Tag: Pray

Ep.435: Psalm 2: Conspiracy.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Psalm 1 speaks to individuals, inviting us to pay attention to scripture, to think about it, to meditate. 

Psalm 2 speaks to nations and kings, exposing a conspiracy. It says, 
  Why do the nations conspire
      and the people plot in vain?
  The kings of the earth rise up
      and the rulers band together
      against the Lord and against his anointed (v 1-2). 

It’s a conspiracy of nations that rebel against God to establish their own kingdoms. Conspiracies are everywhere. Putin invades Ukraine, China bullies Taiwan, Netanyahu reduces Gaza to ruins, Trump implements tariffs and expels immigrants to make America great.

The psalmist says these are conspiracies against God. Earthly rulers throwing off the constraints God set for nations. They sacrifice truth and justice on altars of power and wealth. They create radical and inhumane kingdoms, not knowing or caring they are accountable to God.

The psalmist’s solution? God says to the greatest ruler of all,
  You are my son;
    today I have become your father.
  Ask me, 
     and I will make the nations your inheritance. . . .
  You will break them with a rod of iron; 
     you will dash them to pieces like pottery (v 7-9). 

God’s son will destroy the world’s kingdoms, pitch them on the trash heap of history, and replace them with God’s kingdom. 

But what if a nation honors God? Can it avoid God’s anger and his son’s demolition?

Remember when Israel wanted a king like other nations? A strong man to make Israel great. Watch out, warned Samuel. A king will make you pay for his extravagances. He’ll take your best workers and animals for himself. He’ll tax your income and capital gains! Are you listening? You’ll end up no better than slaves (1 Sam 8:14-18).

Samuel and the psalmist don’t believe strong leaders will drain the swamp and make a nation great. Instead, they warn that strong leaders will create their own bureaucratic swamp and run the country for the benefit of friends and family. 

God’s solution is his anointed king, who will invade history and upend it. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, our lives have been enriched by the nation we live in. Health care, police protection, and the freedom to worship, travel, and speak as we wish. 

But we feel the same pull Israel felt. Our difficult and chaotic times, like theirs, require a strong leader to keep our country on track, to set the nation right, to restore us to greatness. 

We heed the psalmist’s warning that those in power build kingdoms of this world, that conservative and liberal ideologies build human kingdoms, not your kingdom.

O father, lead us to the country whose builder and architect is God. Lead us to worship your son, the king, and take refuge in him. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.434: Psalm 1: Summer Squash or Trees?

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, we continue with our prayer tutor, the psalms. 

Psalm 1 says if we meditate on God’s word, we will be like trees flourishing beside a river. 

James Garfield, the 20th president of the U.S., had a prior job as president of a religious college in Ohio. A parent asked to shorten the course of study for his son. Garfield replied, “What do you want for your son? God takes two months to grow a squash, but a lifetime to grow an oak.”

I like squash. It’s a quick solution to a difficult problem. But I’d rather my life was a tree.  To grow tall and beautiful, the psalmist says we should delight in the law of the Lord, and meditate on it day and night. 

So . . . what kind of meditation grows a tree? 

First, let’s define meditation. Author Rick Warren says if you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. If you obsess on problems, turning them endlessly over in your mind, stressing about every detail, and losing sleep over bad things that might happen, then you have lots of meditation experience. But, big oops here! You’ve been meditating on the wrong things. 

Why not replace those troublesome meditations with something positive? Think about scripture. God loves you. He’s in control. He has good plans for you and for planet earth. He says your troubles are temporary. They will soon be replaced with eternal glory.

And what about those midnight meditations? Do you wake at strange hours like me? Are you up and reading and snacking on empty calories? Other times I lie in bed and worry about the world. On better nights, I might recite scripture to myself until sleep welcomes me back where I belong. 

Of course, reciting scripture in the dead of night requires learning it during the day. Easier said than done. I take scripture with me when I walk the dog, when waiting in line for Costco gas, when enjoying a coffee at Tim Hortons.   

As I mull over scripture, it exposes and judges my inner life. The Book of Hebrews says, “The word of God is . . . sharper than a double-edged sword . . . It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Heb 4:12). 

My inner life is a hodgepodge of random thoughts and mercurial feelings, of obsessions and desires, worries and hopes. When I’m feeling harsh and cynical, I spout edgy opinions on politics and church and life. 

Scripture pokes around in those thoughts and attitudes, heading off meditations on violence and sex and chaos, urging me, instead, to pray and praise.

If I were less of a worry-wart and more attentive to God’s word, I might mature into a beautiful tree instead of a lowly squash. 

Let’s pray. 

Our father, an old prayer invites us to hear, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the holy scriptures (Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the second Sunday in Advent). 

Help us to do that. To strengthen our spiritual muscles that attend to your word. To underline the scriptures that you bring to our attention. To learn them by heart. To usher them into our private thoughts and public actions. As we inwardly digest the holy scriptures, may they become our source of life and growth. 

May we become living trees by your river of life. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTubePlaceholder Text

Ep.433: Psalm 1: Blessed.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today, we visit our old tutor in prayer, the psalms.

The first word in the Book of Psalms is “Blessed.” 

“Blessed are those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” What does that mean? 

Some modern translations say “happy” instead of “blessed”: “Happy are those who do not walk in the counsel of the wicked.” 

I object. I don’t like the word happy. 

“Happy” is too shallow. I attend an Anglican church with a contemporary service–keyboard, guitar, drums–instead of old-fashioned organ and hymn books. A friend calls this the “happy, clappy” service. 

Does the contemporary service make me happy? Sometimes. I might start sad and finish happy. And other times, I’m just emotionally neutral from start to finish. 

I choose to participate in community, to seek God with others, to open my heart to Jesus, and wait for him to open his heart to me. 

That’s the blessing of Sunday. Not a blessing that guarantees happiness, but one that changes my life as I seek God, worship in community, and learn to love my neighbor. 

Happiness comes, happiness goes, but God’s blessing rests on my choices, and my activities. 

That’s what Psalm 1 wants for me. 

Let’s pray. 

O father, happiness is a by-product, not a goal. What the psalmist desires and wants us to desire is your blessing. Your smile to embrace and encourage us. Your presence to make our lives fruitful. Your grace in our lives to heal us and make us whole. Your blessing over everything we do. 

Teach us to walk in the way you bless. Not to walk in the way of the wicked, not to stand with sinners, nor to sit with cynics. 

Teach us to delight in your word. To become like trees, flourishing by rivers of water, your water. 

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.432: Praying Distractedly.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

Today we consider distractions in prayer. 

Author Henry Nouwen describes the problem: 

When I try to pray I spend the hour thinking about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that grab my mind for a moment. (From Road to Daybreak (New York: Image Books, 1989))

Exactly. What grabs your mind when you try to pray? 

I once spent an extraordinarily distracted day in prayer. I tried my usual routines, but  just could not focus. I tried reading scripture, but it was dry as dust. I tried journaling, but had nothing worth writing. I tried praying, but nobody was listening. I wandered to the library and flipped a few pages. No inspiration there.  

But I plugged away at it, more or less, until I finally found relief by quitting at 4:30,  

Later, I reported my experience to Sister Doreen, my spiritual director, a nun. 

“Ah yes,” she exclaimed. “The desert. And what fruit came from your day in the desert?” 

“Well,” I said, “My prayers were useless, but the rest of the week was amazing. I was at peace with myself and God and the world. I made good decisions. I did stuff that needed doing.” 

“Yes,” said Sister Doreen. “The desert is good for our spiritual life.” 

I think God likes it when I show up to pray, even when my prayers are dry and inarticulate.

Another time I said to Sister Doreen, “When it’s time to pray, I always think of six urgent things I have to do first. Once the garbage is out, the dishes put away, and those emails finally sent, I will feel caught up and I can be at peace while I pray.” 

She replied, “You’re lucky if you only have six things on your list. I always have at least 16!” 

The solution, difficult as it is? Put prayer at the top of the list. If I start doing other stuff first, I’ll be busy all day, and never get round to prayer.

Henry Nouwen continued his comment on prayer:

Sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morning in total confusion and with myriad distractions radically changes my life. I might think each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety useless hours, I gradually realize I am not as alone as I thought; a small gentle voice had been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place.

Let’s pray. 

O father, it’s not just our prayers that are distracted. It’s our lives. Cell phones call, emails beckon, Fox news and CBC are just a soundbite away. Facebook wants me to scroll, podcasts cue up for my attention, and Trump is just a click away on Truth Social. 

But it is your truth I need, O father. The truth of peace in a chaotic world. The truth of quietness in a clamoring culture. The truth of your fatherhood in a world of broken homes, broken dreams, broken promises, and broken lives. 

Give me grace to set aside the things that seem so urgent, to postpone the tasks that divert me, to discipline the thoughts that distract me, to rest quietly in your presence. Teach me to hear your still small voice.   

Amen. 

I’m Daniel, on the channel “Pray with Me”.  

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube

Ep.431: Praying Through Mark’s Gospel.

Hello, I’m Daniel Westfall on the channel “Pray With Me”.

We’ve prayed the Gospel of Mark for 45 episodes, from the first verse which says, “The beginning of the gospel” to the end which says, “He rose from the dead.” 

Time to ask, “What did we learn?” 

I learned four things. 

1. Jesus was not a rational or systematic sort of teacher. Not for him college degrees or workshops in logic and rhetoric. He didn’t write a book and do a promotional tour. Rather, he travelled randomly about Palestine, preaching, teaching, healing, speaking.

McLuhan famously said, “The medium is the message.” Jesus’ medium? Casual conversations, listener-friendly parables, stories about the weather and farmers and merchants and homemakers, arguments with Establishment Religion. But at the end, the cross he died on and the grave he rose from were his media, that still speak his message most clearly. 

2. Almost everybody who got close to Jesus spent a lot of time being confused. His family speculated that he might be insane (Mark 3:20), the religious leaders suggested he was demon possessed (Mark 3:22). To bewildered disciples, Jesus said, “Why are you so afraid? Don’t you have any faith?” (Mark 4:40). Pilate asked, “Are you really the king of the Jews?” (Mark 15:2). Did anyone understand Jesus?

3. Mark didn’t write to confuse. The strongest voices in his narrative proclaim faith. Like, Mark’s own voice that says, “The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mark 1:1). Like the voice from heaven at Jesus’ baptism, repeated at his transfiguration: “This is my son” (Mark 1:9, 9:7). Like the demon’s voice that said, “I know who you are–the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1:24). And Peter’s voice, his great confession: “You are the Messiah” (Mark 9:29). 

Voices from heaven and hell, voices from Peter and Mark richly endorse Jesus as God’s special messenger, his son, on earth. 

4. Finally, the bit players had an important role in Mark’s gospel. A leper cleansed, a blind man sees, a lame man walks, a woman with a life-long hemorrhage healed.  And more: children blessed, a widow’s small offering honored. No backstories, no names or addresses. After they receive Jesus’ gift, we never hear from them again. 

But they all point us to Jesus, offering hope he can meet our greatest needs too. 

Let’s pray. 

O Jesus, I am a bit player in your story. I have seen you heal and restore and forgive and save. Do the same for me. 

O Jesus, I am a disciple in your story. Confused, I have followed your ministry years. Afraid, I have denied you at the crucifixion, and wondered at your resurrection. Teach this perplexed seeker to follow you, to receive your healing, to believe your message, to live as you did. 

O Jesus, I add my voice to the voices in Mark’s gospel. You are the Son of God, my Messiah, my risen one, my healer.

This is the gospel of Mark, full of the good news that I can live fully in you and you in all of me. 

Amen

YouTube channel: Pray with Me – YouTube