Pray this

This week I'm working on a text about prayer. We call it "the Lord's prayer" but it is more accurately "the model prayer." I prefer "debts/debtors" to "trespasses" because it just flows easier (not to mention King Jimmie got that one wrong). I've been trying to find just what I might say to a bunch of church folks about something many of them do on a regular (some daily) basis. I wonder how they would respond if I told them what I really think about prayer?

For a while and several years ago, I had been praying in what some might call the traditional, devotional way--get on one's knees, early in the morning, in a secluded room, and an exhaustive list of people/things to pray about. I did it this way for a few years quite consistently. I don't think the world suddenly got better from my daily practice. And then something happened: I worked a graveyard shift one summer--no more early morning/on my knees/secluded place/long-list prayers. For a while I struggled with how I might regain that practice but I never did. I felt guilty for a time, but I became a Methodist and realized that guilt was no longer necessary (or fashionable).

It dawned on me one day--and with the help of conversations, books, and the like--that I had been praying all the time, just not in the way I had before. I realized that reading was prayer (I include the daily newspaper, articles, Sports Illustrated, and just about anything). In the early '90's I found recycling to be a form of prayer. And I even think--trite as it might seem--that playing golf can be a form of prayer (after all, God's name is evoked quite often when I play!). I think the list is endless about ways or methods we can pray.

What I realized about prayer--and something I learned from the early days of on my knees--is that it is not so much about us asking God to do something for us or for others and we see the tangible results. When I pray I am changed and I am the only one that I might see change in. It is not something we do because we are commanded to do; I do it because it is a discipline and if I want to keep changing, growing and maturing I will do it.

When those followers asked Jesus in the text, "teach us to pray," I can imagine Jesus responding, "Just do what you've been doing and realize that each moment, each task, each creature, each experience is and can be sacred. Do that and you will know prayer." If Jesus actually said something like that--and maybe he did--he would have sounded very Buddhist; maybe he was and maybe I am, too. Amen.

Still growing up

Yesterday--for the first time--I directly addressed the issue of homosexuality from the pulpit. I have been at this place for two years; I figured we know each other well enough for me to speak honestly and openly (one member even thanked me for it!). I told them that I disagree with some our current UMC language that continues to exclude lesbian and gay sisters and brothers in our midst. They are our neighbors and, after all, we are called to love our neighbors . . . we don't get to choose which ones. "They" (I hesitate to even frame it like this) are also our friends, our colleagues, our parishioners and our family members. In fact, from what I read in the bible about such things, our neighbors are especially the ones who are beaten down and oppressed. I know/have known GLBTQ folks who have been beaten down--literally many of them--by good righteous folks like ourselves. We need to stop beating up our neighbors, and we need to change our Discipline language, and we need to truly see everyone as our neighbors. We need to stop playing word games with Scripture and we need to allow full inclusion in every sense of the word to all persons regardless of sexual orientation. We will all be the better for it.

I am not as active as I once was in things but preaching about this issue was scary. Previously, I hurled verbal grenades via the op/ed section of a small-town newspaper; that was easy (and quite fun). But it was different doing it in front of people and, to make matters worse, our A/C went out (as did the lights) in the chapel at the start of the service. I was literally sweating. In the end, no one seemed to be angry. I couldn't read faces well enough to know some thoughts. Hopefully my folks in this place have grown to love me enough--as I have grown to love them--and sometimes we just need to be honest with each other. I had suspected that I would eventually 'come out' on this issue (pun intended), I just didn't know when. A text about loving our neighbors seemed a good time to do it.

I think I grew up a bit more yesterday. I think I will continue to grow and mature. And hopefully we will keep working on this thing about loving our neighbors until we--all of us--will get it right, and we'll be able to "go and do likewise." Thus endeth the lesson.