Here are some of my Adventures in Prayer.
I’ve been rereading Richard Foster’s great book Celebration of Discipline. Every chapter, indeed every sentence, is filled with wisdom for the Christian life. As a writer, I have been searching for a new topic. Foster’s chapter on intercessory prayer has lead me to share my experiences. These range from the simple to the dramatic. It is my hope they will encourage you to be more interested in, and eager to engage in a life filled with prayer.
Back in the day, in the height of the Charismatic movement there was a “debate” concerning the appropriateness of praying for a parking place. I was at the time an intern college chaplain at St. Anselm Chapel on the campus of UVM in Burlington Vt.
The Moonies were very active and pushing to be part of the local campus ministry clergy group. I was scheduled to meet for coffee with their leader down town. I was nervous about the encounter. As I neared my destination I could see no place to park. So I said a quick prayer for one. Almost immediately a Ups truck that was double parked pulled away revealing a space.
I grabbed it and said a quick thank you, feeling encouraged for the difficult meeting I faced.
My take on the topic is this. On the one hand, it is presumptuous to think God has nothing better to do! On the other, it is presumptuous to think He doesn’t care about small things like parking spaces and our need for encouragement.
Later, in my first position as rector of a small parish in Massachusetts I had occasion to be called to the bedside of the father of a friend. When I arrived the family was gathered around waiting for his last breath. I felt my job was to support the family. However, we did pray for healing. I left expecting the next phone call would report his demise.
A month went by when my friend called about something else. I ask what happened with her father. “Oh,” she said. “ He recovered and came home soon after you were there!”
That was I suppose prayer with faith the size of a mustard seed!
Much later I was on a team for a Kairos prison ministry weekend. Prayer is a very important part of these events. Each minute is prayed over. A prayer chain made of paper links is hung around the room. One of our team members was explaining this to his table group. He was siding with his back to the wall where the chain hung down. “Let’s see who is praying for us now,” he said. As it turned out that precise minute was on the chain right next to him and the name on the link was none other than his wife!
Sometimes the miraculous is as small as a piece of paper with a name on it!
When my late wife became chronically ill we asked people to agree to pray for her daily. We made a poster prayer clock and asked our “Love Links” to send us a heart of their choosing to attach to the poster at the time of day they would be praying. One couple sent us a small plastic heart that originally had been in a valentine card the husband had sent to his wife while stationed overseas during WWII!
We were touched by all the prayers but especially by this sacrifice! Although the doctors gave Lily only three years prognosis she lived for 29!
God especially honors sacrificial prayers.
Once in those early years of ministry I was chaplain for a hour retreat called Happening. It is a spin of from the adult program of Cursillo. We had a special healing service for the team of teenagers before the event participants arrived.
As I prayed for one young man I got a visual image. I shared it with him in prayer. “I see you as an old car that has been purchased to be repaired.” I continued describing the process. When I finished he fell down resting in the spirit.
Afterwards I asked him if my prayer had anything to do with his life. He explained that just before he came to the weekend he had purchased such a car for that reason!
God will answer our prayers in very specific ways that make it clear he knows us intimately.
Once when was looking for a new position I was m the short list for three separate congregations. I asked the Lord, “What should I do if they all extend a call?” In my mind I heard him answer, “Bookcases.” When I went for interviews all I wanted to do was see the bookcases in the priest’s offices. The first two had nothing interesting. In the third was an empty bookcase. The one exception was a shelf with a set of Groucho Marks glasses complete with mustache and bushy eyebrows. I thought “This must be the place,” I served there for 7 years.
I suppose you may think me strange and maybe I am. However, if the Lord thinks so He is willing to communicate in ways I understand.
So pray expecting the unexpected and with faith even as small as a mustard seed.
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