James 5:13-18 9.26.21
How many times have I been in a group of people or talking with an individual and heard the lament, “I just don’t know how to pray!”? Many times. For a variety of reasons, some of us feel like we are ill equipped to speak to God—maybe we feel unworthy, maybe we are not sure what words to use, maybe we are not accustomed to praying on our own. We can pray in church when someone else is leading the prayer, but at home, in the quiet of our kitchen, bedroom, living room or back porch—we are just not too sure of ourselves.
When we get stuck like this, could it be that we have too narrow of a definition of prayer in our minds? Could it be that we assume prayer must always include words, and even some particular order of words, to be “right”? I want to encourage you to see that prayer is neither right nor wrong. It is the interface between us and God who is Three in One, One in Three. It can happen in different ways, through different postures, through different media, in different environments, with or without the “right” words.
One of my favorite movies is Sister Act, which gives an example of how a declining old Catholic church can be converted into a thriving congregation which serves its community. God’s transformation of this congregation is greatly helped by the very unorthodox ways of “Sister Mary Clarence”, who is played by Whoopi Goldberg. She is being housed in the Roman Catholic convent connected to the church as a part of a witness protection program. At a meal with the other sisters, she offers what might be her first public prayer. She prays: “Bless us, oh Lord, and these thy gifts … and, yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of no food, I shall fear no hunger. We want you to give us this day our daily bread … and to the republic for which it stands … by the power vested in me, I now pronounce us, ready to eat. Amen.”
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Hunting Ridge Presbyterian Church 