October 11, 2020 — Take Notice of the Wonder

“To pray is to take notice of the wonder, to regain a sense of the mystery…Only one response can maintain us: gratefulness for witnessing the wonder, for the gift of our unearned right to serve, to adore, and to fulfill. It is gratefulness which makes the soul great. However, we often lack the strength to be grateful, the courage to answer, the ability to pray.” (Abraham Heschel, “Man’s Quest for God”)

“He (Jesus) was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.” (Luke 11:1-4)

In his book “”Man’s Quest for God”, Abraham Heschel tells this story:

“Rabbi Isaac Meir Alter of Ger pondered over the question of what a certain shoemaker of his acquaintance should do about his morning prayer. His customers were poor men who owned only one pair of shoes. The shoemaker used to pick up their shoes at a late evening hour, work on them all night and part of the morning, in order to deliver them before their owners had to go to work. When should the shoemaker say his morning prayer? Should he pray quickly the first thing in the morning, and then go back to work? Or should he let the appointed hour of prayer go by and, every once in a while, raising his hammer from the shoes, utter a sigh: “Woe unto me, I haven’t prayed yet!”? Perhaps that sigh is worth more than prayer itself.”

Prayer for a lot of people is something we hope to do, we ache to do, but we allow the events of everyday life to interrupt our efforts. We refrain from prayer thinking we must wait until a particular time, a particular place or a particular opportunity to assume the posture of prayer. What this tends to do is leave most people empty of prayer which becomes habitual. We may even come to forget what it is we should give thanks, what it is we regret, leaving our prayer lives a lacking “miss”.

Here is what Martin Luther had to say about prayer: “We are far too weak against the devil and all his might and forces arrayed against us, trying to trample us underfoot.” Since this is true, “There is nothing for us to do on earth but to pray without ceasing against this archenemy. For if God did not support us, we would not be safe from him for a single hour.” That’s why Jesus taught us to pray, “Deliver us from the evil one.”

Sometimes life leaves us too weak even to blurt out a decent prayer. So perhaps we need to remember what Rabbi Isaac Meir Alter of Ger says: “Perhaps that sigh is worth more than prayer itself.”

Pastor Dave