Ben Sternke

Field notes on life and mission with God after Christendom

prayer

Being in Business with God

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One of the hangups we sometimes have with prayer is how audaciously lavish Jesus’ promises seem to be about it. They seem to be utterly unrealistic when compared to our daily experience, but there they are:

  • “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:14).
  • “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7).
  • “Whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).

However, if we read these verses in context we understand that these promises assume a certain condition on the part of the person praying. The person who is given these kinds of promises of answered prayer is the person who is in business with God.

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Praying with the Syrian Church

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A wonderful invocation prayer from the Syrian Church:

Lord, open to us the sea of your mercy,
and water us with full streams
from the riches of your grace
and the springs of your kindness.
Make us children of quietness and heirs of peace;
kindle in us the fire of your love,
and strengthen our weakness by your power
as we become close to you and to each other. Amen.

*From An Iona Prayer Book, compiled by Peter W. Millar (Norwich, UK: Cantebury, 1998), quoted in Desiring the Kingdom, by James K. A. Smith (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2009).

Praying with Children

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My friend JR Woodward regularly posts prayers on his blog. Usually we’re “Praying with Walter Brueggemann” or “Praying with Oscar Romero,” but today JR posted “Praying with a First Grader.”

I’m not sure what the context of this first-grader’s prayer was, but the innocence and honesty of it caught me up in its energy and I found myself praying the very same things as I read it.

Dear Jesus, help us all to love one another. We want to be friends, to play with each other, to hug each other, to go to each other’s houses. Help us not to be scared. Help the mean people to stop hurting others. Keep all people safe everywhere. We know you love all of us and want us to be nice to everyone everywhere. Help us all to get along. Amen.

I think praying with children is one of the highest privileges we have as followers of Jesus. We should take the opportunity whenever it presents itself.

Empty Me: A Prayer

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David in Prayer, by Rembrandt
David in Prayer, by Rembrandt

Gracious and Holy One,
creator of all things
and of emptiness,
I come to you
full of much that clutters and distracts,
stifles and burdens me,
and makes me a burden to others.

Empty me now
of grawing dissatisfactions,
of anxious imaginings,
of fretful preoccupations,
of nagging prejudices,
of old scores to settle,
and of the arrogance of being right.

Empty me
of the ways I unthinkingly think of myself as powerless,
as a victim,
determined by sex, age, race,
as being less than I am,
of as other than yours.

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Loosen My Grip: A Prayer

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David in Prayer, by Rembrandt
David in Prayer, by Rembrandt

O God, it is hard for me to let go,
most times,
and the squeeze I exert,
garbles me and gnarls others.
So, loosen my grip a bit
on the good times,
on the moments of sunlight and star shine and joy,
that the thousand graces they scatter as they pass
may nurture growth in me
rather than turn to brittle memories.

Loosen my grip
on those grudges and grievances
I hold so closely,
that I may risk exposing myself
to the spirit of forgiving and forgiveness
that changes things and resurrects dreams and courage.

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