Pray  (James 5:13-20)
Delivered on September 27, 2009 to Smith Chapel UMC

  

What I Didn't Say

Intro--Prayer(?)!  The more I think about it...the more I study about it...the more I do it...the more I think I have it nailed down...the less I think I've got any kind of decent handle on it.
How it works and why it works is a mystery.  It DOES work, however, so I'll continue to do it...if for no other reason than I need to converse with my Lord.  I confess I don't do it enough.

Prayer for the sick--Like you (I suppose), I wish every sick person I pray for would be totally healed.  I've seen some healings (some quite miraculous), but I've also prayed for some healings that not only didn't come, but the people I prayed for ended up dying.  Not cool Lord!

On the other hand, those that died are with the Lord (I hope).  If that's the case, that IS the ultimate healing (and that IS cool, Lord).

Prayer makes room for God--I find that I, far too often, don't have time to pray.  If prayer is holding a conversation with God, then I need to make time for it.  Denise (my lovely bride) would be quite angry if I didn't make time to speak with her.  In fact I'm quite sure she wouldn't stick around very long, because it would be apparent that I no longer had any room for her in my life.  So, I assume if I want a relationship with the Lord, I need to make room in my life for Him.

Corporate Prayer--I don't know about you, but I've always hated prayer meetings...at least most of them.  Recently, at one of our Ecumenical Council Meetings, someone led in a Lectio Divina (also known as Lecto Divina).  For those of you with some Latin in your blood, you may recognize this as meaning "divine reading."  This is somewhat foreign to us "not-so-liturgical" types.  The concept is not foreign, however.  I've always heard it simply refered to as "praying the Scritures."

I won't go into a long explaination here, but if you Google it, you can find all sorts of info.  I will, however, include a paragraph of someone else's explaination.
   "LECTIO DIVINA consists of reading the text, mulling
    over it, praying about it, and then going beyond it into
    contemplation where we are content just to be in the
    presence of God and enjoy being possessed by his
    love. Or as the monks called it: lectio, meditatio, oratio,
    and contemplation. These four acts, reading,
    meditation, affective prayer and contemplation were
    interwoven into one prayer experience."

In any case, I'm seriously considering using this method for group prayer in the coming year.  It seems to make a lot of sense.  Besides that, I'm out to prove that I'm an old dog who can still learn a new trick or two.