Relish, M&Ms and a Pepsi

That is what she bought in the express check out line at Target this afternoon. She was in scrubs and looked tired. I have no idea what here story was. Why would she need these random things? I did not ask.

I was buying yogurt for my son who has not slept well in 4 days and beer for my wife and I who also have not slept well for 4 days. I wonder if the people behind me were wondering what my story was just as I was wondering what the Relish/M&M/Pepsi woman's story was? They did not ask.

I feel I missed an opportunity to learn a story of a woman. I missed an opportunity to share grace with my fellow child of God. I missed a story. I did not engage the people behind me with my own story about the yogurt and beer (which seems just as random). I just stood in line, like a cow standing waiting to be milked.

I went to Target to get a couple of things, but I missed the opportunity to hear another's story. I missed an opportunity to be enriched by another person.

There was a person I have heard of who likes to make stories out of numbers. For instance when he steps up to pump gas into his car, he sees the dollar number left over from the previous customer. He makes a story about that number and prays for that person in the story.

$12.02 - a person was in a hurry and over squeezed for a round dollar amount. He prays for the people who are rushed.

$5.00 - a young person with little money to buy gas. He prays for the poor.

$45.35 - a WASP driving an SUV just got a full tank of gas. He prays for the restoration of creation.

Be it in the express line at Target or the gas pump at 7-11, we have opportunities to enter into another's story. We have opportunities to listen to others and/or to pray for others.

I missed a chance today, but later Estee and I are getting pizza delivered. Maybe the pizza delivery person has a story to share?

What is prayer?

I was told to listen to an archived podcast of "Speaking of Faith" with Krista Tippett and could not get it out of my head. In fact on the way to doing the funeral of John Regan Vance I was without anything to say. I had never had the honor of doing a funeral from start to finish by myself and I was terrified. While listening to this podcast on prayer (which I highly recommend) my soul became calm and I began to consider what it prayer. My reflection on this podcast leaves me with two things about prayer that I will continue to hold with me:

1) Sanskrit is like Latin in that how you say the words is just as important as the words themselves. This idea made me consider that sometimes in my searching for just the right words in all situations and prayers, I forget that words are limited and the feeling and emotion is just as important as the words themselves. How I say what I pray makes a difference in me. The "om" of Hindu prayers is meant to focus the person on the vibrations of each of the three sounds. Sitting in the car prior to the funeral, I began to try our the "om" the podcast was talking about. After three of four of these "om" prayers, the vibrations and crescendo of the final "mmmm" made me feel like I had just been to a spa and got a back rub. What a prayer.

2) French poet Simone Weil is credited with this saying, "Absolutely unmixed attention is Prayer." Notice the emphasis is on the action of "attention" not on prayer. The important thing is attention. Thus, this could be used to argue that even non-religious people pray. The girl who hammers out a song on a piano is in prayer. The person who is learning to read and sounding out each syllable is in prayer. Prayer does not just happen in the Church and being in Church does not always mean we are in prayer.

So I continue to wonder at the vastness and yet simplicity of the human need to pray.

Prayer

We pause in these quite moments to center our hearts, thoughts and lives on you, O timeless God. Your movement in our lives is more vital than the blood in our veins and air in our lungs. We give thanks that we have the ability and the privilege to help transform this world into a place of love, peace and reconciliation.

God sometimes it is overwhelming. There is so much hate in the world. There is so much pain in the world. There is so much evil in the world, that at times it is overwhelming, immobilizing and drains our hope. We hear words of hate and destruction. We see bloated stomachs of starving children. We read of bombings of schools and hotels. We are inundated with so many images that it overwhelms us and we are left feeling hopeless and lost.

And yet, God, sometimes it is empowering. There is so much peace in the world. There is so much joy in the world. There is so much love in the world, that at times it is empowering, energizing, and ignites the deepest parts of our souls that we cannot help but sing and dance. We hear words of reconciliation. We see differences resolved. We read of people putting down their weapons. We are inundated with so many images that it empowers us and we cannot help but dance to the song you have placed in the world.

This is the world we live in; a world of paradox. This is the world you created and called “very good.” Just as there is much about this world we do not understand, so to there is much about you that we do not understand. But we give thanks for that which we do know that you have revealed to us through your Word, especially as it is embodied in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. And so we strive to be like Jacob who actively sought reconciliation with his brothers and neighbors. Embolden us to actively seek to reconcile the paradoxes we find ourselves in so that we might be able and willing to share the Good News that your grace surpasses logic and understanding. We join our sisters and brothers all sinners and saints as we pray.

Prayer

Constant God of Grace we have gathered in this place to give thanks and sing praise for the gifts and graces we have in our lives. For the strength to stand up this morning, we give thanks. For the food that came to us and will nourish us this day, we give thanks. We even give thanks for the breath we just took and the breath we are taking right now. Your presence not only makes life possible but it makes life worth living.

But life does not come easily sometimes and often due to the actions of ourselves and our sisters and brothers. Just as we recognize that it if your presence that makes life available to us, we recognize the times when we have taken life for granted. Our self-centeredness manifests in many different ways from greed to envy, from passive aggression to active violence. Forgive our self-centeredness in all its manifestations so that we might be able to become the people of reconciliation and grace living without guilt, shame or fear.

We seek these things not for ourselves alone, but for the world. We live in a world were guilt is plastered on television, shame is on the cover of every magazine and fear is sold to us in the evening news. While the culture moves to generate guilt, shame and fear so that people might be exploited and marginalized, you have called your Church to be a people moving to generate a different culture. A culture built not on guilt, but forgiveness; not shame but dignity; not fear but faith. We know we cannot build this culture, your kingdom, on our own. You have given us models to guide us: prophets, poets, mystics and sages. These saints have shown us so many paths which bring us closer to you and your desires. And while we are not there yet, we continue to move in that faithful direction. So give us the strength to stand in the morning and the food to nourish our bodies and the breath to keep our hearts burning for the peaceable kingdom.