Recently in prayer and ritual Category

Hey Christians!  Stop putting a camel hair rope around Halloween on October 31^st, and instead take advantage of what happens on Nov. 1^st - All Saints Day.

It seems like we used to hear more from Christians who decried Halloween as a time to glamorize demons and the devil.   If observed at all, some Christians decided to create their own versions of haunted houses called "Hell Houses"  with the purpose of scaring people into belief by showing regretted abortions, gay people with AIDS, and addicted prostitutes.   In 2009 a more accurate Hell House might be a family that has lost their home to foreclosure, a baby starving for lack of food, or a polluted water supply.  But maybe Hell Houses should just die its ghoulish death in 2009.

I say let kids have fun on Halloween.  I mean, how bad can God be offended with kids dressing up as cowboys, princesses, matadors, hobos and even as ghosts (Charlie Brown anyone?).   The only real sin here is gluttony as kids pack candy into their faces.  But that has its own immediate punishment offered by nature - the stomachache. 

Instead of worrying about Halloween, take advantage of it as the springboard for Nov. 1, which is known as All Saints Day and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).   All those faux scary spirit world reminders of Halloween can be used as a springboard for a conversation about the real 'life beyond life.'   All Saints Day is a great time to talk about what happens when we die, to commune with our loved ones who have died, and celebrate their life and their presence with God in heaven. 

For Latin cultures this generally means going to a cemetery and having a party around the graves of family members.    This might sound spooky for those who have not grown up with the practice, but it isn't experienced that way.   It is a family celebration that reinforces the ties of commitment and love that continue even after the death of a loved one and an encouragement that there will be a similar party for us once we have died.

All Saints Day, like Ash Wednesday, can be a time of reflection on our own mortality.  The line between the living and the dead is very thin and we will all cross it some day. On Ash Wednesday as I impose ashes I say to congregants the powerful words:  "Remember that you are made from dust and to dust you shall return."  But then I add in a whisper just for the individual: "So care for your soul, which is eternal."  

All Saints Day is a celebration of those who cared for their soul by fulfilling Jesus' commandments of Love of God and Love of Neighbor.  It is a reminder of that one true task that Jesus has set before us.    Instead of cordoning yourself off this weekend, embrace this opportunity to reflect on the reality of death and celebrate the Saints who now live in God's eternal embrace. 

Chris Broughton, 28, made national news when he showed up to protest a speech by President Barack Obama in Phoenix, Arizona with an AR-15 automatic rifle slung over his shoulder and a handgun. While Broughton claims that his (apparently legal) actions were not meant to threaten the president, there was more to the story than a single citizen's dubious actions and pronouncements. Local print and television coverage in Phoenix, and bloggers all over the country, have led the way on an interesting and important story of religion and politics that has been almost entirely ignored by the traditional media.
Here is what they missed.

The night before Broughton's fifteen minutes of fame, he attended a fiery Sunday sermon by his pastor, Rev. Steven L. Anderson, at Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona. Rev. Anderson, also 28, explained not only "Why I Hate Barack Obama," but also why he and God both want the president dead. "When I go to bed tonight," Broughton's pastor declared, "Steven L. Anderson is going to pray for Barack Obama to die and go to hell." He even goes so far as to claim that:
God appointed [Obama] to destroy this country for the wickedness of the United States of America. God appointed him because that's what our country has turned into. That's who we deserve as a president.

And yet, even though we may deserve Obama, Anderson urges his congregation to pray for the president's death, issuing imprecatory prayers and repeatedly asking God to kill the president. Most dramatically, and in an interesting shift to the passive voice, he said Obama "ought to be aborted" because the president is pro-choice, and therefore a "murderer." Despite all this Anderson has insisted to reporters that he was not calling for vigilante violence. Ditto for Broughton, who told a reporter for the Phoenix New Times: "I don't care how God does it, I'm not going into further detail than that," said Broughton. "It would be better now than later."

"However it happens, I'm going be happy that it happens," he continued. "I'm gonna be a happy man... I would rejoice."

Praying for peace is not as easy as it sounds.  Praying for peace requires two separate but related beliefs.  The first belief is that prayer 'works' and that our meditations and/or petitions to God can affect the material world and can change our individual and collective lives.  The second conviction is that peace is worthy of the effort of prayer, that peace should be a goal for each person, and not to rest on the more realist (cynical) view that war and conflict are inevitable.  

Today is the International Day of Prayer for Peace and it is a day of hope mixed with...desperation.  Prayer becomes most urgent  in moments when we don't know where else to turn both in our personal lives and, as in the case with this day of peace, in our world. I am involved with an organization called Fellowship in Prayer that was founded 60 years as a response to the urgent crisis posed by the atom bomb which held (and still holds) the possibility of destroying all life on the planet.  Fellowship in Prayer called upon people of goodwill, across all religious traditions, 'East and West,' to come together to pray for peace.  For the last sixty years people in Fellowship in Prayer have been praying for peace, and one could say successfully, as the world has so far avoided nuclear destruction.  Yet given the seemingly intractable conflicts that continue around the world, the need for prayer, and those dedicated to prayer, seems  greater today than ever before.  

On this day many groups from across the religious spectrum are praying for Peace. And even if it is not easy, you too should pray for peace today and every day. Praying for Peace means you are making a spiritual statement that yes, what I do with my spiritual practice matters, that my meditations can change myself, but also have the power to change the world.  Or for me, as a Christian, praying for peace is a faith statement that God does hear our prayers in the hour of our deepest need, that God has a hand in this world, that God can change me, and that God can transform the world - and that God wants peace.  

Praying for peace is one of the most faithful acts one can make.  Jesus said, that those who make and pray for peace will be called the Children of God.  Even if it is not easy - pray for peace!

Here is a prayer that I wrote for those working in International Relations and Statecraft.  It was included in the book Prayers for the New Social Awakening.  And below that you will see the original advertisement for the Fellowship in Prayer from 1949. 

A Prayer for Those Working in International Relations and Statecraft

Sovereign Lord,

We pray for the people who are charged with safeguarding our nation as they bridge culture, race and religion to painstakingly negotiate terms of trade and forge alliances of security.  May they view their task as sacred and be filled with hope, creativity and endurance as they develop bonds among nations that are mutually beneficial and will produce lasting peace and respect among all peoples. Lord, help our leaders to look beyond grand palaces and corporate offices to carefully consider the effects that the policies they are creating will have upon the humble homes of the average citizen around the world.  May America be girded by the spirit of cooperation and generosity that recognizes the needs of others alongside our own so that the entire world might enjoy a common wealth of food, drink, shelter, education and recreation

Lord, may America not succumb to the sin of imperial temptation, rather tether us to our religious commitment of servanthood.  May we use our power in concert with the international community so that we might collectively bring in a new era marked by justice and peace.  Let restraint and compassion stay the cruel hand of war that slays the young and leaves societies broken and bloody.  May cool minds prevail in seasons hot with destructive cycles of revenge.  In combating the evils of this day let us not become what we despise.  Rather hold us fast to our conviction that living without intimidation or deprivation is a human right in our own country as well in others.

God of the Universe, may we forsake the hubris of claiming you as our private possession, but rather may you claim us as we work for reconciliation and the common good.   Lord, may none use religion as a rallying call for national militarism, territorial expansion or terror based on dangerous readings of sacred texts. Rather let us recognize the sacred in other human beings from every nation, class, race or religion.  Help us to love both you and our neighbor and thereby fulfilling the great commandment of your Son Jesus Christ, so that through our efforts for peace we might be known as your children. 

May America and the entire world be blessed by your continued providence in our time and for generations in the future.  May Thy kingdom come, thy will be done throughout the earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Fellowship in Prayer's Original New York Times Ad in December 12, 1949

As the Industrial Revolution took hold of the nation, the average American in the late 1800s worked 12-hour days, seven days a week in order to make a basic living. Children were also working, as they provided cheap labor to employers and laws against child labor were not strongly enforced.

With the long hours and terrible working conditions, American unions became more prominent and voiced their demands for a better way of life. On Tuesday September 5, 1882, 10,000 workers marched from city hall to Union Square in New York City, holding the first-ever Labor Day parade. Participants took an upaid day-off to honor the workers of America, as well as vocalize issues they had with employers. As years passed, more states began to hold these parades, but Congress would not legalize the holiday until 12 years later.

Dear God,

Please take away the swine flu.

Amen


According to Martin Luther King, Jr. there is a power in us more powerful than the power of bullets.

King knew that that power was the power of the Spirit. Call it a religious power, a spiritual power, the power of consciousness or whatever - it has to do with the power of the mind, joined with the power of a Divine Creator.

So don't be fooled when it comes to this conversation about the swine flu. This flu wasn't created on the level of the body, because no disease is. It was created on the level of the mind, and it is there that we will root it out at the causal level.
      

For weeks, millions of people have been convinced by the media -- based on endless reports about the drug cartels -- that "Mexico is a dangerous place." It is a basic truism of spiritual philosophy that, as it is written in A Course in Miracles, "all thought creates form on some level." You get enough people agreeing in consciousness that Mexico is a dangerous place, and that dangerous thought will make it so.
     

So does that mean the media shouldn't have reported about the drug cartels? Absolutely not. But it does bear noting that today's media seems to have abdicated any sense of perspective, grabbing always for the most sensationalized, fear-producing angle of any story.  And we should try to filter the fear thoughts than can get into our minds as assiduously as we try to filter the germs that can get into our bodies.
      

If you get this - if you're already grounded in faith (or at least have read "The Secret") - then take an active part in transforming this thing. The Western allopathic medical community is doing everything it can to treat the disease on the external planes, and of course we're grateful for that. But each and every one of us have work to do on the internal planes, to transform the disease on the level of cause as well as ameliorate whatever effects it has already produced.

l) Pray it away. Just pray it away, asking God as you understand Him, the Divine Physician, Jesus or whatever other form of divine imagery works for you. Simply ask that it be removed from our midst.
       

2) Send love to Mexico. Between what's actually been happening there with the drug wars, plus all the "Mexico is dangerous" thoughts we've loaded onto it over the last several weeks, it needs a major dose of love - the most powerful medicine of all - to dissolve the fear thoughts that have produced this flu.
       

Do your part. This thing can be turned around right now, and sent back to the nothingness from whence it came. Each of us needs to stop pretending we're powerless, use the power in our hearts and work the miracles we're entitled to. Prayer is the medium of miracles; in whatever way works for you, pray right now.