Thank God for our police officers who keep our streets and homes safe, day and night. Here’s one example. A police officer stopped a motorist for speeding on the main street in a small town. “Officer,” the driver began. “I can explain.” “Just be quiet,” the officer said. “You were doing triple the posted speed limit. I’m going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief gets back.” “But, officer...”“Quiet.”
Later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, “Lucky for you the chief’s at his daughter’s wedding. He’ll be in a good mood when he gets back.” “Don’t count on it,” the man answered. “I’m supposed to be the groom.” Yes, there’s a time to speak up.
The word of God today takes us to Peter at the house of Cornelius: a Gentile and, worse, a Roman army officer. The Romans occupied Jewish lands; and periodically Jews would rebel, only to be brutally crushed.
As Peter proclaims God’s “amazing grace” for all people, the Spirit descended upon the entire household - Gentiles as well as Jews - and Peter then had Cornelius's household baptized into the community of Jesus’s disciples.
This incident reminds us that the Spirit of God works in people and in places where we least expect. So, each of us should always be alert to God’s presence, even in the most unlikely people and in the most unlikely places.
The authors of the letter of John and the Gospel challenge us to love one another as God loves us: unconditionally. To love is to wish the other well. Moreover, Matthew Chapter 25 clarifies that we love God to the extent that we care for one another. Jesus gave his life for us so that we could have the gift of God’s triune life: the triune God abiding in us and we in the triune God.
Jesus chose us as friends. He invites us to nurture that friendship, especially through prayer. For Jesus and the heroes and heroines of Christianity, prayer was their top priority.
C.S. Lewis wrote a series of letters titled The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape, a senior devil, advises Wormwood, an apprentice, how to win a soul for the devil. One method, he explains, is to create so much noise that people no longer hear the voice of God. Think about it. Clock radios, TV, the car radio; Facebook, Instagram, phones, e-mail, etc., all can distract us from hearing God’s voice in our lives. The devil’s strategy—keeping us from God--seems to be working.
Now prayer's a two-way street. Jesus of course is the model. He gives us guidelines that in no way replace public worship, but are essential for one’s personal relationship with God. Here are some guidelines.
• Keep it real. C.S. Lewis wrote, “The prayer preceding all prayers is, ‘May it be the real “I” who speaks. May it be the real “Thou” that I speak to.’” Yes, our relationship with God has to be authentic.
• Keep it quiet. Jesus went up the mountain to pray. Find a place every day to pray without distraction. Jesus encourages us to find time to be alone with God so we can offload our guilt, our problems, our worries.
• Keep it simple. It is not the length of prayer that counts but the sincerity. Jesus also taught us to be persistent, to go on asking, seeking, knocking. Our heavenly Father knows what we need. And there’s a pattern to prayer, which Jesus taught us in the Our Father. Here’s a paraphrase using that pattern:
Our Father: because we and God are family, heirs to the kingdom of heaven; May Your kingdom of truth, justice, peace and freedom permeate everyone; May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Satisfy our basic daily needs: food, health, home, livelihood, a tranquil society. Forgive us for things we do wrong as we forgive those who wrong us. And don’t let us succumb to evils that will jeopardize our relationship with you, God.
Does God answer our prayers? The simple answer is yes. But this meditation by Inayat Khan shows how inventive God can be:
“I asked for strength, and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom, and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for courage, and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love, and God gave me troubled people to help.
I received nothing I wanted; I received everything I needed.”
Yes, God has chosen us to be his friends. How nurture that friendship? By conversing with God as a friend, a friendship based on God's unconditional love for us, his unconditional forgiveness and acceptance of us.
Sometimes we isolate prayer to “church” at particular times. We almost subconsciously remove God from our “day-to-day stuff.” But God is in all of life: in times of joy, and of sadness, in the nitty-gritty of daily work, and in times of doubt and disappointment. That's why we have to look continually beneath and beyond appearances and try to see the reality of God all around us.
So today we might want to:
Take time to think, it’s the source of power;
Take time to play, it’s the secret of perpetual youth.
Take time to read, it’s the fountain of wisdom.
Take time to pray, it’s the greatest power on earth.
Take time to love and be loved, it’s a God-given privilege.
Take time to be friendly, it’s the road to happiness.
Yes, God chose us to be his friends; nurture that friendship daily in prayer; place ourselves in the presence of God and make everything we do a prayer.
