Thursday, October 25

Today’s Lectionary Readings: Psalm 70 & 59; Proverbs 10:1-12; Luke 20:9-18; Romans 8:26-30

While I was exposed to many, many individuals who greatly shaped by life and faith during seminary; one of the most influential persons on my life was Rev. Jane Vennard. Rev. Vennard taught several courses on spiritual direction and prayer. Her teaching was so important in my faith journey because she helped me rethink my understanding of prayer. You see like many individuals, I had been taught that there were right and wrong ways to pray. The right way was to sit quietly, bow one’s head, and lift up pious prayers to God made up mostly of noble requests. The wrong way to pray was any form that varied from the right way in any shape or manner. That teaching sounded good in theory growing up. Unfortunately, the effect of that teaching was that it reinforced in me feelings that my prayer life was inadequate. The more inadequate I felt, the less I prayed. Consequently, over a period of time, my prayer life was practically non-existent. Thankfully, Rev. Vennard helped me connect with the spirit of today’s passage from Romans – especially Romans 8:26, which says, “If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. [God] does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. [God] knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God” (The Message). She taught us that a healthy prayer life has less to do with specific activities and more to do with one’s intention. As my intention to connect with God grew, I found myself communicating with God in new ways – ways that may not have fit my previous assumptions about prayer, but ways that were 100% authentic. Over time, I stopped worrying about trying to tell God what I thought God wanted to hear and started being real with God. As I’ve grown in my ability to be real with God, I’ve been able to stay more present with God and live a more prayerful life. Today, I invite you to examine your assumptions about prayer and see if there are ways you can open yourself up to the spirit of Paul’s words so that whether you are uttering a wordless sigh or moaning in an aching groan you are connecting with God in new and powerful ways. Til next time…