Piloting Faith: Prayer is NOT this...

A Word for the Day...

When we pray prayers like "your will be done" or "your kingdom come," we must realize that such prayers require action on our part. We don't get to pray for change and then wait for it to be delivered to us. God is not a cosmic vending machine.

The life of faith is a balance of prayer and work, praying as if everything depends upon God and working as if everything depends upon us.

The place we encounter God is when those two energies align. For me, that often happens in meditation. In the stillness, we discover that all is One. Once you realize that, your life becomes animated by the bravest, boldest prayers you can offer. What do you have to lose?

Of course, asking for God's will to be done is pretty ballsy, especially these days. I think we should try it and see what happens.

- Rev. Cameron Trimble, author of Piloting Church: Helping Your Congregation Take Flight

Prayer for the Week

Gracious God,

Your kin-dom is so different from what is valued in my world.

We worship riches and fame and power, and flashy shows of strength, but you say those advantages have no value in your kin-dom. You came as a servant, and call us to serve and honor others. You say that in our weakness, we discover our own power - power that comes from you.

We prize physical beauty, but the beauty that matters to you comes from inside. It shows up best in acts of kindness, in living with courage, integrity, and humility.

We praise the self. We live as though the universe revolves around our wants and needs, our potential, our success. But you came to radically change our worldview. You showed us how to honor our humanity and find our freedom in you.

Renew my vision of a sacred world, Lord, and help me to seek it every day. Make my vision clear. Teach me to care for the things of Love and the ways of Love over everything that's valued in the kin-dom of this world.

- (adapted from The Prayer Wheel by Patton Dodd, Jana Riess and David Van Biema)