Matterofprayer: A Year of Everyday Prayers – Sunday, July 19, 2015
Praying, Praying, Praying. (Did I Mention Prayer?)
Tonight, the topic of the chapter for today was Prayer. I very much like the scripture references the authors of the book Praying the New Testament as Psalms chose for writing their modern psalm.
I enjoy prayer. I try to lead in prayer whenever I can. Communicating with God is not only a pleasure (usually), but also a privilege. In this psalm, I found myself gravitating towards a stanza where the authors riffed on several verses from James 5. In cheerfulness, I sing songs of praise,/ in sickness, I pray the prayer of anointing,/praying with faith and for one another./The prayer of the righteous is powerful.” [1]
This stanza shows different types of emotions, and shows how prayer runs throughout the emotional spectrum. James gives a clear word picture of concrete ways in which people not only can display a healthy range of emotions and feelings, but where others can check in, and see how to act by example.
What about cheerful? More than that, cheerfulness? What do I do with that? Sing songs of praise, of course. Now, the prayer of anointing? This is fascinating. I do not do that prayer very often at all. But, how giving. How compassionate. What an outreach.
How wonderful it is, that the prayers of a righteous person avail a great deal. Or, are powerful. Beyond that, we can’t even consider the fact that we can pray at any time, day or night. And God will hear. We can come down anywhere on the emotional spectrum. And God will hearken to us. In my mind, that is truly good news. Amen. And, amen.
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[1] Praying the New Testament as Psalms, Desmond O’Donnell, OMI, and Maureen Mohen, RSM, (United States of America: ACTA Publications, 2002.), 158.
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