Pass It On

May the poor find wealth, 

Those weak with sorrow find joy. 

May the forlorn find new hope, 

Constant happiness and prosperity.  

 

May the frightened cease to be afraid, 

And those bound be free. 

May the weak find power, 

And may their hearts join in friendship.   

 

An Open Heart, The Dalai Lama   

    

I found this book in one of our Little Free Libraries.  I am not sure that it had ever been read, but I hope so.  We are in a time, and maybe we always have been, when we need to say, "This is what I have learned.  Pass it on."    

 

I have not been at ease since the election, and at times my prayers have not been as gentle and wise as the Dalai Lama's beautiful prayer.  My impatience has overflowed more than once.  Yet,  in a Zoom worship with a care community on Thursday, I felt my thoughts and feelings untangle.  In this service, I talked about prayer, and how many of the psalmists would start out with a sense of frustration, despair, and even fear.  However, as they worked their way through prayer, most Psalms conclude with a surrender to gratitude and praise.  A surrender to God.  And as I talked about my own prayers, that sense of gratitude made its way into my heart.  I knew God had been quietly listening to me, but yesterday, I felt it deeply.  I reminded myself and those gathered with me that our prayers do not need to be noble, eloquent, or gentle.   However, they do need to be honest, or we cannot grow.  

  

This is the value of coming together in community.   If you are struggling with what it means to be a Christian in this time, I do suggest a beautiful book that was recommended to me, Following Jesus, Finding Our Way Home in an Age of Anxiety, edited by Gabrielle Earnshaw.   In this book, which is a compilation of six lectures given by Nouwen, he says, "And contrary to popular opinion, we are not called to imitate Jesus. We are called to form a community of people who through different ways reflect the great love of Jesus. Not one of us can reflect the fullness of that love."  When we come together to talk, pray, laugh, and sometimes cry, Christ is made known.  Then, and maybe only then, we can pass that great love to others.  We can pass it on.  

     

    

    

 

How Do You Pray?

I am reading Henri Nouwen's book, The Road to Daybreak, a compilation of his journal entries from the time when he had decided to leave academic life and eventually move to Daybreak, the L'Arche community in Toronto.  The writings of L'Arche's founder, Jean Vanier, as well as those of Nouwen  have guided my journey in ministry, and I think these voices have returned to my life at a pivotal time.  I am grateful.    

   

Earlier this week, I left a particular community wondering how I can serve a resident who has absolutely nothing pleasant to say about anyone or anything. He is very frustrated about his health, the people who are trying to care for him, everything. I think to compound his troubles, his negativity probably isolates him.  Yet, he is often in the activity room when I am there, and while I cannot say he takes part in our worship services, perhaps he finds something in those gatherings that helps. My attempts at conversing with him have fallen quite flat. 

  

However, in a story that Nouwen refers to as simply "the three monks in the Tolstoy story," I see a glimmer of where I might be going astray.  In this beautiful tale, a bishop decides to visit three monks who live on an isolated island. He soon learned that these three monks did not know the Lord's Prayer, so he proceeded to spend the afternoon teaching them this prayer.  He left feeling satisfied that he had done his pastoral duty.    

As his ship was sailing away, he suddenly realized that the three were running on the water to catch up to them. They told the bishop they were distressed because they could not remember the prayer he had worked so hard to teach them.  "The bishop, overwhelmed by what he was seeing and hearing, said, 'But dear brothers, how then do you pray?'" Their lovely reply was "Well, we just say, 'Dear God, there are three of us and there are three of you, have mercy on us!" The bishop told them to go back to the island and be at peace.  I think this bishop and I have something in common; we both should be asking  "How do you pray?" earlier in the conversation.  I have no idea whether this particularly patient is interested in conversing about prayer, but it is certainly worth exploring.     

  

We all pray, even if we are convinced there is no God, and it seems there is no reason for us to even live. However, in our frustrations, we can loose awareness of what is churning in our heads and hearts.  It is wise to periodically ask this question of ourselves and one another. It can be very helpful if someone reveals to us that our prayers are nurturing animosity, rather than the ongoing opening to the journey to and with God and one another.     

   

Why should I spend an hour in prayer when I do nothing during that time but think about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that happen to grab my mind for a moment?  

The answer is because God is greater that my mind and my heart, and what is really happening in the house of prayer is not measurable in terms of human success and failure...I might think that each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety such useless hours, I gradually realize that I was not alone as I thought: a very small, gentle voice has been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place.    

Henri Nouwen, The Road to Daybreak      

Psalm 35

Psalm 35 is a long song of one struggling with betrayal, much longer than what I include today.  Nan C. Merrill takes this psalm in an interesting direction; she asks God, the Beloved, to pray for her.  Let us pray for all of those who are struggling with betrayal and its aftermath, either on a personal or national level.  None of us are immune, but when we pray, we can find solace in knowing God is praying with us, and that sooner or later, the truth will be made known.  
    

"Pray on my behalf, O Beloved, for those

who fight against me; 

Forgive on my behalf those who abuse me. 

Pour forth your strength into my heart 

that I might stand strong. 

Encircle with healing love 

those who persecute me through fear. 

And say to my soul, 

'I am with you always.'

  

Let their ignorance become as chaff 

before the wind, 

send angels to lead them home to You. 

Let their path become filled with light 

that they may see the way of truth."     

   

 Psalm 35, Psalms for Praying 

Nan C. Merrill     

   

In her book, A Life Giving Way, Esther de Waal quotes Henri Nouwen: "Many time I have thought if I am ever sent to prison, if I am ever subjected to hunger, pain, torture, or humiliation, I hope and pray that they let me keep the psalms. The psalms will keep my spirit alive..."