Good Morning My Dear Friends, 

I start with 2 questions.
Have you said some prayers yet today?

Did it include the Lord’s Prayer?

We have just finished our little exercise looking at the Prayer that Jesus taught us, but when we look at the versions in scripture Matthew 6 and Luke 11 we notice that we finish ours differently. So today’s Offering is like a bonus track on an album.

The early church added
‘ For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen’

Partly to reflect a traditional doxology which was a common way of finishing prayers, and partly to bring us full circle, finishing the prayer with praise and appreciation of God.

There is something very creative and positive about learning to appreciate as well as learning to be thankful.
Thankfulness is hugely important, so much so that one of my favourite theologians, Matthew Fox, who wrote ‘Original Blessing’ says ‘If the only prayer you ever say is Thank You, that would be enough.’
I do like that, but hope that we do say more than that, and we do appreciate the important things.
Just try this for a moment.
Identify one thing you really appreciate about your family.
One thing you appreciate about our church.
One thing you appreciate about knowing God.

It is hard if we need to limit it to one, and that was not the point, it is to name the good things because it is so easy to be critical of people and things and not so easy to praise and appreciate those who are on our mind.

Appreciation helps us to see other people as they really are, to value and affirm what is good in them. It encourages us to be open, and it helps us grow in all our relationships including our relationship with God.

We have spoken earlier about the Thy Kingdom come, but let us focus for a minute on us affirming the ‘Power and Glory’ belong to God.

Power is an interesting one. For me it does not express the idea of God wielding almighty power like some great warrior or authority demanding we do as he wishes, but the ultimate creative power which is love, and our response to that is one of awe and wonder.

Glory is that divine beauty that emanates from his love. It is what we experience when pour out our praise and thanks, our adoration and devotion. It is that magnificence that is holy. This too is about awe and wonder.

Our prayer finishes with us trying to express what it feels like to be in the very presence of God, for that is what we are. But our words sometimes are not enough, and we can’t always appreciate what it all means.

People of faith throughout history have tried to get this feeling to become real, through a whole host of prayerful practices. Bu having prayer patterns, fixed procedures, using the divine office of morning and evening prayer, by saying grace, but focussing on poems,  or beauty, or candles, or icons. By singing (whoever sings prays twice) by reading scriptures, by using the imagination, by practicing Lectio Divina, by mediating, by walking, or going on Pilgrimage. By being alone, or in groups, by meditating…… the list is endless which makes us realise there is no one right way. We all do what seems right for us where we are at present on our spiritual journey. But for me, one thing does stand out above all else, and I will come to that in a moment. But first let me just ask you to spend a few moments just thinking about how you pray. There may well be many answers, and I would like you to think of them all.

For me I love to pray in church using the liturgy. I love to say my office or morning and evening prayer. I love to experience the beauty of creation, and pray while I walk. I love to go on retreat. I love to read the scriptures and imagine myself being involved in the story. But most of all I love those moments that come when we are not trying too hard to create them, and we just find that stillness, that quiet, and we know that God is.

The psalmist teaches us ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ (Ps 46.10.)

Bless you, Bless you, Bless you.

Until next time.

Fr Marcus