentiful moments where Jesus acknowledges a need for rest.

“I’m hoping to rest soon” I told him.  “I’m here working, and then when I go home I have papers to write for seminary.  I want to find some time for rest before it’s time for me to teach again in the Fall.”

“Rest is hard” said Carlos.  “You have to know where its safe to rest, and sometimes its not safe at all.”

I had to think about that.  To me…a busy, middle-class white woman…rest is a luxury.  My own thoughts on rest are a longing to carve out a space for something indulgent.  To Carlos, it was finding a space of safety to sit or lie down.  Rest was not a luxury, nor was it a guarantee.  It was a primary objective of each day’s activities.

I shared with Carlos about our Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s “The Way of Love.”  I had an extra handout in my bag, so I gave it to him along with a metal token that came from our Episcopal Evangelism booth in the exhibit hall and some cold water and wrapped snacks I had in my bag.  It wasn’t much, I know.  But it was what I had with me to share.  I re-read the Gospel passage about Jesus’ disciples: “and they had no leisure even to eat,” I read.

“Probably no money, either” said Carlos. “No place to stay, no food, no money.”

“That’s probably true” I said.  “I actually think you might know more about what the disciples felt like than most of us do.”

Carlos chucked.  “Maybe!”

While Carlos wasn’t a man of many words, he helped me to see something in this passage that I hadn’t before.  In all their moving, healing, and teaching the disciples were worn out.  They wanted a break and Jesus opened the door to what they needed.  And yet, everywhere they turned, people arrived before them seeking knowledge and healing, desiring a shepherd to draw them toward safety.

I don’t know what it is like to have to worry about finding a shady place on a hot day because I have no cool place to call home.  I can daydream of going apart to places of rest and stilling my soul before God, knowing I will return to the comfort of my own home.  But, what kind of faith does it take to make shelter where its provided on this earth, and to make room for God’s presence there?

I can’t help but reflect this week that our social location has a lot to do with how we walk the Way of Love.  Maybe we begin with “Rest” or “Go” or “Pray” or “Bless.”  Jesus invites us in, whether we are in need of healing or rest or shepherding.  And when we dare to draw near, to encounter a companion on the journey whose starting place is so different from our own, it makes the path more poignant.

It makes me realize that we walk the Path of Love best by walking together, even when we crave that quiet place alone.  The people we need will find us, and we will encounter God in every person that we meet.

way_of_love_simplified_graphic

Image and information available from The Episcopal Church:

https://www.episcopalchurch.org/way-of-love