Christian prayer foundations: With us always

Saturday 2 April 2016

With us always

The experience of being with the resurrected Jesus changed the disciples utterly. Their fearfulness and lack of understanding about Jesus and the depths of his message was transformed into a confident grasp of the truth and an ability to express themselves in a way that astonished others, given they were uneducated peasants without social sophistication.

They were men and women who learned by being with Jesus and doing things with him. Learning happens with and without the benefit of structured or designed schemes, in every area of life. Learning a spiritual path relies only on being accompanied by another person. They may have wisdom and understanding to share, but they too may have much to share with others, and will learn more, simply by having to

'... give an account of the hope that is in you.' (1 Peter 3:15)

Jesus sends out his disciples to continue proclaiming the Good News to all creation (Mark 16:15), and the more they tell others what they know, the more they will learn and deepen their understanding. He remains present with them always, in and through the relationships they have and the relationships they make, with others and with God in prayer. The love they share is love God continues to pour into the world, through Jesus, through the ages. His passage from the realms of time and place remains an incomprehensible mystery, yet the experience of his living presence with us always has never gone away. Our lack of awareness, our self absorption is what blinds us to greater reality.

No matter how we bring ourselves to stillness and seek to open our hearts to God in prayer, the sense of his love enfolding us will return, heal and restore us, in a way that God alone knows best meets our true need. Sometimes, when we find it desperately hard start praying, it can be enough to be in a place where other people are praying, alone or together. God never leaves us without witnesses to his presence. The love their devotion releases can reach out and touch us, and inspire us to pray despite our weakness and failure to persist.

"Wherever two are three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20)

No comments:

Post a Comment

About this blog

The basis of Christian Prayer.

Christianity born of Judaism, owes its spiritual mother an immeasurable debt in many dimensions of faith; e.g.

Belief in one living eternal God, infinitely just, true and good, creator, source of all that exists.
Belief that time and the cosmos, despite the repeated cycles of nature, is a process of change with a beginning and end.
Belief that human beings are made in the divine image and likeness of their creator.
Belief that each person is called to find the meaning and purpose of life in relation to God, and develop this by means of prayer and worship throughout life.
Belief in the essential value and importance of understanding who and what we are as spiritual and moral beings, conveying this understanding through stories told about God in relation to humans.
Belief that remembering the story humans tell about themselves in relation with God is at the core of the personal relationship each has with God.
Belief that the rich record of these stories in sacred scripture has a life of its own and can inspire those who read and study them with a sense of meaning and to creative responses that nurture human existence intellectually, morally and spiritually.
Belief in the value of repeating the same annual pattern of scriptural story telling, in response to the cycle of the seasons, as a prime means to development as human beings as our creator envisaged.

Jewish believers derive their core sense of identity and cohesion from remembering the Exodus story and performing the rituals of Passover, and belonging to their ancestral homeland, Israel. Christian believers, keep Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide, to remember the ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, two thousand years ago.

This story is understood as the foundation of personal relationship with God. It imparts a sense of belonging to a global fellowship of believers not dependent upon a specific homeland. The land of Israel plays a central part in the Christian story of faith, yet it's a story that's considered relevant to life, wherever it is told and awakes people to faith.

Forty days of Lent, fifty days of Eastertide is a season to work with the essentials of the Christian story and rediscover their meaning and relevance to lifes today. It is a time of returning and renewal, offering an enriched understanding of faith, and way to deepen the life of prayer.