Friday, April 8, 2016

Jesus as the center

We were talking about prayer, talking about talking. We were talking about prayer, it's substance, it's meaning, it's pathways, it's longing, its destination. We talked about sitting at the feet of God and letting Him direct the conversation as well as letting him direct the path of the prayer.

Well, sure, let Him be in charge. I'll let Him run those minutes in the same way I let Him run the (very) few minutes I use for prayer daily right now. 

Prayer. Those minutes of tension that boil up like hot water for tea each and every day whether I want them to or not. Those moments of clarity that pop up usually at the very last of the day. Those moments of clinging and whining and crying and moaning that we call prayer. We wake up and we burst at the sight of new, fresh sunshine.

Dr. Roberta Bondi says of it, "Prayer is the fundamental activity of humankind. That's why there is no right way to do it."

Abba abamacious says that the Psalms are us talking to God. "The rest of the Bible is God talking to us." That's why never you never run out of words. "The Bible is therefore consistent with itself," Bondi says.

Prayer is us talking with God, though there be grand moments when God is letting us in on the great, glorious plan.

Prayer is us attempting, coercing, heck begging for the word to be given. The problem with that is that God leaves the GOD-things found in the Psalms pretty much in the eye of the beholder. The plain  unarguable fact is the Psalms are quite violent. The Psalms are ragged, rough, violent pieces of life. Praying the Pslams is taking advantage of the Holy Spirit, letting Him do the rock-and-rolling and allowing us to find the way out of A way. The words of Jesus found in the Psalms, and they are there friends, are words of the Master. They rest in the margins, allowing us to grow with them.

Psalms 131: "Oh, Lord you have searched me and found me ... "I hate my enemies with a perfect hate."

The question is how does the train arrive at the station with the wonderful, soothing, peaceful Psalms still sitting in their seat? Can we do that? Can we pray the prayer of God, the broken-hearted prayer, the moaning, despair-filled prayer, the I can't do this ever, EVER prayer?

Bondi says we are to find the center of the Psalms. Our center. Our puppy dog prayer. Our week-old-kitten is fluffy and funny prayer. God is there, in the evening tide, flowing in to the sand and out with the rush and explosion of water. 

Find where Jesus resides in them. Jesus is calm, the truth, the life. He is the baby goat in the video, dancing with us like we have have nothing better to do because we don't, we just don't. Dancing with God in the afternoon rain is the equivalent of any parting of the Red Sea. Dancing with God is our calling. Dancing with God is 


No comments: