Chris Faith, Prayer, Random

Praying With Your Feet and Lectio Divina

Prayer.

It’s a crucial practice in the life of any Christian, right?

Matthew 6:9-13

This, then, is how you should pray:  “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Philippians 4:6

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

James 5:16

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.

Psalm 17:6

I call on you, my God, for you will answer me; turn your ear to me and hear my prayer.

These are just a few of the scriptures that teach us about and call us to prayer.

The Appalachian Trail headed north from Max Patch

Perhaps my most profound experiences in prayer have come while I’m on a long hike or spending time enjoying God’s good creation. While I was hiking a long section of the Appalachian Trail this past summer, I learned how to “pray with my feet” on a whole new level. I’m sure the fact that I was hiking for 6-8 hours a day with little human interaction contributed to the sense of God’s presence. But it was also because I was intentional about praying along a certain theme or passage of scripture each day.

Often, as I am talking to college students or young adults about prayer, I suggest that they use scripture as a tool. Lectio Divina is a sacred practice of prayer-full scripture reading that I have found to be a great practice. Because, often times, we don’t know what or how to pray. Typically, the “beginner” level of prayer that most Christians practice is basically asking for things. So when you get through your list, then what?

Scripture can often be a guide and even a short of mirror that allows us to reflect on our lives in light of the Word.

Dallas Willard would frequently share his practice and habit of beginning each day praying the Lord’s Prayer (“Our Father…”) or the 23rd Psalm and I have adopted that practice myself. Usually, I’ll break one of those “prayers” into bite-size chunks and meditate on the meaning and application for you life.

This is also where the Lectio structure provides great assistance. It’s an experiential hearing of God’s Word that often begins with a time of silence and preparation. We invite the Holy Spirit to speak…calling our attention to a particular word or phrase. Then we move from the Lectio (reading) to the Meditatio (meditation) and reflect on this Word, laying aside distractions. This then leads us to Oratio or response. Take time to respond in gratitude and worship. And finally, we come to Contemplatio (contemplation) and just spend some time with the reality of God’s presence and how that forms us throughout the rest of the day.

For many, putting prayer into practice like this can lead to real transformation…a sense of God’s presence continually. And when you’re aware of God’s presence throughout the day, life is prayer.

My own journey with prayer has taught me that it’s not so much about asking God for things (to change circumstances) but asking God to change us! To pray is to opt in to God’s agenda. Prayer is like an alignment of the soul. Yes, intercessory prayer should be a component of our praying but not the extent of our praying. And like any spiritual discipline, it takes practice.

Maybe that’s why “praying with my feet” has been such an effective way for some to grow in their faith and their sense of intimacy with Christ. Integrating prayer with the rhythm of my feet along a path teaches me to be aware and open to God’s Word and words as I journey further up and further in to the life of Christ.

Chris Random

Reflections on Sabbath and Time

This book has been on my shelf for quite some time but eluded my full attention until now. Although I will not call this a formal “book review” I certainly want to share some thoughts and quotes.

“There is a realm of time where the goal is not to have but to be, not to own but to give, not to control but to share, not to subdue but to be in accord. Life goes wrong when the control of space, the acquisition of things of space, becomes our sole concern.”

For me, this passage on the very first page of the book sets up the entire premise as Heschel wants to make a very important distinction between time and space…between doing and being.

As a kid growing up in the Christian home of a pastor, I remember lots of rules about the “Sabbath” (which just meant Sundays for our non-Jewish family). Sunday was a day of rest. Sunday was a day set apart for God. We bathed on Saturday evening in preparation for wearing our “Sunday Best” to church. Gospel/worship music was played in our home before heading off to church. We tried not to eat out usually, because that meant spending money and causing other people to work on the Sabbath. Some of the rule-keeping was good in that it made us aware of the importance of the “Lord’s Day.” But I would say that my understanding of the Sabbath was more about prohibitions and less about what the Sabbath really meant and what it was for.

“The meaning of Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time.”

For Heschel, sabbath is about creating a “palace in time” in which we enjoy the menuha (rest) of God…time with the Good Shepherd who has lead us to the still waters of rest.

My personal rhythm of sabbath keeping has been an attempt to regularly shift from time (chronos in the Greek sense) to time (kairos) in a more Jewish understanding of God’s time. These two Greek words for time underscore the distinction for me that we can either use time or enjoy it.

There is much to be said for the practice of “sabbath keeping” and setting aside time to nourish one’s soul. People often speak of “living in the moment” or “being present” and I think Heschel has great words of wisdom and inspiration around reorienting one’s relationship to time and things.

Chris Random

Jubilee Conference ReCap

Great things always seem to happen at this conference with college students. And last week I had the privilege of journeying to Pittsburgh with 8 students to engage in great times of worship, spiritual rap sessions, and all-around social goodness

We walked to the subway and hopped on the “T” to get over to the North Shore area for dinner one evening. That turned out to be a slight miscalculation in terms of timing, but there’s always some good memories like this!

Over the next week, we will be working on a little highlight video where each student may share something transformational about their Jubilee experience. It is always a fun challenge for me personally to figure out how to help students translate what they’ve learned into new neural and behavioral pathways.

The point of the Jubilee Conference (at the risk of over-simplifying) is giving college students of vision for how the Gospel “transforms everything.” It’s about helping students discover what it means to live faithfully in every area of life. This is my 10th year of taking students to the Jubilee Conference. Not every year does every student get it…or walk away transformed. But this year was one of those years and I’m glad each of these students came away seeking to follow Jesus with their entire lives.