Monday, June 12
 
Prayer: To whom?
   Last Thursday, we reflected on God as Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  An interesting question then is:  to which one do we pray? or all three?
   Of course, God welcomes any and all prayer.  Talk to God the Father, or to Jesus, or to the Holy Spirit; they are all listening.  Maybe prayer is like a first child off at college, calling the landline at home.  Who picks up?  Mom?  Dad?  Little brother?  No matter: you just phone home and talk to your divine family, Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
   We learn to pray "in Jesus' name."  That's not a magical formula that gives prayer an extra umphh.  We pray recognizing that Jesus is the embodiment, the very face of God; we know whom we're talking to and what he's like because of Jesus; we have a reliable path to heaven because Jesus blazed to the cross and out of the tomb for us.  Jesus' name itself means "Lord, help!"  Jesus joins us in our cries for help; Jesus is the one who helps.
   If theological precision matters to you more than it does to God, the idea is: we pray to God the Father, in Jesus' name - and it is the Holy Spirit that motivates, enables and envelops that whole process.  But maybe the best thing is to imagine prayer as sitting down with Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and then speaking, and listening.
   God the Father, the Creator, opens up to us the wonder of God's world.  "This voice from eternity whispers and breathes right through everything that exists, lending them a bottomless dimension; a whole world of love and mystery opens up to us."  Then each one of us, created by the Creator?  Your very existence itself is a prayer.  You are from God, and for God; just breathing glorifies God.
   Jesus, God's Son, invites us to discover our own true humanity, to realize his solidarity with us in physical delight and pain, in human joy and sorrow.  He is one of us; he also is called our "priest": he stands with us and ushers us and our prayers toward God the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16).  Jesus even prays for us (Romans 8:34)!
   Then the Holy Spirit has its own prayer "specialties."  The Spirit encourages, convicts, comforts, teaches, sanctifies...  that is, the Spirit invisibly supports us and remolds us, recovering the image of God in us that gets eroded when we drift away from God.  And as we've seen earlier, the Spirit groans, sighs and prays within us when we are just too broken to pray ourselves (Romans 8:26).
   Lord, I'm dialing (Heaven) God.  What?  It's a party line?  All three picked up?  Great.  Thank you for listening.  You three amaze me; I love you all, together.  Here are some concerns I have to share: _____, _______, and _______.  Thank you for caring, and loving.  Now I'll sit back and listen for a while.
James