Thursday March 14
Readings: EST C:12, 14-16, 23-25; MT 7:7-12
Today we have a little lesson about prayer.
We see Queen Esther who is described as being in moral anguish as she turns to God – with nowhere else to turn. In the gospel Jesus tells us to ask and we shall receive, seek and we shall find and knock and it shall be opened.
Far from being a promise to get what we want, this is a primer on posture. Prayer posture, that is.
God wants us to pray as if EVERYTHING depended on God. EVERYTHING. And for people who have no options left, it does. Don’t get me wrong, God does not wish us to have no options and feel desperate. That is not good for anyone. Oh but to have that disposition when we pray.
God does hear us, and Jesus counsels us that God wants what is good for us. This may not translate into our exact prayers being answered, however. Can we trust, though, and stay with God and keep depending on God.
My suspicion is that our dominant culture has shaped a lot of us into thinking that prayer is about product. It’s awfully hard to escape the capitalistic overlay on just about everything…
But prayer is about relationship. Most of us were taught that it was about getting something from God, trying to convince God of something, thanking God, etc. But a relationship isn’t really any of those things, right?. It’s a two-way knowing – where we open up our lives to someone and they open their lives to us. True. Honest. Sharing. We give each other what is needed.
Just sit with God today as if your breath depended on God. And let God sit with you as if God’s presence in the world depended on you. Say what is in your heart. Hear what is in God’s. Laugh. Weep. Be silent. Know that all is well.
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