What to do during the Lord's Prayer?

When the Lord's Prayer is sung by a soloist, do you bow your head/close your eyes for a public prayer, or do you watch the singer as you would with any other performance? This delimma came to mind at the National Day of Prayer breakfast last week. After the welcome the local Lutheran pastor, an excellent tenor, sang the Lord's Prayer. I considered it a performance and turned to watch him. There are many other prayers set to music and we do not bow for them.

But I noticed that the event leaders across the stage, except for the guest speaker, all sat there with their eyes closed or heads bowed. To me it looked rather odd. So I looked around me and found the group comflicted - most bowed, a few watching like me, and many sneeking glances.
Does anyone have a proper protocol for this?

So this is Home

Haven't posted in a while. Have thought of things to write, but being on the road and with other stuff to do, just didn't get around to it. Have been at Emory, teaching at the Course of Study again. Great class. We're having a lot of laughs as we look at Worship and the Sacraments.

Got home last night and today moved the last stuff from the old parsonage, mainly plants and outdoor stuff. That's it. It was a good place to live and many things about it, especially the neighborhood, I will miss. So I guess this new place is home, for the time being. I started to write, "being a Methodist minister" it's only temporary, but truth is, it's temporary simply because I'm human.

The good news it that in this depressed housing market we have a buyer for the old parsonage. I was afraid it might stay on the market for months, like many other homes in the old historic district. But someone else will make it their home on August 1st. Would love to go back and see if they can figure a different way to arrange the furniture in that den.

Preached a couple of times this past week in the Cannon Chapel. For one of the services I wrote a "Prayer for our Bodies." The different stanzas were read by different persons throughout the congregation. I'm posting in on my Checked Baggage blog in case anyone is interested - you can link to it here.

Another week of lectures and grading papers ahead and then finally the special events and conferences are over for this year. We do have a week of vacation coming up early August - one I am definitely looking forward to. We planned it out of the country (Puerto Rico) so we can just sit on the beach, read, play Scrabble, sleep, and do nothing for a whole week, without any way to come back for a funeral or whatever!

All together in one place

When the Day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. What does that tell us? It tells us that they weren't scattered about, each doing their own thing.

Peter didn't have his group of followers, as opposed to Matthew having his. Thomas hadn't started Doubters Anonymous, and James and John hadn't yet created the five simple steps to sitting at the right hand of Jesus. They were all together, in one place, and the spirit of God moved upon them.

We are so caught up in the culture of American individualism that we have a difficult time grasping the significance of how the day of Pentecost began. Before there was a rushing sound, before there were tongues of fire and languages, and before Peter's powerful sermon was given and converts were made, the people were together, in one place, in one prayer.

We have a harder time being present to one another than being present to God - but can we truly be present to God if we are not present to one another?

Personal Priviledge Request

I struggled with myself over whether to make this post or not for the past 24 hours. Basically it is a prayer request and I didn't intend this forum to become that. But I'm a Dad, and what can I say, but that I covet your prayers. My teenage daughter has been home from school all week with headaches, muscular pain and lethargy. She'll get up for a few minutes, then want to go back to bed. The doc on Monday got a negative on the mono test and said maybe it is lingering effects of the flu she had a week ago, but we're not convinced it's just that. So today we take her to an internist. Anyway, maybe it is just taking a long time to get over the flu, but wondering about the unknown is getting to me.

So, to paraphrase the Centurion of Capernaum, "Jesus, you don't even have to come to my house, just say the word, and I know my daughter will be healed..."
Thanks ahead of time for your prayers.

I have called you by name.

It is amazing how a human face changes things. Take an issue, any issue, and speak of it in generalities and, especially if it is a controversial issue, people will quickly become adamant about the correctness of their position, whatever side of the issue they happen to be on. But speak of a mutual friend dealing with the same issue and the conversation changes. In the abstract, stem cell research may be wonderful or murder in your opinion. But when a neighbor with a rare cancer pins her hopes on such research, all you can do is feel the pain and longing.

In a similar way, when we hear a news report of a tragedy and we feel regret or some sadness for the pain and loss. But put a human face with it, and it changes for us. We are connected, and one persons' loss is a loss to us all.

The fire tragedy at Ocean Isle Beach, NC this past weekend that claimed the lives of seven college students hit me with these thoughts. We have watched the news of the horrible fires raging in southern California for weeks, which included loss of life. Those fires were horrible, and we prayed for the victims and the fire fighters. But that was far away and we did not know them.

This loss, closer to home, with names we unfortunately can connect with, becomes an ache we carry for those in shock and grief. Names and faces of people we know, or who know the people we know. And so we pray anew.

My point is, I do not believe God sees in generalities. God sees and knows each face. Maybe another way to say it is, God does not see us a people, but as persons. That probably says more about our faith than I can comprehend, but for today, it is both a comfort, and a calling.

I Hope It's Joy

Cleaning off my desk before leaving for the day, I came across this prayer that a colleague sent to me. It was written by a battered child, who now is in a safe home. (Shared with permission, and with original spelling, etc.)
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

My heart is broken. not one bit of love.
my soul is taken from heven and above
what is next for this little girl.
she prays at night and ask god
what is next in my life
is thear death or is thear light
or my prays full of light or is it joy
or do i fight untull day light
oh my god what is next
i hope its joy.

Ongoing Preparedness

Yesterday, while just doing some reading, I found a story I'd lost. It is by, and about Henri Nouwen. I've used it as an illustration in the Residency program, but couldn't remember where I'd seen it. But there it was, right where I'd left it, years ago, in the Upper Room Guide to Prayer for Ministers, page 124.

The opening line grabbed me again: "We're often not as pressed for time as much as we feel we are pressed for time." Then he tells about being so pressured with his demands of teaching, that he took a prayer retreat at a Trappist monastery. While there some students on retreat asked him for five meditations or teachings on prayer. Nouwen wrote that since he was at the monastery, the decision wasn't his. So he went to the Abbott saying he came on retreat to get away from having to teach for a period.

The Abbott told him to do it. And Nouwen protested, saying he didn't want to spend his retreat time preparing meditations. And the Abbott replied, "Prepare? You've been a Christian for forty years and a priest for twenty, and a few high school students want...to be a part of your life in God for a few days. If you pray half an hour in the morning, sing in our choir for an hour, and do your spiritual reading, you will have so much to say you could give ten retreats."

Nouwen writes: The question, you see, is not to prepare but to live in a state of ongoing preparedness so that, when someone who is drowning in the world comes into our world, you are ready to reach out and help. It may be a four o'clock, six o'clock, or nine o'clock. One time you call it preaching, the next time teaching, then counseling, or later administration. But let them be part of your life in God - that's ministering. (Originally in Leadership magazine, Spring, 1982)

For a preacher, finding a good old illustration is like finding an old friend. And this one speaks to me at several points. Nouwen, like a lot of other spiritual giants, knew that when he had a lot to get done, he needed to take more time in prayer. When I've got so much to do, I want to cheat on my prayer time.

It gets me that Nouwen lived under orders. He didn't make the call himself about teaching, but went to the Abbott. Wonder how our ministry would change if we quit being such "Lone Rangers" in ministry, and when to trusted friends, spiritual advisors, or coaches for decisions in ministry.

And finally, the whole idea of living in a state of ongoing preparedness. My perfectionism tells me I've got to get the research done, cover all the bases, and come up with my best effort, which then is re-worked. One of the good things about blogging regularly is that it pushes me out of that mode. Give yourself with what you already know. Live in the state of incompleteness, always in preparation, always in expression. But do so grounded in prayer.