|
Now concentrate on the next phase of the Collect for Purity. "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration
of your Holy Spirit."
You cannot think, will or emote yourself to centeredness. That is a gift of the Holy Spirit. You can only dispose yourself
to receive the gift. Let the Holy Spirit cleanse the thoughts of your heart.
Breathe deeply. The word "inspiration" means literally "to breathe in." Continue to gently put aside
distractions moving toward a calm acceptance of yourself. If the Holy Spirit cleanses the thoughts of your heart, the experience
will leave you in an attitude of trust, listening with open attentiveness – a quiet emptiness waiting to receive
with patient acceptance.
Can you feel the passiveness of this attitude? It is not sometime we can do. It is only something we can receive. Our
action is to bring ourselves fully to God and to remove whatever distractions we can in order to be open.
We've talked about the process in theory, now let's imagine ourselves through it.
I've just knelt down and before I can even begin, my mind races. What am I supposed to do? Will I remember it all?
Oh yeah, the triangle: intellect, will emotion. That's what I'm supposed to do.
I give a moment of attention to the task, and then let it go trusting that I will remember the process when I need to.
"Almighty God, to you all hearts are open all desires known and from you no secrets are hid."
As I recite the first phrase, my mind races into a pun as I imagine myself on the operating table with a surgically open
heart. I smile inwardly accepting the joke and gently put it aside.
I speed forward in time wondering if it will be a long service and catch myself calendaring the rest of the day. I gently
acknowledge the schedule and let it go, asking God to be present then as well as now.
I intentionally lift my mind to God. I wonder if God's there. I catch myself beginning the intellectual debate over
whether prayer and worship matter. What if there is no God? ...I've been through this one before. I gently let it go, too,
activating faith that the coming hour will have meaning.
I sense my mind slowing down and beginning to focus on God and the present. I am here to worship. God is here. I ask
for grace to pray well.
I have a very strong urge now to rise from my knees and read the bulletin. After all, I've settled down, haven't I? I
hold on in the tension and remain on my knees. I feel distracted, slightly unnerved. The image of a friend's face comes
to mind, and with that face a host of strong emotions. We had exchanged words at a meeting last week and now feelings of
anger, frustration and resentment surface. This is an unresolved conflict that borders on a personality clash. I begin to
judge the person. Realizing how powerful these feelings are, I address the situation directly. In my mind I say, "This
relationship is a problem for me. It is important, and it deserves my full attention. I respectfully ask that you let me
be free to worship for now, and I promise I will come back to you later today." I gently place the conflict aside.
I will come back to it later today.
I sense the beginning of a calmness. There is a gentle, accepting and offering of myself in the presence of God.
I wait.
"Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit."
I breathe in and out deeply several times. Things are quieter inside me.
To assemble with the People of God
Now it is time to move outside of myself to become part of the praying community. This is the second task of preparation.
I like to center this task on the concluding phrase of the Collect for Purity: "...that we may perfectly love you and
worthily magnify your holy Name, through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The operative word is "we." Worship is corporate prayer, or as the title of the prayer book implies, common
prayer. We share our prayer in common. There are times when I've been to worship when it seemed like a gathering of people
simultaneously praying their private prayers. That is not worship or common prayer. That is private devotion. "We
come to the temple not for individual prayer but to assemble together as the Church."
Alexander Schmemann, The Eucharist,
In a real sense we offer our prayer as a service to the Church, the Body of Christ. We constitute the Church as we assemble.
There is but one prayer, the Church's prayer, and we join it by entering its flow. This is our ministry -- to pray well the
common prayer. It is much like using the acceleration ramp on an interstate highway in order to merge with the ongoing traffic.
If I ignore the flow and insist on going my speed or in my direction rather than in the direction and speed of the traffic,
there will be a terrible result. I now take cognizance of those around me and join my prayer with theirs. I accept the rhythms
and motions of the praying congregation. I place myself among them. I bless them.
Getting in touch with your fellow worshipers may raise in you some ambivalence. If you have lived in a congregation for
long and cared at all for the Church, you have had conflicts, frustrations and disappointments with the people you worship
with. How do you bless people you don't like or may even disapprove of? Can we really pray together, or is it just hypocritical
to pretend we are "one body"?
A colleague of mine makes this distinction: Blessing and approval are not the same thing. When God blesses us, it is
an act of ownership; God makes us God's own. God blessed me at my baptism; God blesses me daily. God does not always approve
of me. I am not all God would have me to be but I belong to God and God has steadfast love for me even when there is no way
God can like or approve of my attitude or behavior.
Southerners tell the story of the saintly town patriarch staunchly defending the town rogue who was criticized by out-of-towners.
"Yes, he may be a SOB; but he's our SOB." When we bless the congregation around us, we say they are ours. They
belong to us and we to them. Old Miss So-and-so may be a problem, but she's my problem, God bless her.
Part of your work and prayer in worship is to follow the Great Commandment to "love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." (Luke
10:27) Loving your neighbor is important. One of the opportunities of living in a Church community is the opportunity to
know and love other people..
There is a Zen story of a disciple who loved his master deeply. One day in an outburst of emotion he cried out his feelings,
"Master, I love you." The Master looked expressionless. "Didn't you hear me, Master? I said, 'I love you'."
The Master spoke in a flat voice, "My Son, do you know what hurts me?" The disciple felt rebuffed. "Master,
I tell you I love you, and you confuse me with a distracting question." "My question is neither confusing nor distracting,"
answered the Master. "How can you say you love me, if you do not know what hurts me?"
One way of loving your neighbor is to respond to the real needs of your neighbor. All people need attention, respect
and acceptance. To ignore your fellow worshipers as if they were not present is to treat them as things. That is unacceptable
in common prayer. Your attitude toward others is part of the atmosphere and spirit of worship. We can never really know
how we are affecting the people around us. Bless those you worship with. Have faith that your benevolence toward them will
be part of what God uses so that we can "perfectly love' and "worthily magnify."
There is a true story of a Protestant minister who was in the twilight of a mediocre career. He was called to a dying
little church with the likely prospect of presiding its demise and his own retirement. Amazingly, his preaching became filled
with power and grace. The little church was renewed and so was he. In a few years he was at the peak of his effectiveness,
and the church was alive and growing.
One day in his eighth year he received a summons to the hospital. An elderly member was critically ill. He came to her
bedside. "I called you because I know I am dying," she said, "and you'll need to find someone to take over
my ministry." The pastor didn't respond. As far as he knew, the woman had no ministry. She was regular in her attendance
at early church, but she served on no boards or committees. She didn't even come to the church suppers and fellowship occasions.
As gently as he could he asked her, "And what ministry is that?"
"You see," she said, "when you were called to our church, I knew that you would be our last chance. If
we were to survive, it would depend upon your preaching. I made a vow to the Lord, and from your first Sunday, I have stayed
in prayer throughout each Saturday evening asking God to put his words in your mouth that you may be the instrument of his
will. God has honored that prayer. And now, you have to find someone to take over my ministry."
Your attitude of loving, supportive prayer or of neglect and antipathy will affect the Church's worship and you. Your
prayer in community is important. Bless your neighbors, do not curse them.
We usually have good friends in church, people we love. In every congregation there are those circle of special friends,
people we seek out. Dissimilar from the natural laws of magnetism, usually like attracts like. In the mixture of people
God calls into a congregation, we all have a tendency to gravitate toward those who are similar to us. Life-long or long-time
friendships are very special. There is a wonderful quality that comes with sharing a major span of life with others.
But, there are faith problems inherent in long-time friendships and in association with those who are like us. Patterns
develop in relationships. It is easy to become satisfied with friendships. When we are attracted by similarities, we can
become stuck being alike. To change, to risk exposing a different side of your personality, to be deeply honest or vulnerable,
can upset the balance of a long-time or a like-minded friendships.
I discovered a long time ago,
it's harder for long-time friends
to enter into an intimate small group environment.
There are too many dug-in patterns of relating
and too much friendship to risk getting out of those comfortable patterns. There is an assumption, we know each other.
In contrast, small groups of mere acquaintances
often open quickly to each other, enjoying the experience of discovery. They are aware automatically that something
is lacking.
That lack of feeling of oneness or relatedness
prompts the faith and trust which builds community.
One of the saddest things for me is to see a church community
in which the members have become so comfortable
with the way they are in their relationships and worship,
that they are unaware that anything is lacking.
There is no room for growth when people are satisfied with the status quo.
Outsiders can usually see
the corruption or sickness of closed systems and relationships,
but outsider can't get in to help.
Be aware of the patterns you have developed.
Have you naturally associated with the people in our congregation
who are like you?
Do you have some long-time friendships
that are in the rut of expected behavior?
One of the wonderful differences between the Church and a club
is that God brings a diversity of people together
that we would not have chosen.
As you pray,
look around at the odd assortment of people God has brought together. This is your family.
Each person is a Word of God to you,
and you are a Word of God to each of them.
What can you learn from them?
What can you teach them?
Can you love your neighbor as yourself?
Do you know what really hurts them?
Have you given them the chance to know what really hurts you?
Can we feel responsible for each other,
response - able?
I've spoken of the sense of community with those we know, those we love, and with those we do not like. Next week, we'll
start talking about worshiping with those we don't know; worshiping with strangers.
|
