Prayer

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." -Philippians 4:6-7

We do quite a bit of praying when we come together for worship. In the order of worship we use, we pray for God's forgiveness, the prayer of the day, before the gospel reading, the prayers of intercession after the creed, after the offering is presented, the Lord's prayer before we receive communion, and we pray after communion as well. There's plenty of praying that happens when we gather.

But what about the rest of the week? I ask this out of curiosity, not judgment. Because we set aside Sunday mornings for worship and fellowship, we can, without meaning to, forget to bring prayer into the rest of our week. And because our prayers are written out on Sunday mornings, we don't always practice spontaneous prayer together.

At its heart, prayer is just talking to God. We have traditions and certain language we often use when we pray together, but they're not a magic formula that we need to use or God won't hear us. Have you noticed that many of our prayers end with some version of "through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever"? It seems to be a formula for when someone doesn't quite know how to land the plane in a prayer, especially the prayer of the day. But this formula reminds us that we're praying to the Trinity, the Triune God. It gives us some language for the mystery of one God in three persons. 

Formulas can help, and shape how we think about and approach God. That's why when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray, he gives them the Lord's Prayer. But we can also bring our spontaneous words to God, trusting that even if our words aren’t quite right, God knows what’s happening in our hearts.

Who or what are you lifting up to God in prayer today? What worries, anxieties, hopes, or fears can you let God keep track of? 

May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your heart and your mind today. Amen.