St. Peter's Lutheran Church

Fervent Prayer

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by

Rev. Craig Ross
in ,

“In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”

~~ Ephesians 6:18  

I like bookstores.  A little reading is never a bad thing, right?  So, I’m in the “Health and Wellness” section of one unnamed bookstore in the Mall Saturday morning, trying to find the solution to eating too many Christmas cookies.  I didn’t find that.  What I did find was disturbing and then just kinda sad.  The section of books I was perusing was widely sprinkled with titles such as “Get your (swear word) together”, and “The subtle art of not giving a (swear word)”, and my personal favorite, “I used to be a miserable (swear word)”.  And this was in the “Health and Wellness” section?  I counted how many (swear word) titles there were just in that section.  Nine.

It would be easy to just be “shocked”, but honestly, I wasn’t shocked.  I’ve heard that sort of language more and more frequently these days.  Yes.  It’s in the culture of media, over-familiarity and shock-value.  But it’s also in us as sinners, that we think so poorly of ourselves that we would identify with and want to purchase a book entitled, “Everything is (swear word, (past tense))”.  Do we often feel so badly about how things are going that we’d feel the need to purchase such a book?  No, probably not, but maybe sometimes…yes.  

Frustration.  Anger.  Despair.  They pressurize the system, your system, don’t they?  They drive you to action.  But today and everyday in these days of bleak early and mid-winter, let me ask that you direct your frustration and anger and despair…into prayer.  

Pray to God. 

Fervent prayer.  Upset, angry, despairing prayer.  Pray the “Oh God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” prayer of the hurt, the crying, and the forlorn.  Let out these feelings in prayer.  God is listening.   To you.  Watching.  You.  Responding to you.

Prayer.  It’s not just for “Bow your heads”, is it?  It’s for “Calm the (swear word) down” too.

See you in church.

Comments

3 responses to “Fervent Prayer”

  1. rossi2865 Avatar
    rossi2865

    Hi everyone … please forgive me for not getting in my usual note when I have a guest devotion writer. This devotion was written and conceived by Brendan Armitage. My sincere apologies for not getting my usual credits into the text. Thank you, Brendan!!!

    Reply
  2. Brendan Armitage Avatar
    Brendan Armitage

    (Don’t blame the pastor for the swear words, right?). I am grateful to you, pastor, for your willingness to let members of the congregation offer up devotions. It’s a mark of your and the rest of the collared clergy’s willingness to listen as well as preach which has made St. Peter’s such a wonderful place to understand our work in God’s kingdom. I can’t imagine too many other churches that would allow and thrive with the diversity of topics we all bring to St. Peter’s.

    Reply
  3. Rev. Craig Ross Avatar
    Rev. Craig Ross

    Bless you, Brendan, I could not agree more with your logic on our shared devotional life together.

    On the swear words, I am just grateful that I have only one parishioner within earshot when I am doing battle with the irrepressible weeds in my lawn.

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