Years ago I was asked to do a series of presentations on the topic of "Spiritual Friendship" for a weeklong conference held by an Episcopal group of women, The Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross, whose mission is devotion to intercessory prayer. http://www.adelynrood.org/companionship.php At the same time my mother had a recurrence of colon cancer, and I was diagnosed with uterine cancer. My surgery was scheduled for the week following the conference.
Never have I felt so held in prayer.
I knew the organizers of the conference were praying for me in the months previous to the conference as I prepared my presentations and then later as I drove from Ohio to Massachusetts to the retreat center. Before I knew when my surgery would be scheduled, I had told the organizing committee about the cancer complication, and they prayed for my healing. Towards the end of the conference I revealed during one of my presentations what I was facing once I returned home, and on that last day of the conference I was surrounded, lifted, embraced with prayer.
The Practice of Intercessory Prayer
These women know how to do intercessory prayer, how to pray for others, but this is something we each can do. Quite simply, the practice of intercessory prayer is a way of loving others and responding to the needs of others through prayer.
If you are part of a worshipping community, your ritual may include praying for those in the community with specific needs--those sick and in poor health, those grieving, or those experiencing other life challenges. Often names are read carefully and solemnly, but also there may be time during the service when those in attendance can name out loud or silently in their heart names of others known to be in need.
Keeping a Prayer Journal or List
Years ago I volunteered to monitor requests for prayer in our congregation, alerting those who promised to honor those prayer requests. Even though at times I had concerns about such personal and often intimate information being shared, I knew how much it had meant to me to know that many --and not just people I knew-- were praying for me and my family. At that time I kept a prayer list or prayer journal, noting names and any pertinent information, and my morning quiet time included intentional intercessory prayer.
In more recent years I have focused more on centering prayer and meditation, a form of contemplative prayer in which one turns within and rests in God's presence. The ongoing practice of centering prayer allows you to connect with the inner peace of God and to experience renewal. This practice not only strengthens my awareness of God moving in my life, but also makes me more aware of the needs of others and how I can be present to them. My practice of intercessory prayer has been more random, more spontaneous, but lately the idea of keeping a prayer list or journal once again has been hovering in my heart.
Awareness of Challenges
At a recent gathering with dear women friends from college days, a warm and loving time for us, I thought about how each of us are facing or have encountered challenges we could not have imagined when we donned our caps and gowns. Some of the challenges have been temporary, but no doubt will be replaced by others as time goes on. Some are ongoing with twists and turns, and some are new and yet too tender to expose. Some are as yet totally unknown.
This is the way it is as we live in our aging.
Almost daily, it seems I learn of a challenge someone in my life is facing, and I need to respond with more than "Oh no," and then a sympathetic email or note. Therefore, this morning I started a new prayer journal, for as Richard J. Foster http://richardjfoster.com says in Prayer, Finding The Heart's True Home, "We are responsible before God to pray for those God brings into our circle of nearness."
I sat quietly this morning and one name after another came into my awareness. The list grew --the family whose father and husband died after suffering from a long illness; my father who has just lost a good friend; the friend who continues to fight the repercussions of cancer; a friend who yearns for a different life for her child….on and on. No doubt you carry such a list in your heart as well.
I have no idea what would be the "right" or "best" outcome for each of these people. Nor do I need to know all the details. Therefore, I simply speak their name, lift their name with tenderness and compassion. I don't pretend to think because of my prayer of intercession suffering will be magically dissolved, but I do know offering such a prayer makes us more human and reminds us we are all one. Through these brief moments of connection, we build our ability to be compassionate. "We grow in awareness of the need to support our prayer with action. Serious intercession leads inevitably to an increase in generosity and an acute awareness of injustice," says Margaret Guenther https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/teachers/teachers.php?id=346 in The Practice of Prayer.
My Prayer
Not everyone on my list are people I know. As I sat in the silence, a face appeared to me--I don't remember her name. She attended the first session of the weekly study of the Gospel of Matthew, having driven a long way on a very cold night to be there. She seemed agitated and uncertain. At the break she shared her hopes of discovering a new way to relate to scripture, one that would counter her rigid religious background. She hasn't been back. I named her "Seeker," and lifted her in prayer.
I know there are all kinds of prayers--prayers of praise and adoration, of thanksgiving, of confession, and prayers of petition, along with intercessory prayer--and I know they each have their purpose, but my prayers tend to be more of a jumble of this and that. I think that's ok, but right now I feel a call to set aside specific time to embrace others through prayer.
Today you are on my list. I whispered "Clearing the Space Readers," both in gratitude for your attention to my words, but also knowing you each have at least one challenge in your life. May all be well.
An Invitation
Tell me about your practice of prayer? What do you believe about prayer, and what has been your experience of prayer? Is intercessory prayer part of your prayer life and if so, how do you practice it? I would love to know.
Re-entry is something we know how to do well or at least we have a routine that suits us well. In less than an hour after returning from a trip, whether we have been gone two weeks or two days, our suitcases are unpacked and put away, and the washing machine is humming. We have gone through the stack of mail, watered the plants, listened to voice mail messages, and have made ourselves at home once again. I am aware that all these homecoming tasks are part of making a transition from vacation time or travel time to our every day life. Others may prefer to unpack gradually, leaving the suitcase open and removing items as they need them, but I want to settle back in, re-bond with home base, and pick up where I left off before the time away.
Margaret Guenther in her Walking Home, From Eden to Emmaus, which is my Lenten guidebook this season, reminds me, however, that just because fresh laundry is ready to be folded and stacked, I am not really home.
"...we are all just travelers plodding toward our own Jerusalem." (p. 108)
What seems like my home is actually only temporary. An inn. This inn is comfortable and attractive and is equipped with everything I need to feel welcome. In fact, we have ongoing reservations here--a room is always ready and waiting. True, we're the innkeepers for ourselves, and there is only milk in the refrigerator if I have left it waiting for us, and I am the maid who makes sure there are fresh sheets and towels. Some inns are better than others, but this one is clean and hospitable, and in no time we feel at home.
But it is just an inn, a way station, and eventually, it is time to move on.
No, I'm not really home, and my true identity is as a traveler, always moving towards Home, no matter where I am or what I am doing. I may encounter pleasant detours and at times I may choose the wrong route and need to turn around. Flights may be delayed or cancelled, and interruptions and frustrations may confound me. Traveling companions may not always be pleasant, and sometimes I may feel unsure or even frightened, but nonetheless, I am moving towards Jerusalem. Is there something I want to do, feel compelled to do or places I want to experience? Is there work, inner work, I need to do?
Well, I better get moving, for the signposts all indicate there aren't as many miles to Jerusalem as there used to be.
I like being a tourist. I know that is no longer a popular concept, and it is more acceptable to talk about being a traveler. I know there is an unflattering "camera around the neck" image of tourists, especially American tourists here and in other countries, but the truth is when I am visiting an unfamiliar place, no matter where it is, I am a tourist. I do hope I am a polite, nonoffensive, and discerning tourist, however.
I like going on field trips and have fond memories of school field trips, such as the 6th grade class trip from Mankato, Minnesota to the State Capital in St Paul, and when we lived on Long Island going into "the city" with my high school choir to see a play and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My family moved frequently in my growing up years, and I recall one of our first Sundays in New York going on a sightseeing boat around Manhattan and being awed by my first view of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. When my husband and I moved to Cleveland, we loved nothing more than exploring the city and roaming the surrounding areas. Work colleagues and new acquaintances were amazed by all we did and all the places we discovered. "Have you been to Amish Country?" they would ask, and we responded with stories about our Sunday drives on country roads. We knew more about Ohio than people who lived there all their lives.
Being a Tourist in Your Own Town
When we moved to Madison about 4 years ago, we became tourists once again. Part of it is natural, for everything is new and just deciding which grocery store will be part of your loop of life requires exploration, and part of it is filling the time when you don't yet have a social network and haven't yet filled your time with activities. The first year we lived in a small and unsatisfying apartment before our farm in Ohio sold. I laughed about the 7 minutes it took to vacuum the place, but trust me, I had lots to time to discover my new city!
Most days I set a goal for myself. One day I went to a small town with a new library built in Mission style. Another day I visited a fancy cheese shop on Capital Square and then walked State Street from beginning to end, enjoying the university atmosphere. I walked the trails at the Arboretum, and I drove up and down the streets of neighborhoods imagining what it would be like to live there. I enjoyed afternoons at the UW Memorial Union sitting on the terrace overlooking the lake, writing in my journal and reading. I planned weekend events and jaunts for my husband and myself--new restaurants to try, concerts to attend, and neighboring towns to visit.
I enjoyed it all, but it didn't take long to establish a routine, to have an established loop of life in place, and while I have no problem setting out on my own, I enjoy my solitude at home even more. I ceased being a tourist. My desire to unearth, to discover, diminished. But then Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent nudged me to awaken my pilgrim self.
Lenten Tourism
One of my guides this Lent is Margaret Guenther, an Episcopalian priest, a spiritual director, and writer whose many books I have treasured. Currently, I am reading Walking Home, From Eden to Emmaus in which each chapter is a meditation on the "walking stories" in the scriptures. I decided Lent would be a good time to set out on some new walks or even old walks, but survey the sights with new eyes. One aspect of Lent is to retreat, but perhaps another part is to seek a new path; to follow a quest, even if it is just around the corner.
My first walk was down the street from where I attended the Ash Wednesday service, the Chazen Museum of Art, home to Wisconsin's second largest collection of art. I had been there before, more than once, but not since a new building had opened. I had been intending to visit the new space, but ..... On their website I encountered this quote describing an upcoming lecture, "When your outer eyes stop working, what happens to your mind's eye?" What better way to expand one's eyesight than to expose them to art? I went on an art walk.
And what did I see? Charming watercolors by a UW art faculty member, Elaine Scheer. Claes Oldenburg's Typewriter Eraser. Collage drawings of planned projects by Christo. Tiger Sitting Under the Moon, a Cantonese scroll. Lots of nudes, including many in paintings by John Wilde which I found very disturbing. A large work composed of colorful, narrow aluminum strips by a Ghanaian artist. So much more. I was most comfortable among the Thai and Indian Buddhas and least comfortable when a piece depicted violence. I laughed at myself as I stood in front of a large canvas painted only in solid black. I could have done that, I thought, but I didn't and why did the artist do it? I sat on a bench and enjoyed the view of the campus pedestrian mall leading to Lake Mendota through a brightly colored glass sculpture called Cornucopia by Tashima Etsuoko . Glorious. Another walk I will take.
I wandered the galleries and missed the company of my artist son. I remembered the last time I was there when I brought my granddaughter who sat on the floor and sketched. I thought about other museums I've visited, and all the great art I have been privileged to see, and I was grateful for all those who have used and developed the gifts God entrusted to them. I thought about walking the skyway system in downtown St Paul recently and wondered why those walls were so bleak and how they could be a blank canvas for someone's imagination. I shuddered at how much I don't understand, and I rejoiced when I my heart lifted at the beauty in front of me.
The headline on the Chazen's website says, "What will inspire you today?" Perhaps it will be a piece of art or something you read or hear on the radio. Perhaps it will be a conversation you overhear or the view out your kitchen window. Perhaps you will be inspired by going on a walk, following a path, being a tourist.
