Month January 2019

I hate to disagree with Ghandi but..

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Ghandi said

“In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” That sounds great until you think about it.

For us as christians we need to always know it is grace that leads to prayer being connected with our lord, not our prayer, not our “quality” of prayer.
Whether we feel our heart isnt in it, or our heads are working against us. Whether stress is in the way, or we are angry with our lord

Nobody would disagree that some of the most fervent prayer can be found in our psalms. However the Psalms of Lament make up quite a large chunk of them. These are psalms written in times of massive disorientation, pain, anger, sadness, jealousy, fear, illness poverty of most kinds.

We in our daily lives when we feel anxious, fearful, lost, angry, jealous, unworthy, distracted etc. We take ourselves away from prayer, we dont want to do “bad prayer”, come before our lord feeling unworthy.

That mistake contains two mistakes. The first is that we require grace at all times, on our best day and on our worst. Our Lord’s love abolished the power of sin and death when we came to him and asked him into our lives. His atonement for our sins borne from love, and a continuing outrageous love means that however worthy or unworthy we may feel we are our Lord brings us close to him with a love that has no memory.

The second mistake is that the power of prayer lies totally with our lord and so even our weakest prayer is heard,because of love. Our lord is self sufficient, he wants us close to him. So whether our prayers are like the most wonderful music and poetry intertwined with a sincerity that comes from our innermost being, or whether to our ears they sound brittle and insincere, fake, unworthy, the power in them comes from our Lord. So head or heart, one or the other or neither. Our lord has the grace to hear them

Do we love our children less as they learn to talk, or try to come to us falteringly across the kitchen, do love them less on their worst days as they try to come close to us when angry, or sad, or bitter? I think we love our children every day, and our love is less perfect than he who gave us the gift of love. The fountainhead of love never falters, the source and the creator of love never runs dry.

What does this mean?

It Means dont “quality control” your prayer. Yes, on the days where we can pray like the angels, enjoy the joy that brings as you draw close to a loving God.

But on the “other” days and they will come, rest assured the power of your prayer rests solely with the Lord your praying too. They rest within his grace, within his boundless love that has wiped out your sin and wants you to heal and draw close. That treasures every step towards him, and calls you home.

Prayer is the Lords gift, the most powerful thing you can do, but the power of prayer is the Lords, and your prayer isnt graded by him. Its simply loved and answered with love.

So mister Ghandi you were correct our Lord see’s what in our heart more than the quality of our words.However to disagree slightly, his grace overflows our weakness, and the power of prayer lies with him and him alone.


Back to work? Give it to God.

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The nation is slowly crawling its way back to work after christmas. The tinsel is starting to look slightly out of place, the presents losing their joy at every use, carols have gone off the radio, and even from our shops.

However it is with a sometimes heavy heart we start the commute again, what was a long crescendo at the end of the old year is now a very long year ahead. My calendar seemed to rejoice in reminding me that three hundred and fifty nine days remain in 2019. Paired with the reality of work that seems like a long slog ahead.

Christmas for christians is a time of rejoicing at the birth of Jesus but we have to catch the 7:35 out of X or Y station long before epiphany. However I think this loss of joy is partly because we celebrate the birth of our Lord and then act as if he is gone? Our lord is alive and involved in everything we do?

This is what St Benedict thought of how we should think about work.
“First of all, every time you begin a good work you should pray to him with total commitment to bring it to perfection, so that he who has already been kind enough to count us as his sons will never be disappointed by our doing wrong”. (The Rule of Benedict Penguin Classics) .

Why does St Benedict think this? Because he knows our Lord is alive and takes joy in every good work we do that we bring to him. However menial, in fact the most menial of tasks done for others, or for him reverberates around heaven forever.

Work done in the service of our lord never dies, and work done for others never dies. Our Lord see’s and rejoices in all of it, every second.

The Second degree of Bliss as Julian calls it.

As she says….
The second degree is that all the blessed in heaven will see that glorious gratitude of our Lord God, and God makes the soul’s service known to all who are in heaven.

So give all your work to the Lord, let him know your doing this for your family, and loved ones, that the commute is for his glory and done to perfection and that you KNOW he is alongside you every step of the way.

Remember even if your boss isnt grateful, our lord is, and his gratitude lasts forever. Because as we celebrate the birth of our Lord, he never left, he is alongside you right now.

All you have to do is give it to him.