Pray

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Colossians 4:2

It sounds so easy. So natural. So undeniably right. And yet sometimes it escapes us.

What does it mean to pray? There have been times in my life when I considered prayer to be those inescapable moments when I turned to God to ask for something to happen (or not) or for something that I thought was missing to be provided.; to fulfill some tangible need that I thought I was lacking.  Other times, I have turned to prayer when I felt there was no place else to go. Over time I have come to understand prayer as those increasingly frequent conversations I have with God when I can step out of all of the self-imposed human limitations that I so frequently rely upon to guard me from daily turmoil, noise and distress and simply be my true self, in front of God who created me, and fold into the one  relationship for which I was formed to be a part. No pretenses or assumptions. Just my own stark humility in the face of the One who loves me unconditionally. And it is through these prayers that I seek not tangible things but a better understanding of what God needs me to do.

There are countless verses in the Holy Scripture through which we learn that Jesus himself frequently found a way to remove himself from the enormous tension and noise swirling around him to go off alone, simply to pray to God the Father. It was in these times we can imagine that Jesus found himself closest to God and it was through these encounters that He found the strength, the resolve, and the call to move on.

I believe especially during this time of Advent, taking the time to pray through this lens is especially important not only in order to live into the invitation extended to us by our Presiding Bishop, but more importantly to intentionally come into conversation with God so that we might better understand the magnitude of that for which we are all anxiously awaiting – the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

During Advent I frequently find myself wondering about the avalanche of prayers that Mary and Joseph must have made as their wait for the baby’s arrival loomed closer and closer. Theirs was obviously a remarkable testament to faith and belief that God would provide against all the anxiety and uncertainty of what was to come. We can imagine their prayers not only for safe travel and protection but also for God’s love and support to guide them through the unknown and to ultimately better understand the journey that was leading them to Bethlehem. And soon their wait would yield the most unimaginably wonderful gift of all.

My prayer for all of us this Advent is that we find time among the tumult to be with God, in all our unguarded humanity, and fill ourselves with the strength we need to face the enormous challenges that await. And while we wait, we pray.

Thanks be to God!

Post by Michael Southwick