Practicing Prayer

Tim Pawlenty has withdrawn from the presidential race. He looked around at what he was facing and called it quits. Jesus Christ was often overtaken by crowds. I’m sure he felt dread and frustration for all his efforts. He perhaps had not gotten through to as many as he wanted. Even his disciples didn’t quite grasp what was going on. But with everything, Jesus knew the nature of struggle. He continued until he laid his life on the line for all. May you find comfort to know that he has walked where you walk? Let us pray for a deeper understanding of what this can mean for all people.

We see in the news so many places involved in power struggles. In fact, the news records the worst. It is everyone who does wish to wield power and so many are engaged in its pursuit. Power in the hands of some is extremely dangerous because it distorts ones view and corrupts. The world is in the midst of so many power struggles that the world is rampant with tension. Indiscriminate destruction is the result of the struggle. Yet, the means are always in struggle with the end result. Only when we surrender to God’s power can we make sense of the senseless indiscriminate destruction of human lives and their surrounding habitat. Let us pray for peace where there is no peace.

Jesus storms into the temple business center and in a rage upsets everything, is this any way to behave? Maybe we need to be a little more concerned about what is happening in our churches and communities today. Jesus took seriously what the church should be about and did something about it. Do we take it seriously or are we maybe just merchandising religion like everything else in life? Let us pray for some serious action in our churches that truly makes the church what it should be.

Many people have been juggling their budgets even to the point of deciding on what to sacrifice. The apostle Paul talks about sacrifice but in a different way. It’s not about what we will give up so as to lose it. Rather it is how we will live our lives as a “living’ sacrifice. This is something that isn’t lost on others or ourselves but gives new life each day. Let us pray for the commitment to be “living” sacrifices in today’s world by caring for one another.

As we view the world around us, we tend to make assessments. The assessments are sometimes judgments and not always truisms. While the going phrase in today’s world is to let everyone take care of themselves, Jesus says wait a minute. He calls us to rigorous discipline which asks for loyalty to God and selfless abundant service to others. “If anyone should come after me, let him/her deny himself/herself”. Let us pray for that discipline.

Pride can be a noble attribute. Self-concerning pride isn’t. Selfish concerns are sometimes an instinctive human trait. It involves preservation and looking out after one’s own. If we elect a representative will there be pride in serving or pride in taking care of one’s self? Paul says that any pride should be because of what Christ has done for us and enabled for us. Let us pray for noble pride in Christ.