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Category: Prayer

St. Francis’ Prayer

Published by mhelbert on January 5, 2013

I’ve been reading quite a lot from blogs and news sources. Listened to people talk. And I find the polarization sometimes disconcerting. Especially, among those who follow Yeshua. I understand that people hold differing positions and opinions on myriad topics. These range from marriage to gun control, to politics, to faith itself. I don’t for a minute think that these differences are bad or wrong-headed. But, what I find more and more distasteful is the vitriol that is being thrown about without any concern for the recipients nor those who are witness to it. When someone on social media writes about hate and destruction, it’s not only those to whom the flames are directed, but all of the others who have access to the heat who inevitably get burned also. The words, paradoxically, then become fuel for more flames and hate to feed upon. There are ways to express opposition and displeasure without becoming hateful and destructive. For those of us who claim allegiance to Yeshua the Messiah, the God who walked among us, there is no choice.
There are few people in history who have grasped this concept better than St. Francis of Assisi. Anyone can search online for details about this son of God’s life. I want to share just one thing that has been attributed to him. It has become simply known as The Prayer of St. Francis.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Perhaps, if we can let these words sink into the deep recesses of spirit and mind we can actually become instruments of God’s peace; salt and light within a decaying and dark world. The choice belongs to us.

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What’s the use?

Published by mhelbert on September 12, 2012

A couple evenings back I met with my spiritual director. We meet about once a month. I tell him what I’m experiencing and thinking. He gives a different perspective on that which usually challenges me. This week I shared how I am moving toward a more unified view of humans. We in the West have inherited a Platonic dualism that affects pretty much everything we do, including relate to Yahweh. We perform mental and theological gymnastics that allow us to separate ourselves into various compartments. I guess that helps some people organize their lives. But, as I read scripture, I see a more in a more Semitic way. God formed humans and breathed the Ruach Elohim into them. They became living souls. Not living dust and breath. Anyway, I digress. As we were talking I told him that I was finding it increasingly easy to see Yahweh’s love as it is directed toward me. I don’t see God keeping a running tally of my many shortcomings and mistakes. For anyone out there who knows me, that would be a very long list. Rather, I am coming to realize that God knows what I’m made of. I’m dust. God is not surprised when I act like dust. I see God smiling at me as I try to come alongside the Spirit and cooperate. My feeble attempts amuse the Almighty. So, my director’s response to this was to ask if there was any way that I could see God writing, not a list of sin and mistakes, but a love letter to me. I had to stop a moment, but I said ‘yes.’ He then challenged me to take this to God in prayer.
I did that. And, I felt God’s smile. I confessed to Yahweh that I could not understand why I had been chosen out of the billions of souls on this planet. God’s response? “So that you can enjoy Me.”
Not so that my sins would be forgiven, even though that’s true. Not so that I can preach and teach. Not so that I can live a godly life. But, so that I can enjoy God. I can experience God’s love and acceptance. I can, in a word, be free to love God and God’s very good creation.
Thank you, Yahweh!

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Preserve us, O God

Published by mhelbert on April 26, 2012

This is the final part of the discussion on the “Our Father.” This has not been an attempt to present any kind of comprehensive understanding, much less, an exegesis of the prayer. It is simply food for thought and reflection. As a paradigm, the prayer allows us to contemplate our place before a loving and compassionate Father. Yahweh, who has allowed us to be adopted children of God, who has allowed us to be the sisters and brothers of Jesus, has given us this simple prayer on which to build our faith. My hope in these 4 short posts is that any who happen to read them will be encouraged to model their own prayers on it. To use their God given imagination to see into the depths of the Father’s love, compassion and concern for all of God’s children.

And do not lead us into a time of trial, but, deliver us from the evil one.          
Testing is something that we all experience. James wrote that testing proves our mettle. It builds and perfects our faith. The psalmist called on to “Try me and know my anxious thoughts.” Why, then, should we not embrace trials and testing? Why not expect that God, in all of the divine Wisdom, to try us and test us? After all, Jesus was tested in the wilderness and triumphed. This testing that Jesus instructed his disciples to pray that they might be spared is that from external powers. We may better understand it, “Father, do not take your protecting hand from us! Keep us from temptations from ungodly powers.”
We do not forsake the wilderness. It is the place where we are tried and tested, just as Jesus. The desert Fathers wrote about the aridity of the interior environment where the perfect faith was forged. We join with them in this. We agree with James and the psalmist in this. But, we must pray that Yahweh, the God who is near, will keep us and preserve us from the fiery darts and weapons of the enemy of our soul.

There is also a part of this plea that is eschatological. We pray the God’s hand will keep us from harm in the trials and tribulations that accompany the end of the age. Jesus saw this as immanent. The Kingdom of God was breaking into time and space, the end of the age was at hand. “Father, keep us from the persecutions and oppression that is to come. Through the righteous and just testing and proving of our faith, let us stand in Your strength and faithfulness when the time comes.”
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Abba, Forgive Us

Published by mhelbert on April 25, 2012

And forgive us our debts
“Abba, forgive us the debt of sin. We cannot repay this…ever.” Most of us will stop at this point. We jump forward to Paul and claim “Justification!” But, there is more to consider here. We are indebted to Yahweh for everything. Our pray can continue, “Abba, forgive…The debt of having been formed in the womb; of being given the precious Breath of Life. The debt of childhood play and skinned knees. The debt of 1st loves and 1st heartbreaks. The debt of experiencing life with family and friends. The debt of being alone and forsaken by family and friends. All that we are and have and experience are debts that cannot be repaid.
As we forgive those who are indebted to us.
Those who have outright wronged us. Those who have taken a small piece of our life; love; soul and spent it on trivia. Those who have stepped on our toes. Those who laughed when we cried. Those who stole a piece of our innocence and left a wound that scarred and remains with us to this day. Those who have rubbed us in such a way that callouses formed. “O Lord, let Your grace be on us to let go of anything, anything, anything that stands between us and our adelphoi. Let our souls be free from any hint of bitterness that may germinate from holding on to the debts of others. As we have freely received, we do freely give.”
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More from the Pater Noster

Published by mhelbert on April 24, 2012

In my previous post I started to look at the prayer Jesus taught his disciples as recorded in Matthew. I mentioned that the prayer has been viewed as a paradigm for other prayers. In its written form it appears to be what Richard Foster called a ‘simple prayer.’ That is, it contains the simple supplication of a person looking to have simple, basic needs met by God.
Today I want to look at this as it applies to the next phrase.

Today, give us the bread that we need.
 On the surface this appears to meet the criteria for ‘simple prayer.’ “O Lord, you know
that we have physical needs. Our very lives depend on the sustenance that comes from
your hand.” As we reflect, though, we can see that there may be more to this. In John 6,
Jesus spoke about the manna that Israel ate while in the wilderness. He said, “I am the
bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the
bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living
bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This
bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:48-51, NIV). A
couple things jump out at me. First, Israel received manna for the present day. God
literally provided ‘daily bread’ for them. This bread from heaven kept them nourished as
the trekked through the wilderness. It was received by faith. There was no guarantee,
other than God’s promise, that there would be manna in the morning. Every night they
went to bed hoping and trusting that when they awoke there would be God’s provision.
The second thing is that Jesus saw himself taking the place of God’s manna. He said,
“Hey, I AM the living bread! I AM the provision that brings and sustains life!” Like the
manna in the wilderness, Jesus also must be received in faith. We must ‘partake’ of this
living bread every day. What we received yesterday has passed into history. What we
may receive tomorrow is unknowable. “Today, Lord, we ask for the living Bread of life
that You provide. Today, Lord, give me Your body as true food that nourishes my soul.”
 There is much that we can meditate on in this single phrase. Our dependence; our need
for trust and faith; the truth about what is nourishment and what is not are all worthy of
our time and reflection.
May God fill you from the bounty of heaven’s storehouse.
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Our Father who is heaven…

Published by mhelbert on April 22, 2012

The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples has been recited and reflected on as long as there has been a church to do it. It has been said to be the “perfect prayer” by the Roman church. Monks, contemplatives, mystics and lay people throughout church history have pondered its simplicity and its profundity. From Teresa of Avila and Madame Guyon through Francis Fenelon and St. John of the Cross to us today, this prayer has been recognized as being a paradigmatic prayer. Countless faithful offer the words of the Pater Noster daily.
I have found great pleasure in this prayer. It stimulates my mind and imagination to ponder on the riches of our heavenly Father and how much we must trust and rely on God for everything. Over the next little while I’m going to share bits and pieces of this prayer. Now, I must say that this will not be some ‘magic’ bullet that will open the floodgates of glory through which all sorts of blessings will pour down. That’s been tried before…and found lacking. What this prayer does is allow us to bow our wills and present our neediness and poverty to God Almighty. With each phrase one is free to express whatever thoughts and musings come into the heart. Like I said, the prayer is a model; a superstructure that in the presence of the Ruach Elohim can be fleshed out to become a cry of supplication, a loud sound of praise, the peace and quiet of adoration.
The prayer proper is in bold italics. The translation is my own.

Our Father who is in heaven,
            Reveals both the immanence and transcendence of God.
            Yahweh is near, like a father. One who knows us better than we know ourselves
            One who patiently loves and cares for us. Yet, God is also in heaven. High above all
things, with wisdom that surpasses any that our tiny human souls can comprehend.
Yahweh lives with the Cherubim and heavenly creatures that worship and do the bidding
of God.
May Your name be revered,
            Your work and reputation. You, who parted the sea and fed Your people in the desert.
You, who conceived the stars and wonders of the heavens. You, who sent Your one and
only Son to us as one of us. I reverence You.
May Your Reign come,
            Yahweh, may Your reign and dominion stretch out into every region of the cosmos. Let it
touch the light of the heavens and encompass the floating debris of space. Let it reach
into and penetrate my soul; surround every cell; course through my veins; capture my
mind and imagination. Let me think thought and dream dreams that I could not imagine,
but You can.

Let Your will be done On earth as in heaven.
Here and Now; on this earth; in this time. May Your word, Your thoughts  – proceed from
your own glory to engulf all that Your hands have fashioned. May all of this, in return,
bow before Your glorious presence. Lift the veil! Part the curtain that hides Your heaven
from Your creation! Give to us, as well as the trees, rivers, stars, planets, creatures in the
sky, water and land a glimpse of Your glory. Glory that far surpasses the greatest
phenomena of the created order. For You are far above all of these.
This is a good place to leave this first part. Take time to reflect and ruminate on the text of the prayer. Let the Holy Spirit take you into the presence of God, past the gossamer veil that separates the heavenly realm from the earthly. Pray to the Father. Don’t simply speak to the air.
I hope that these meager thoughts can help to launch us into a deeper and more meaningful practice of prayer.
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Some thoughts on prayer and identity

Published by mhelbert on March 24, 2012

As I press prayer deeper, I find that there are more than enough distractions to try and keep me from pressing prayer deeper. I’ve read quite a bit about the experiences of others who have plumbed the depths of contemplative prayer. They all speak about these annoying, mosquito-like distractions. And, they agree that we must hold these things in the light of God’s presence so that a conversation with God can shed light on them.
One such ‘distraction’ is the recurring memory of certain sins in my life. These were dealt with through confession and repentance long ago. But, as I begin to pray, some of these memories just show up. As I have brought these before Yahweh, have rehearsed events in my life that may have some connection to these things. They seem to end with the fact that I was adopted as an infant. I have learned a bit about my birth parents. Enough to know that I was pretty much an unplanned for accident. But, this alone does not explain the continued interruptions of my time with God.
Then, I began to realize that who I am is strongly connected to the communities that I have been a part of. These groups and systems have shaped my life, perhaps more than I realized. Family, school, friends, co-workers, and others have created environments in which I have both flourished and foundered. I think, however, that God wants me to consider the larger group: the Human family.
I have known for many years the depths I am capable of sinking to. There is no sense in trying to fool myself. Jesus articulated some of these, “out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness” (Mark 7:21-22). In a word…‘me.’ Henri Nouwen wrote in The Wounded Healer, “Through compassion it is possible to recognize that the craving for love that people feel resides also in our own hearts, that the cruelty the world knows all too well is also rooted in our own impulses. Through compassion we also sense our hop for forgiveness in our friends’ eyes and our hatred in their bitter mouths. When they kill, we know that we could have done it; when they give life, we know that we can do the same. For a compassionate person nothing human is alien: no joy and no sorrow, no way of living and no way of dying.”[1]
Perhaps, some of what I am experiencing is for my own healing. Maybe merciful Yahweh has seen fit to dust me off and polish me up a bit. No, lousy metaphor. Elohim has decided to crush me into dust in order to melt me and refashion me. Maybe other folks get dusted and polished, not me. But, I don’t think I’m alone. I am human! I stand in solidarity with humanity! I don’t know for sure where God is leading. But, what I do know is that God is completely trustworthy and faithful. Where ever this is going, I can trust Yahweh.

[1]Nouwen Henri J. M., The Wounded Healer: Ministry in Contemporary Society, (New York: Doubleday, 1972), 45.
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More prayer stuff

Published by mhelbert on March 22, 2012

Yesterday I met with my spiritual director and we discussed the “task” of prayer. Like many protestants I have viewed prayer as something that one does. I get up; I say a prayer; I get on with the real business of the day. In the process, hopefully, I grow from being a newbie ‘pray-er’ into a mature and accomplished ‘pray-er.’ This was the crux of our discussion. I mentioned to him that the more I experience prayer, the more I realize how little I know about it.
His response was that I probably needed to view the time in prayer as “being” with God, not progressing from one level of proficiency to another. There is no destination to be reached or goal to be achieved. As I reflected on this, and other input and experience, I have begun to realize that prayer isn’t really something that one does. It’s something that we become. Prayer is an attitude that consumes one’s life, not simply a task that can be checked off of a “done” list.
Yes, I’m still a newbie. But, Thomas Merton wrote that we will always be considered beginners as we sound the depths of God’s great love and goodness.

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Love Fuels Devotion

Published by mhelbert on March 10, 2012

I’ve read several accounts of folks who have had spiritual experiences that manifest with physical sensations. Most notably, a burning in the heart or breast. Both John Wesley and Richard Rolle wrote about this. Today, as I was praying, I asked Yahweh about this. It seemed that such experiences fueled the ardor and devotion of these men. It sparked a holy desire to know and serve Christ. It also became a reminder of God’s goodness and love toward them. So, of course, I desired a similar experience. (How human.) But, I sensed the Lord pointing to the fact that I was there, in God’s presence, devoting my time and attention to God.The words that came to my mind were, “This is the fruit of love.” While the physical flame is absent, the burning desire to know communicate with and serve God is present. This is a result of Yahweh’s love for me. This agape of God is ever and always flowing outward. It flows outward from God to God’s good creation. Our love, if it is genuine, flows outward into the world so that both human and non-human creation is affected.
Maybe, someday Yahweh will bless me with a burning in my heart like Rolle and Wesley. Maybe not. But, I really don’t think that’s the point. Love and devotion…that’s the heart of it.

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Prayer is hard work

Published by mhelbert on March 1, 2012

As I journey on in learning more about prayer, I’m discovering how difficult it is. Yes, some say that it is so simple that a child can do it. True, but I’m not a child. I’ve read what some of the ‘master’ of prayer and the contemplative life have written, and there’s nothing in them that says ‘simple.’ In fact, they almost unanimously describe prayer as hard work. It is. Our will is not something that is easily bent away from its own comfort. We like the path of least resistance. To sit in the presence of Yahweh, and focus, pay attention, seek expectantly, watch and listen is difficult. Usually, after a short time, my mind wants to wander and imagine…anything but remain still. This is where I usually would stop and assume that the prayer time was ended. However, I’m finding that it’s important at precisely that moment to persevere and redouble my effort to focus. The Psalmist spoke to his soul. I find I am doing that. “O my soul, pay attention to the Lord. O my soul, listen; watch; seek.”
I’ve heard many people say that prayer is something we should do because it benefits us. That’s how we receive our ‘spiritual food’ from God. And, I think that this is partly accurate. What is more important, I think, is that we find our proper posture before the Creator of the Universe and can learn about God’s purposes in the world. Prayer is the communicative link to our Lord and Master. Do we receive explicit and detailed instructions? Usually not. At least for me at this time, I hear more about Yahweh’s character. God is about compassion for the ‘other.’ The Lord is about moving outward, not inward on self. Love, patience and mercy are present where the Lord is. Yahweh is interested in heavenly kingdom stuff. If this is accurate, then it points to where our interests and energy should be focused. Being a servant of God means to attend to our Master’s interests. Just a thought.

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