Come, Let Us Pray
We had a good time, including some giggles, at the Sunday morning learning hour last week. We began with a story from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6, using a kid-friendly version with a few embellishments from yours truly, serving as story-teller. When you talk about adults being loud and obnoxious, standing out in the middle of the street and shouting to God how thankful they were that they were better than everyone else, the expressions on the children’s faces are priceless. It’s a combination of shock at such show-offish behavior and also recognizing how funny it would be.
As the story unfolded, they quickly understood the message Jesus was sharing with the disciples. Following this story, he introduces the Lord’s Prayer, explaining that prayer is part of a personal relationship with God. It isn’t a public performance, meant to impress others, but rather a direct communication with their heavenly Father. We talked a little about how everyone, children and adults of all ages, prays the Lord’s Prayer together in church, and how sharing prayer time together is good for us all.
So why make this lesson part of the weekly devotion? Perhaps because there’s as much or more to be learned from this simple lesson as from more sophisticated sources. When we don’t know what to do, or what to say or pray, here is our guide. Jesus himself assures us that we can call on God with quiet confidence that we will be heard.
Learning about prayer together with youngsters is both educational and delightful. We had a wonderful, sticky time making prayer candle jars, gluing pictures of things we’re thankful for , adding small printed prayers, and then lighting little candles so all these things were illuminated. We’re grateful for elephants, pandas, puppies, cats, bananas and apples, to name a few. We’ll read the little prayers and they’ll become part of our spiritual practices. And we are growing in understanding that God wants us to pray, telling us that we need to pray in all circumstances.
Throughout the Bible, we have read that God’s people have turned to him in prayer, whether in joy and gratitude or fear and anxiety. We don’t need to be some kind of orator or poet to pray, we just open our hearts, pour out whatever our burden or joy is, and God will hear and understand. In his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, Paul encourages the struggling church by telling them, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”
Prayer is essential to every one of us, whether it’s for our own needs, or on behalf of others, whether we carry a heavy burden or are filled with joy and celebration. We are blessed with an amazing gift — that of being invited to be in this close relationship with our Father in heaven.
Your friend on the Lenten Journey,
Mary Rogers