Teach Us to Pray

Teach Us to Pray (Romans 12.10-16)

The practice of centering prayer has been a long tradition in Christianity. Center prayer takes a short phrase and makes it a focal point of the prayer experience. It's an easy "pin in the map" to return to when distraction comes. It provides opportunities for multiple layers of insight and meaning. As you pray today, use this phrase from Romans in a centering prayer way. 

"Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn."

Quickly memorize the phrase or write it down. Then chew on it for 5 minutes or so. If you are distracted, simply return to the phrase and continue. Look for new layers of meaning and insight as you steep in the phrase.

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Romans 12.9-16)

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In the middle of this week's text, the Apostle Paul urges us to:

"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse."

Prayer plays an important role in shaping our approach to those who would potentially do us harm. Jesus reminds us (in Matthew 5.44) to pray for those who persecute us. When we contemplate (think deeply about) our enemies from a position of blessing (and not cursing) in prayer; our minds, hearts, wills, and imaginations begin to encounter these enemies differently outside of prayer. When we pray regularly, prayer becomes a major influencer in the way our hearts, minds, wills, and imaginations are shaped. We can change our attitudes toward our enemies. Prayer is a pathway to change, but it coaxes out change slowly and steadily over time. If you don't often pray for your enemies, begin to incorporate your enemies into your times of prayer and begin to see the change in your own heart, mind, will, and imagination as a result. 

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Romans 12.9-13)

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Paul’s description of sincere love in Romans 12:9-13 is full and robust:

  • Hate evil
  • Cling to good
  • Be devoted to one another
  • Honor each other above yourselves
  • Be zealous and fervent in serving the Lord
  • Be joyful in hope
  • Patient in affliction
  • Faithful in prayer
  • Share with those in need
  • Practice hospitality

Prayer is the ongoing practice of shaping us into the people God intends for us to be while simultaneously resting in the reality that we are loved and already have a place at God’s table. Prayer is the mysterious place where we are accepted without condition and then stirred to step into an ever growing and changing version of ourselves that God calls us to. As you pray today, know that this list of sincere love is not the gate to God (remaining shut until all boxes are checked), it’s the goal of God (the things we move toward as we encounter God in prayer).

 

___________

About the Author

Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (1 John 4.7-21)

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."

John gives us one of the simplest, yet mysterious revelations about God in the middle of his chapter. One of the ways to access this kind of simple-yet-mysterious kind of reality in prayer is to use this verse as a kind of centering prayer. Center prayer is practiced by using a short phrase as a focal point during your time of prayer. When distracting thoughts come into your mind, you can return to this focal point (the center) and continue to listen and quiet your mind. Sometimes varied repetition (repeating the phrase with different emphasis)  helps make us aware of both the parts and the whole.

As you pray today, try using John's phrase as an anchor for your prayer time. Come back to it when you get lost. Let it lead you into new moments of listening and quiet appreciation of God.

"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Luke 5.17-26)

In this section of Luke's gospel, Luke begins a progressive teaching section that races toward what we commonly know as the 'sermon on the mount' (which happens on a plain in Luke's Gospel). Luke shows Jesus subverting many of the religious assumptions of his day through his ministry of healing (the leper and paralytic), eating (fellowship with "sinners"), and reworked spirituality (fasting and sabbath keeping).

One of Jesus' main actions in the gospels is the call to reexamine ourselves and our practices in light of God's work among us. As you have time, read through chapters 5 and 6 of Luke. As you pray today, use those moments in prayer to ask God to subvert your own assumptions of what it means to follow Jesus.

Teach Us to Pray (1 John 5.6-15)

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The last part of our text for this week says:

“13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.”

When we pull this section out of John’s flow of thought in his letter, we might be tempted to make broader generalizations about God’s will (and what’s in and what’s out of God’s will and what we ask for in alignment with that will). But John doesn’t leave it that open-ended. He goes on to say:

“16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. (I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. 17 All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.) 18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”

I put parentheses around the last half of v 16 and v17 because they really function as a footnote for John - something that needs to be noted but is not the main point of his thought flow – so for now, let’s set those verses aside and look at the whole thing again:

“13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. 14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. 16 If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. 18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.”

Part of our prayer life, according to John, is the assurance that sin does not have power over us and that God’s will for us is to have lives where the marring and scaring effects of sin become less and less as we approach God more and more. God’s will centers around our confident/assured approach to connecting with the One who continually offers renewal, grace, and peace as he calls and receives us back to himself again and again and again and again…

As you pray today, rest in the knowledge that sin does not have final power over us. Know that God’s desire is to pour a life that is eternally new into your spirit each and every day.

______________

About the Author

Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Romans 9.1-5)

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How do we pray for those who have not seen what we’ve seen, tasted what we’ve tasted, or experienced what we’ve experienced? While Paul might not give us a specific form to pray in this week’s text, he does give us an example of the kind of attitude, posture, or mindset to pray from – a posture that mirrors Chirst’s willingness to give up everything he had for others, in order for others to come close to God. Paul talks about this mindset in his letter to the Philippians church:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
 (Philippians 2.5-11)

As you pray today, position yourself in that mindset/attitude of Jesus and be alert to how that mindset shapes your prayer for others.

_______

About the Author

Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Psalm 86.1-13)

The Psalms are excellent teachers and trainers for prayer. When we pray the Psalms (something more than just a simple reading of the text), we learn how to shape our own extemporaneous  prayer (prayer using our own words in the moment). Take a moment to pray Psalm 86.1-13 today several times. Take care to make these words your words. If you can, find a place to pray Psalm 86.1-13 in your own voice out loud.

“Hear me, LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God; have mercy on me, Lord, for I call to you all day long.
Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.
You, Lord, are forgiving and good, abounding in love to all who call to you.
Hear my prayer, LORD; listen to my cry for mercy.
When I am in distress, I call to you, because you answer me.
Among the gods there is none like you, Lord; no deeds can compare with yours.
All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name.
For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God.
Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.
I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever.
For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead.”

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Ecclesiastes)

In the middle of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the Teacher stops to offer some advice about prayer: 

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong. Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:1–2, TNIV)

As with most things in Ecclesiastes, the Teacher is incredibly sharp with his advice on prayer (he’s essentially saying 'shut up'). But even in his sharpness, he illuminates an aspect of prayer that often goes unexplored – silence or listening. I love this account of Mother Teresa on prayer:

Dan Rather, CBS anchor, once asked Mother Teresa what she said during her prayers. She answered, "I listen." So Rather turned the question and asked, "Well then, what does God say?" To that Mother Teresa smiled with confidence and answered, "He listens." *

As you pray today, set aside some time to simply be quiet and still before God. If it’s not a regular practice for you, it will be a little awkward at first; but stay with it. Silence can be intimidating at first, but take a cue from Mother Teresa and rest in the confidence that God is listening right along with you.

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

* Just Like Jesus, Max Lucado, p. 71.

Teach Us to Pray (Psalm 22:24)

Psalm 22:24 says: 

For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; 
he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.

As you pray today, know that nothing is off limits with God. He does not look away, even in our darkest moments. Even our wonderings about the “why” of our current situations are very much at the center of ancient prayer.  Our confession from Sunday was based off Psalm 143 and is a great pattern for praying through the “whys” of suffering.

Hear our prayer, O Lord;
Turn your ear to our need
In your faithfulness and righteousness answer us!
We are tired of enemies.
We are tired of being chased from one conflict to another.
We are tired of arguments that do not satisfy.
Hear our prayer, O Lord;
Turn your ear to our need.
For the enemy has pursued us;
He has crushed our lives to the ground
He has made us sit in darkness.
Why, O lord, must there always be controversy?
Why do we always have to be fighting, wrestling, struggling?
Hear our prayer, O Lord;
turn your ear to our need!
Answer us quickly, our spirits are failing!
Show us a better way;
Your ways are all justice and righteousness
Teach us your ways,
Your ways are all peace and truth.
Teach us to do your will;
Cover our spirits with your spirit
Bring us into your ways.
Let your spirit lead us to a level path.
In the name of Christ,
Grant us your steadfast love.
All glory be to him, ever seated at your right hand. Amen.

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Jonah 4:1-11)

As mentioned earlier in the series, Nineveh was considered a great enemy of Israel (Jonah’s home country). Jonah’s fear of Nineveh was a major contributor to his run from God’s call to speak, but Jonah’s resentment for Nineveh runs deeper than fear only. In this last section of the story, we see Jonah’s seething bitterness for the people of Nineveh – a bitterness that ends angry at their rescue and reconnection to God. Jesus’ parable of the two brothers in Luke’s Gospel highlights this same kind of resentment that keeps us from fully experiencing God’s work in our lives. Take a minute to read through the story of the two brothers:

“Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”” (Luke 15:11–32, TNIV)

The longer we remain in the church, the more likely we are to turn into the older brother unless we are vigilant about cultivating our hearts toward the love of the Father for both us and our enemies. As you go through your week, keep these two short prayers on your lips and mind:
in regards to ourselves: “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.”
in regards to our enemies: “celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Jonah 3:1-10)

Prayer is always an opportunity to return to God. No matter what we've done, what we're doing, or what is yet to be done; God will always listen to those who call upon him in a moment of turning. Jesus echoes the sentiments of this section of Jonah when he tells us that God listens to the swift prayers of the repentant over the confident prayers of the righteous.

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” - Luke 18:9-14

As you pray this week, remember that God always receives those who seek him. When we bring our whole selves to God in an attitude of repentance, he is always ready to receive, restore, revive, and renew us.

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Jonah 1:17-2:10)

Since the majority of this week's text is, in itself, a prayer; our opportunity to pray through the text is fairly straight forward. Try praying through this text three times from three different perspectives: First, pray through this text in your circumstances - whether you feel akin to Jonah or not. Second, pray through this text from the perspective of someone you know is in a troubling circumstance. And third, pray through this text from the perspective of Jesus as he begins his journey to the cross.

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: 
“In my distress I called to the Lord, 
and he answered me. 
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, 
and you listened to my cry. 
You hurled me into the depths, 
into the very heart of the seas, 
and the currents swirled about me; 
all your waves and breakers
swept over me. 
I said, ‘I have been banished
from your sight; 
yet I will look again
toward your holy temple.’ 
The engulfing waters threatened me, 
the deep surrounded me; 
seaweed was wrapped around my head. 
To the roots of the mountains I sank down; "
"the earth beneath barred me in forever. 
But you, Lord my God, 
brought my life up from the pit. 
“When my life was ebbing away, 
I remembered you, Lord, 
and my prayer rose to you, 
to your holy temple. 
“Those who cling to worthless idols
turn away from God’s love for them. 
But I, with shouts of grateful praise, 
will sacrifice to you. 
What I have vowed I will make good. 
I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the Lord.’ ”

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Jonah 1:4-16)

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“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you. Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before.”
— Jonah 1:13

Each week we include a prayer of confession in our worship together. It’s a safe moment where we all admit that something has not gone right in the world and we are, in some way, responsible for it. It’s not a moment of community shaming, it’s quite the opposite – a moment of connection to each other that fosters compassion and empathy. When Jonah confesses to the crew that he’s to blame for their trouble, they don’t turn on him. The crew first tries their best to row back to land, and when that doesn’t work they reluctantly do what he asks and throws him into the sea. The crew is an unlikely conveyor of mercy in Jonah’s confession. Instead of hypocritically pointing their own judgmental finger, they journey with him through confession and find themselves closer to God in the process – through solidarity with Jonah by rowing more, through struggle with God about their upcoming actions, and through acceptance marked by sacrifice (Jonah 1:16).

As you pray this week, make space to both confess and become an empathetic receiver of those confessing around you. A great place to begin is our confession from Sunday based on Psalm 139:

O LORD, all knowing, most wise God!
Our Father,
you have searched me and known me.
You have looked into the deepest desires of my heart.
You know my secret loyalties as well as my hesitations.
You know my doubts and my reservations.
All knowing and still all loving Father,
have mercy on us,
for we have gotten confused.
We love you and we love your ways,
yet we have loved this world, too.
O LORD, our Father,
have mercy on us.
We have been wayward.
We have fled your presence.
We have even made our bed in Hell,
and somehow you discovered us there, too.
All knowing and still all loving Father,
have mercy on us.
O LORD, all knowing, most wise God.
Our Father, have mercy on us!
Grant to us purity of heart.
Focus our erratic desires.
Unite us in Christ.
Grant that in him we may find integrity,
that our hearts may be yours and yours alone.
To Christ, our Savior, then,
be all praise, all honor and glory,
together with you, O Father and the Holy Spirit.
One God, now and evermore. Amen.

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Jonah 1:1-3)

“But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish.” In light of Jonah’s attempt to flee from God, Psalm 139 is an appropriate Psalm to pray through today. Be careful toward the end the Psalm not to rush to judgement about who/where enemies are. As with the city of Nineveh, “enemy” is not a permanent role in God’s story.

Psalm 139 (New Living Translation)

O Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave, you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
    but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!
O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.
O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
    Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
    for your enemies are my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my anxious thoughts.
Point out anything in me that offends you,
    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Questions or discussion? Click here to comment.

Tomorrow on the Daily Connection: Deeper Dive Podcast

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Praying for Others)

For the next 4 weeks we'll be praying for those around us. Below is the prayer guide Randy distributed in worship on Sunday. As you pray today, lift up those around you who need encouragement, love, strength, and hope.

  1. Thank God for your salvation - that He loved you while yet a sinner -  “Thank you Lord for saving me - loving me - …”
  2. Thank Jesus - “Thank you Lord Jesus for living for me, dying for my sins, and rising so I might have life - now and forever.”
  3. Pray for humility and wisdom as you pray remembering we are all sinners saved by grace.
  4. Thank God for the person you are about to pray for.
  5. Speak the name of Jesus over them - “Jesus, I pray Your Name over _________________. 
  6. Lift the person to the Holy Spirit - the Spirit does the work of calling one to Christ - making one aware of their need for God - “Holy Spirit, cover _______ today.  I pray in Jesus name they would hear Your voice - yearning - desire.
  7. In general, bind whatever it might be that keeps them from God.  “Lord, in your name I bind doubt or fear or lack of knowledge or awareness that keeps ________ from coming to you.”  Again, pray the name of Jesus over them.
  8. Be patient - keep praying over them - allow the Holy Spirit to speak, work, call, urge, give hunger to the person.  (I had a friend who prayed for 40 years for their best friends - 40 years and one day, both of their friends came to Christ)
  9. Don’t push - this isn’t a sale - it’s an invitation to a friend.
  10. Keep praying daily the name of Jesus over them.  Daily.  Daily.  Daily.
  11. Continue to thank God for your salvation, pray for humility and grace, and pray the name of Jesus over them.
  12. Trust God and keep praying.  For forty years if necessary.

Teach Us to Pray (Matthew 19:13-14)

Our text for this week is Matthew 19:13-14:

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

I can’t think of a more appropriate way to speak about the intersection of today’s Scripture (from Matthew) and prayer, so I’ll Richard Rhor do it:

Jesus calls us to exactly what the Zen master calls his students to. I once stayed in a Zen monastery in Japan. The master was calling monks who had been there for years to what they called “beginner’s mind.” Similarly, one of Jesus’ favorite visual aids is a child. Every time the disciples get into head games, he puts a child in front of them. He says the only people who can recognize and be ready for what he’s talking about are the ones who come with the mind and heart of a child. It’s the same reality as the beginner’s mind. The older we get, the more we’ve been betrayed and hurt and disappointed, the more barriers we put up to beginner’s mind. We must never presume that we see. We must always be ready to see anew. But it’s so hard to go back, to be vulnerable, to say to your soul, “I don’t know anything.”
Rohr, Richard (2003-03-01). Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer (pp. 32-33). The Crossroad Publishing Company. Kindle Edition. 

As you pray today, ask God for moments to see something familiar in a new and curious way (much like a child).

Questions or discussion? Click here to comment.

Tomorrow on the Daily Connection: Deeper Dive Podcast

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach Us to Pray (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Link to Hebrews 10:23-25

How do we pray when we meet together? There are many ways to pray together in a group, but a common one christians have practiced for centuries has been a “call and response” style of prayer (our prayer of confession and prayers of the people at Calvary usually follow this format). One person leads in a statement and the congregation responds. While there are many things at work in this kind of prayer, I want to highlight two:

  1. This kind of prayer is primarily an act of communal formation. Since the individual words are not chosen and formed by each individual in the congregation, it’s an opportunity to form ourselves through agreement with the prayer (that’s the meaning of the word “amen” - I agree). If you find yourself wondering what to “do” when someone else is giving voice to a prayer; try to listen with the intent to affirm, and then let that affirmation become a part of who you are becoming in that activity of prayer.
  2. Call and response prayer is unique performative picture of the church working together in worship. One of the words we often translate as “worship” in the Bible (leitourgia) can also be translated as the “work of the people.” This kind of prayer together helps us recognize (in real time and space) that we are Christ’s church doing the collective work of worship.
     

Questions or discussion? Click here to comment.

Tomorrow on the Daily Connection: Deeper Dive Podcast

About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC

Teach us to Pray (Matthew 18:21-35)

The major work of prayer is alignment with the heart of God. As we contemplate God through scripture, reflection, awareness, and dialogue; we often find that alignment with God's heart begins with a disruption in the "normal" ways of wisdom. 

Relational score-keeping has been a "normal" mode of operation for humans for thousands and thousands of years. Our first law codes as civilizations were built on the premise of transactional fairness (if someone cuts off your hand, their hand will be cut off in fair retaliation). But the concept of forgiveness disrupts this cycle of 1-to-1 and taps into a system of relational abundance instead of relational scarcity. When we disrupt the cycle of 1-to-1 retributive violence, we step closer into the infinitely loving heart of God - a place where our deepest sense of self, world, and others resides, flourishes, and grows.

As you pray today, take an inventory of 1-to-1 cycles you're collecting (relationships, situations, personal identity) and imagine, for a moment, what these would look like when disrupted by forgiveness. Ask God to give you moments throughout the day and week to see and anticipate what these cycles look and feel like when disrupted by forgiveness.

Link to Matthew 18:21-35

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About the Author
Isaac Gaff is the Managing Director of Worship and Creative Arts at Calvary UMC