Recently I spent the morning listening as I heard downtown noise. I began with a small group of friends walking a quarter mile of Elm Street and praying for the good of the city--prayerwalking. Later, I met two others, one a former art school student to walk and pray around the buildings strewn about that make up the NH Art Institute.
The prayerwalk, for me, is an on-going experiment in loving a section of the city through inviting divine benefits over its people and institutions. In this I find God directing and simplifying my thoughts; speaking whisper-soft amidst the sounds of the city. My brain activity is focused at the objects of God's love. I picture the needs and wants and hopes of people I may never meet and ask God to pour out his best into their stories.
Praying, which might seem like some labored religious duty can feed the imagination and center a harried mind. In prayer over the campus, I "see" God rescuing the student from depression. I "hear" the purity of the first prayers of new believer. I smile at the thought of a lively discussion about the image of God reflected in the arts.
However, it is not my creativity or emotional state that make prayer work. Its value is not measured by the spiritual assets accrued to my account. These are perks. Rather, prayer is eternally rich with possibility. "With God all things are possible." The experiment of listening (noise or no noise) is in discovery. We are only called to spot the trail of Jesus who is already at work in the lives of people in this city. Amidst the noise we listen and join God in conspiracy to love a person before they realize its Source.
No comments:
Post a Comment