Tuesday of the First Week of Lent - February 19, 2013
Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Matthew 6:7 – 13
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’”
The “babbling” in the first line is translated in other versions as “heaping up empty phrases.” I have to admit that my mind has mostly gone to that phrase. It sounds like a rock pile or a heap of dirt.
Except that in this pseudo-prayer, we are heaping up “empty-phrases” and meaningless jargon instead. It’s not that the words we say in prayer are untrue or impotent . . . Jesus’ point is that when we manipulate prayer as a magic formula to get what we want from God, the words themselves become empty. There is nothing behind them. They become magic potions we use to twist God’s arm.
I’ve done my share of this kind of praying, as I imagine most of us have. I’ve had prayer-mentors through the years who shared their “secrets” for prayer, the kinds of prayer God likes, the way to say the words to ensure the outcome I desire. Having cracked the secret code, I was all set to pray.
After years, when I realized what I was doing – heaping up sincere, but empty phrases – I fell back into the “Our Father,” the prayer Jesus taught us. Strangely and mysteriously, these words that could have become just another rote prayer were charged with meaning and expansiveness.
I would pray the words one line at a time, slowly and deliberately giving attention to the weight and substance of each word, phrase, and line. I would linger with the line, put it into my own words, and ponder what it meant for me.
For instance, I would pray for the kingdom to come in my life as it did in heaven . . . I would pause to ask for forgiveness, then consider those I needed to forgive.
Most of us who pray have only tapped its surface.
Matthew 6:7 – 13
And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’”
The “babbling” in the first line is translated in other versions as “heaping up empty phrases.” I have to admit that my mind has mostly gone to that phrase. It sounds like a rock pile or a heap of dirt.
Except that in this pseudo-prayer, we are heaping up “empty-phrases” and meaningless jargon instead. It’s not that the words we say in prayer are untrue or impotent . . . Jesus’ point is that when we manipulate prayer as a magic formula to get what we want from God, the words themselves become empty. There is nothing behind them. They become magic potions we use to twist God’s arm.
I’ve done my share of this kind of praying, as I imagine most of us have. I’ve had prayer-mentors through the years who shared their “secrets” for prayer, the kinds of prayer God likes, the way to say the words to ensure the outcome I desire. Having cracked the secret code, I was all set to pray.
After years, when I realized what I was doing – heaping up sincere, but empty phrases – I fell back into the “Our Father,” the prayer Jesus taught us. Strangely and mysteriously, these words that could have become just another rote prayer were charged with meaning and expansiveness.
I would pray the words one line at a time, slowly and deliberately giving attention to the weight and substance of each word, phrase, and line. I would linger with the line, put it into my own words, and ponder what it meant for me.
For instance, I would pray for the kingdom to come in my life as it did in heaven . . . I would pause to ask for forgiveness, then consider those I needed to forgive.
Most of us who pray have only tapped its surface.
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