PRAY THE LIST

The phone rang this afternoon. I picked it up and I said, "Hello, unknown caller." I was quite unprepared for the recorded message. "Press 1 for prayer. Press 3 to hang up." The deep voice sounded like Charlton Heston as Moses telling the Red Sea to part. "I pressed 3 and then wondered about 2 and hoped I hadn't hung up on God. Did I miss my hotline to heaven? I don't think so. But I am curious about the prayer I missed and the organization involved.

Last year I read the book praying for strangers - An Adventure of the Human Spirit. The author, River Jordan, has always been big on resolutions. But on this holiday she doesn't care. She can only think of her two sons getting ready to go off to war. Bam! She is in the kitchen and a resolution "dropped right down in her soul...New Year's resolution - pray for a stranger every day." Due to God's guidance, her days will never be her own, as she walks right up to strangers and asks if she can pray for them.

        "Schoolgirl young. I don't want to frighten her...I explain my purpose.

                She whispers, "Thank you."

            "Need a prayer for anything special?" 

                "My mom...she's bipolar and..."

           Her words trip, stumble and retreat back....I tell her I'll pray for her mom. Then I add, 

           "But you should know, I'll be praying for you, too." 

            Home is supposed be a safe place...she may walk through the door and find that things have                    changed during the day. I have friends and family members diagnosed as bipolar...There are                    seasons in their lives that are relatively peaceful and seasons without a blink of sleep or peace. 

            My heart bends a little as I pray for her...needing to be an adult before her time. To try to fix                    things, to keep things quiet and running smoothly."

            Praying for Strangers  by River Jordan

I wake up in the middle of the night. These days. The hours I truly toss and turn, awake. Anxious. Sometimes I sing hymns like The Doxology, probably the first I learned. All creatures here below. Praise. Not easy. The tune is 469 years old. That's a lot of praising by a lot of people going through the not so easy time. Or lying on my pillow, hearing in my head, the anthem The Majesty and Glory. I think of my father and our hallelujahs the day he almost died, not knowing he was just minutes from heart failure. But even the hardest. Became the best. Never alone.

Oh no. I haven't prayed the List. I try to before I go to sleep but sometimes I forget. Middle of the night I am awake, comforted, starting my List. I start with the parents and my cousin. Giants in my own life. Lord, watch over them and protect them and keep them safe. I visualize every person as I go down my list. And sometimes mid-prayer a memory pulls me away about a happy time and then that can send me down another path. 

Maine mid March, before complete thaw. The fall scenes I am familiar with are now whites and greys and sages and blues, purples, browns, silver. Moving into an apartment in December before we knew what we didn't know. A bright yellow sofa cheerful against a wall. Cozy. Standing in a cul-du-sac looking down the drive way at a pretty yellow house full of treasures. A plaid sofa in a welcoming room full of celebration. A cranberry room with coffered ceilings, tall, full of light, the smell of apple pie and potato soup just waiting for admission. Sunset over Colorado mountains. A lunchtime meeting at the airport. Two cousins dancing. The black and white kitchen floor of a seasoned home. The home of toddlers sufficiently decorated. A home of neatness and perfect routine. Precious in my mind. Every face. Every prayer.

In the middle of the night, I find hope. Hope is for the asking. Hope is walking on tiptoes across the floor in a striped blue shirt, color of the sky. Or the puffy bottom of the baby pool, stilled except for a summer bug skating across, it's outline in round, connected dots four or six. An exquisite silhouette against the blue. Hope is splashed remnants covering the deck as white blue hose water fountained over our heads. Even now hope is here.

I am amazed by River Jordan's ability to walk up to complete strangers and ask to pray for them. I do find myself looking but only praying silently for a stranger, not approaching them. I read somewhere those are like shooting stars. She kept her strangers in her mind and continued to pray for them. Amazing the load God helps us bear.

Pray The List. 

Let's put the tossing and turning hours to use. Pray The List. Before you go to sleep, Pray The List. Make your list. Add to your list. Add a stranger. Remember a cousin. Think about happy times. Before long, our prayers will be hooking up like a paper chains. If we all do this, think of the lives that will be touched. Our lives will change. Hope is out there as blue as the soaring sky. Be apart of something bigger than yourself. 

Pray The List. 

ONE KNOT AND FOUR CORNERS

ONE KNOT

Luke 5:12-16  

Once, when Jesus was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy.  


The leper lives a hopeless life.  He is alone, living with a disease which banishes him from any human contact.  Going along, all day long, crying out, "UNCLEAN, UNCLEAN.  Move away from me"  - the constant reminder of his lot in life, the obvious deformity of his diseased body.  He is responsible for keeping others at a distance. He is hated and feared because of this horrible mystery.  He alone carries the burden.  He is desperately hanging onto a knot at the end of his rope.

One day he hears about the man called Jesus and the miracles.  A spark fires in him.  Dare he hope for his own miracle?  He imagines a life living with touch and conversation, family and friends.

And then one day he sees Jesus.  Hope is walking down the dusty road towards him.  The leper bows his head to the ground in awe of possibility.  Begging.  He is used to begging but this is for his life.

"Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean."   His heart must have been racing and his ears pounding.  But his words don't come across as frantic.  Controlled but bursting with hope.  Scared to death.  Pick me.  Pick me.  Make me the next miracle.  This is my chance.

Then THE GOD of the universe reaches out his hand to touch this unclean man.  Jesus stretches down to reach the man lying in the dust, pleading for his life.

How long is the second before Jesus replies?

"I do choose.  Be made clean."

Immediately.  No leprosy.  The man feels his face, looks at his arms, rubs his hands over his body.  No deformity.

Jesus tells him to tell no one and to go straight to the priest to make an offering for cleansing which will be a testimony to the miracle.
The miracle of the leper spreads throughout the community and abroad.  Crowds of people come to hear Jesus and to be cured.

The man Jesus withdraws to deserted places.  Now he is hanging on the knot, alone, exhausted.  So many people demanding much.  Give. Give. Give.  He would never cry out unclean but he can feel what the man feels, the exhaustion of doing life along the dusty road.

This is the miracle of Jesus.  His humanity.  Alone and in prayer, he has the ability to be filled back up with with love and giving and life changing miracles as THE GOD of the universe.


FOUR CORNERS

Luke 5:17-26

The paralyzed man does not ask Jesus for anything.  Maybe he doesn't know about miracles.  Maybe he can't speak.  Or maybe he is just worn out living with his illness.  He has an obvious impairment but he doesn't have to shout unclean.  He is confined to his dusty mat watching people live their lives.  He could give up except for the concern of others.  He is not alone.  

His friends tell him about Jesus and he has no choice in the matter.  They gather up the four corners of his bedding and go to town.

Jesus was speaking to a large crowd and the power to heal came upon him.  The Pharisees and teachers of the law had travelled from near and far to hear exactly what he was teaching people. 

The friends realize the crowd is too large to push through to the front.  They will do everything possible to get their friend to Jesus.  Stairs?  Why not?  Up the stairs to the roof.  The paralyzed man has no control.  His friends are in charge.  Through the roof, literally.   God looks up as dust begins to fall from above.  More dust.  Four men have the corners of a mat and are lowering a man to the ground in front of Jesus.  Hope is falling through the roof.

Everyone is speechless.  Some people look on in wonder.  How wonderful to have such friends.  Some people look on in disapproval.  How could they tear up the roof?  Others were jealous because the man was so close to Jesus.  Even in the presence of Jesus, others stand in disgust over a paralyzed man even being brought to Jesus.

"When he saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven you."

The Pharisees and teachers bristle.  Who is this blasphemer forgiving sin?  Only God can forgive sin.

Jesus asks them which is easier, forgiving sin or making a man walk.  To show all of the crowd his authority on both counts, he tells the paralyzed man to stand up and take his mat and go home.

Immediately.  He stands up, taking up his own mat and goes home, glorifying God.  Finally, he has a response to Jesus.

Jesus didn't touch the paralyzed man.  His words were enough.  Neither the leper or the paralyzed man expressed any doubt.  The Pharisees and teachers were always doubting.

When we see Jesus coming down the road we can begin to hope.  Do we fall to the ground and beg?  Flat on the floor of a hospital waiting room or the floor of a bedroom?  How long is our second before Jesus replies?  Lord, if it be your will.

Immediately?  

Sometimes we are carried along by our friends.  We are so paralyzed by the shock of events we can't speak.  Sometimes the pain of nothingness pushes us away from Jesus.  We only get to Jesus because of our friends.  If you have four tremendous friends, who needs more?

Are we just like the Pharisees?  Doubting the miracle of Jesus in our lives?  The miracle of Jesus knowing just what our pain is even though we don't shout unclean.  Making us clean and whole even though we live in the dust of the road.