A long time ago, I served on the first Church Council of a brand new, "planted" Lutheran church. The simple building had been built by the American Lutheran Church and our minister, his wife and four daughters, had been sent to our growing Dallas suburb to build a congregation to fill the building. If I recall correctly, we had 25 or 26 young families, most of whom were new to the area and active in the life of the church. As you might imagine, relationships were relaxed and a lot of creativity was going into building worship services and Sunday School. There were many different perceptions of what it meant to be a Christian, to be a Lutheran, to be a member of Ascension Lutheran Church.
I don't remember why I was distressed during one particular meeting, but I do remember saying something like "Oh, Dear Lord!" Immediately "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. . . " came flooding up to the surface of my brain and I must have turned many shades of red. Pastor Ray grinned and said, "It's fine to call on the Lord, but you'd better be praying." The moment passed, we all enjoyed the jest, but I took the message home with me and my understanding of prayer changed.
I'm no more comfortable offering public prayer than most people I know. But now, especially in this time of isolation and fear, I know God listens whenever I call. I don't need to jumble everything together in one careful list, as if God is going to hang up the phone. It's more like a conversation that goes on and on - sometimes even out loud, but then I'm usually yelling or celebrating.
I do try to remember to start (or pretty soon after I wake) the day - like "touching base":
Thank you for today, mercy for today, grace for today, thank you for today.
I love that I can pull up not one, not two, but a lot of St. Luke's worship services on line and enjoy the people, the music and the Pastors' messages. I confess, I often go straight to the wonderful music to listen over & over. I'm a reader and have lots of books here. Right now I'm especially enjoying Barbara Brown Taylor's book An Altar in the World. In it she talks about many ways to worship without being inside a church or with anyone else. Pastor Jerry introduced me to James Hazelwood's book, Everyday Spirituality. I recommend it and his podcast too. The stlukes-elca.org website is an endless source of inspiration and re-connection. That "Thank you. . ." is a good way to end the day too. By all means, talk to God. I know He's listening.
Meg Ford
