tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post3538619342230260144..comments2023-09-18T08:44:40.951-05:00Comments on faith in community: Prayer and JusticeDiane M. Rothhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07749136181846671327noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post-62610077455736130592010-10-27T23:43:41.084-05:002010-10-27T23:43:41.084-05:00I think that you and I agree about prayer. When I...I think that you and I agree about prayer. When I wrote that, I was in a hurry and thought, Oh Oh, I might be misunderstood. As with many things, there are at least two ways to look each aspect. <br /><br />Prayers from books help us to pray for things we wouldn't think of otherwise, and they might help us gain some perspective on a topic. But they can be "too easy" or "too superficial" or not connected to the reality of the moment. They could also be deeper or wiser than we might realize, which could be good. If a congregation has only heard these types of prayers, some members might be afraid to try praying on their own. <br /><br />Spontaneous prayers could possibly be more Spirit-led. They could be more connected to the joys and hardships of the pastor and people present in the room. The flip side is that some people might get into a too-self-centered mode. Or as one book put it, bless the food and our journey home mode. <br /><br />Prayer isn't performance, but obviously, hearing another person pray can be helpful to our own faith and prayer life. I think a good Faith Leader does well to model using good written prayers and spontaneous prayers. <br /><br />I think that I was in my early 20's before I ever heard anyone pray a spontaneous prayer. And at the same time, I learned about studying the Bible with other believers, without a teacher holding forth in front of the group. This wasn't modeled in the Lutheran background I grew up in, nor in the Lutheran college I attended. However, the Bible Study group I was with when I first learned these things was initiated by a Lutheran pastor who called together several people of faith from several churches to study and pray without him being in charge.LoieJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01977264499770654307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post-28390179617714258912010-10-27T16:02:04.000-05:002010-10-27T16:02:04.000-05:00P.S., I had not meant that I thought that praying ...P.S., I had not meant that I thought that praying from a book was "wrong", because there have been times when I have been using a prayer book, and I prayed just the thing that I needed to pray, but not what I would have thought of on my own. I'm kind of a both/and person regarding prayer. I think as well, if we only pray from a book, that we sometimes get the feeling that God only likes certain language. The honesty and intimacy of the prayer Gurdon learned affected me.<br /><br />Also, I like what you are saying about justice -- being led by the Spirit, instead of by ourselves or society... what would that look like?Diane M. Rothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07749136181846671327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post-21846012809467322582010-10-24T23:11:12.347-05:002010-10-24T23:11:12.347-05:00The book sounds excellent and so is your reflectio...The book sounds excellent and so is your reflection. I was thinking today in church, during (yes) the prayer that is used during the service from the ___ and Seasons book, usually prayed by a lay person, how it is too high falutin and too disconnected from the reality of the day to really be about what we need to be praying about. Does that make sense? Seems to me that prayer needs to bare the soul and show some guts. That said, there is a good thing about praying from a book, if we do so sincerely: we might be led to pray for things that are less selfish than we would think of ourselves. <br /><br />OTOH, if prayer is led by the Spirit, like doing justice work can be led by the Spirit, then we would be/should be led to things that we wouldn't think of on our own.LoieJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01977264499770654307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post-64616116236095376832010-10-23T00:15:41.926-05:002010-10-23T00:15:41.926-05:00yes, thank you for this.yes, thank you for this.Rev SShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14661507940053055640noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1086978161944568008.post-36582388686548396762010-10-22T03:31:19.749-05:002010-10-22T03:31:19.749-05:00oh my, Diane. This chimes with so much that I'...oh my, Diane. This chimes with so much that I've been reading and mulling...<br />do you know "Primary Speech" (about prayer) by Ann and Barry Ulanov? It's a kind of stiff read in some ways but very strong on the utter candor that prayer demands of us.<br />and then I think about Gustavo Gutierrez laying out how compassion must be balanced and ballasted by contemplation -- justice and prayer, prayer and justice...because they "keep each other sweet".<br />thank you for this!Crimson Ramblerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13020190454645032359noreply@blogger.com