Baffled by prayer



Faith & Worship

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Here’s a hint from a preacher: Petition God by spicing your prayers with imperatives

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

The Rev. David Maxwell, who leads Geneva Press for the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation, preached a pithy sermon on prayer during chapel service at the Presbyterian Center Wednesday. (Photo by Rich Copley)

LOUISVILLE — All his life, the Rev. David Maxwell has found prayer baffling.

Maxwell, who leads Presbyterian Publishing Corporation’s Geneva Press, said during the weekly chapel service at the Presbyterian Center Wednesday that he often finds prayer “awkward, irrational and confusing — and I know I’m not alone in my discomfort.”

For example: Just ask for a volunteer to open a church meeting with prayer. Eyes immediately turn away, papers shuffle and blood pressure begins to rise, Maxwell said. “Oh, what a relief when someone volunteers!” he said with a smile.

Like their understanding of the internet, people of faith may not understand just how prayer works. Yet the Bible “is filled with prayer,” Maxwell noted, and the lectionary’s gospel text for this Sunday is Luke 11:1-13, where Jesus teaches his disciples what to say when they pray. He follows that up with telling them exactly what to do to persevere in their prayer life.

Luke’s account “teaches us the way to pray and then assures us that God will listen to us and respond,” Maxwell said. Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. God promises us “a gracious response, not a cruel one,” akin to parents giving their children a fish or an egg rather than a snake or a scorpion.

Maxwell said that as he’s served the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation as an editor of such standout authors as Walter Brueggemann, he’s learned at least two lessons. The first, as Brueggemann has often said of liberal Christians, is, as Maxwell put it, “We are so afraid of upsetting God that we never ask God for anything.” But “God can bear anything that we give God,” Maxwell said. “Tell God what you think and want — and be bold.”

Maxwell’s second lesson has come to him after editing a large number of prayers, both great and bad: Presbyterians including the Rev. Dr. David Gambrell and the Rev. Kimberly Bracken Long have taught Maxwell to use imperative verbs when addressing God. Jesus himself used the same approach teaching his disciples the Lord’s Prayer.

“We need to tell God what we want,” Maxwell said. “Give us our food, forgive us our sins, do not lead us into temptation and rescue us from evil.”

The Rev. Dr. David Gambrell offered guitar accompaniment during Wednesday’s chapel service at the Presbyterian Center. (Photo by Rich Copley)

We live in a time, Maxwell said, when the victims of racist, divisive and cruel leaders are calling out to God for justice. “Weeping mothers cry out to be reunited with their children,” he said. “All these people trust that God will hear their cries and respond.”

As a self-described “Snowflake,” a political insult for someone perceived to be too sensitive, “I may not understand just how prayer works, but I will do my best to add my demands to God along with theirs,” he said.

Then during the service’s closing prayer, Maxwell practiced what he preached, asking God to hold people in God’s care, wipe their tears away, give them food and drink, and “toothbrushes and soap right now.”

“Melt the hearts of leaders blinded by self-serving greed,” he prayed. “Take charge in a visible way and lead each of us to act with gifts you have given.”

During the service, Gambrell played his guitar and led worshipers to sing two hymns from “Glory to God” that dovetailed with both the Scripture and message: “Seek Ye First” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

 

Holy Catholic Church

DID YOU KNOW that when we recite the Apostles’ Creed and say the word catholic, it is not in reference to a particular denomination, but instead it is in reference to one holy universal Church.  The word catholic is simply a form of the Greek word [katholikos] which means “of the whole”.  So when we say that we “believe in the holy catholic church”,  we are confessing that Jesus Christ is the church’s one foundation and that all who trust in him as Savior and Lord are by God’s grace members of this universal (catholic) church.

Trinity Sunday 6-16-19

Legend has it that when Saint Patrick told the King of Ireland about the Trinity, the king could not believe three Persons in the Godhead could exist as one. Lifting up a sprig of shamrock, Saint Patrick said: “Here is a perfect leaf with three perfect parts.” The shamrock became a well-known symbol of the Holy Trinity.

This article originally appeared in the May 1994 edition of Presbyterian Survey (now Presbyterians Today).

Pentecost Sunday

June 9, 2019

This Sunday we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

Everyone is encouraged to wear something red to church for this week. We will be taking a group picture after the service.

Denomination stands ready to help

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Governors of Oklahoma and Arkansas have requested emergency declarations following heavy rainfall and flooding. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with affected presbyteries.

LOUISVILLE — Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact this weekend with presbyteries in states in the lower Midwest, where flooding and tornadoes have impacted communities and forced evacuations.

Jim Kirk, PDA’s associate for disaster response in the United States, said Saturday that affected presbyteries were assessing flood damage brought on by heavy rainfall in the Missouri and Illinois River basins as well as the upper and middle portions of the Mississippi River basin.

Kirk says PDA anticipates receiving “multiple” assistance grant requests. It’s possible, he said, that PDA National Volunteers will be deployed, although as of Saturday no invitations for National Volunteers had been received.

The Saturday briefing issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that significant flooding continued to prompt evacuations and water rescues across central and eastern Oklahoma, where eight communities are under voluntary evacuations and one is under mandatory evacuation. In neighboring Arkansas, two communities are under evacuation.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt requested an emergency declaration Friday for each of the state’s 77 counties.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson also declared a state of emergency for affected portions of that state.

An emergency declaration for previous flooding has been approved in eight Montana counties, FEMA said. Declaration requests have been made for five counties plus the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho and for 19 counties in North Dakota.

Donations to Presbyterian Disaster Assistance’s General Relief and undesignated support may be made here. For disaster response gifts regarding U.S. flooding, note the account DR000191.

Memorial Day

This week, Pastor Paul has been visited by an old friend with whom he was a classmate in Seminary. Rev. Walter Dinkins retired in 2012 after 30 years as a chaplain in the military. He served in 5 combat deployments in the Middle East and Africa. His last assignment was Seal Team Two in Afghanistan. He lives in Wilmington NC with his wife if 22 years and their three children. He is active in the Wounded Warrior project.

Walter is an avid marsh hunter and fisherman in the Cape Fear delta of NC. He was featured in an article in Field & Stream in Oct/Nov 2018. You can find this article at

www.fieldandstream.com/marsh-rail-bird-hunting-cape-fear-river-north-carolina.

With his many years of service in the military, it is very fitting that, on this Memorial Day Sunday, Pastor Paul has asked Rev. Dinkins to preach during our worship service. We welcome him to our Church and look forward to his Memorial Day message.