Here’s a question. On a scale of one to ten where one is not likely, and 10 is very likely, how likely are you to pray about serious problem in your life? Ponder this for just a moment. Maybe you locate yourself on the scale of least to most likely rather quickly. Maybe the question is a surprise because prayer is not something you have ever done.
Let me continue with a rather blunt statement. We all need to pray. We need to pray for ourselves, we need to pray for each other, we need to pray for our church, we need to pray for our world. If there’s one thing we need to do as a Christian community, it is pray. Not because it is merely the right or good thing to do, but more importantly because I believe our tradition invites it—not in a forceful way, but in a way that summons prayer to be a constant and dedicated part of our lives.
The scriptures are chock a block full of references to prayer. Pray without ceasing, pray in the spirit at all times, fast and pray, pray for peace, keep aware and pray, stay awake and pray, … And there are countless more references. Not withstanding Jesus’ instructions on prayer in today’s reading from the gospel of Matthew. When Brian McLaren takes a closer look at Jesus’ instructions on prayer and the Lord’s Prayer in particular, he sees an invitation to wake up, tune up, ask and re-enter. These words have stayed with me.
I felt especially drawn to the actions of waking and tuning and asking.