Category Archives: prayer

Saying grace: Praying with purpose

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saying_graceA few years ago, I made a decision about praying before eating. I decided that there was a reason why a prayer was said before a meal. It was to pray about the meal. Not about the weather. Not about Aunt Petunia’s gall bladder. It was to pray about the meal.

Now I guess there’s nothing wrong with praying about just about anything at just about any time. Still, it seems like asking a blessing for food should be about asking a blessing for food. Giving thanks for food should be about giving thanks for food.

Am I being too picky? Maybe I should be happy that we are praying at all.

Saying grace: What do you do?

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saying_graceDo you pray before eating? Why?

If you pray, what kind of a prayer do you say? Is it like other prayers that you say?

Do you change your behavior when you are in a public place? When eating with non-Christians? When eating with people who are members of other religions?

What should Christians do when they are about to eat?

Praying Myself Into Trouble

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trainYesterday, in our bilingual service, one of our college kids was helping with the Lord’s Supper. He spent the summer studying Spanish, but I could tell he was nervous as he led the prayer. He even made a grammar mistake, which he quickly corrected.

Took me back to my first public prayer in Spanish. I’d been in Argentina all of a week. Yep, four days of language classes under my belt. And I was invited to help with the Lord’s Supper. I didn’t have to say a prayer, but was invited to say one before we passed the cup (and it was just one cup, not for doctrinal reasons, but just because that’s what they had). I thought quickly and realized that I knew enough Spanish to say a simple prayer.

Unfortunately, I didn’t stick to a simple “Thank you for this cup, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” Nope, I decided to express something a little more complex. Something beyond what I really knew how to say. I soon found myself at a point where I didn’t know how to go forward with the prayer.

This was in the little town of Fray Luis Beltrán. The building sat about 50 yards from the train tracks. And at that precise moment, a train went by. A long one. A loud one. One that allowed me to pause my prayer, collect my thoughts… and say “In Jesus’ Name, Amen” when the train was past!

So what about you? Have you ever talked yourself into trouble when praying with someone else or leading a public prayer?

Photo by Kaya Tanyel

Celebrities are people too, Part Two

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fabricio_oberto_encourages_his_teammates_v_ind_102505_560A few months ago, I started using the service Twitter (I’ll write more about that some other time). I discovered that Fabricio Oberto, an NBA player that is from the province of Córdoba in Argentina, publishes on Twitter. I started reading what he writes. (following him, as they say on Twitter)

Not soon after, Fabricio wrote something that wasn’t right. I sent him a message with the right info, and he wrote back, thanking me. “Wow!” I thought, “This NBA player actually wrote to me.”

The Argentine soccer team had a game on Saturday against Colombia. On Saturday morning, Fabricio posted a comment about the game. I sent him a message saying “Go Argentina!” He wrote back saying, “It should be a good game.” Again, I was thrilled. But I was also trying to find the game on TV and couldn’t find it anywhere. So I decided to ask Fabricio. “Channel 457,” he wrote back, “Pay per view.” I was pleased that he was corresponding, but also knew that I couldn’t pay $30 to watch a game. I tried to find the right way to say that to a guy that earns millions playing basketball. He immediately wrote back to tell me the website where I could see the game. Really nice of him. “Wow!” I thought, “This NBA player took the time to help me.”

Yesterday I saw that Fabricio had a heart treatment last week. I knew he’d had heart problems ever since a collision in a game a couple of years ago. I remembered what I wrote a few weeks ago, that celebrities are people too, so I wrote him and said that we would pray for him. He wrote back to say thank you.

If you get a chance, offer a prayer for Fabricio. He seems like a nice guy from a small town in the Córdoba hills. (His dad sells tractor equipment, if I remember right) Interestingly enough, one of his relatives that lives in the city of Córdoba was contacted through Let’s Start Talking and continues to study with Jacquie Mitchell at the church in Córdoba. Go ahead and pray for the whole family. Famous people need Jesus too.

Four questions and three observations about prayer

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praying-handsAll right, I’ve got some questions about prayer. Feel free to answer any and all of them…

  1. Where do we see that the approved prayer stance is a bowed head and closed eyes?
  2. Does praying in Jesus’ name mean saying “In Jesus’ name” at the end of our prayers?
  3. Since the model we have of praying over food is “giving thanks,” should we include requests in such prayers?
  4. Do prayers need to end with “Amen”?

 

 

Let me add a few observations:

  1. Despite what you may have heard, we do find the apostles praying to “the Lord” and to Jesus in the book of Acts.
  2. We see in Jesus’ ministry that some of what he said in his prayers was said for the benefit of those listening (see John 11:42, for example).
  3. Prayer was one of the basic parts of the apostles’ job description (Acts 6:4).