“The content of prayer”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, April 16, 2024
Colossians 1:1-14 (Forward, p. 78) CEV p. 1232
People often comment that they do not know how to pray. Indeed, that was the motivation of the disciples’’ request of Jesus, “Teach us to pray, just as John [the Baptist] taught his followers to pray” (Luke 11:1). In response gave them, and us, the wonderful words that we know as the Lord’s Prayer.
Here, in the apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, we find another ‘take’ on the matter of prayer, in particular some indications or suggestions as to what we might include within the content of our prayers. (Now, it might be of interest to note that, while the Lord’s Prayer is a very personal prayer, one that focuses on what we individually might request of God, Paul’s prayers have to do with what he wants for others.)
-his thanksgivings for their faith, their love, and their hope, and notice what these three things pertain to: their faith in Christ, their love for all God’s people, and their hope in what awaits them in heaven.
-his thanksgiving for the way the Gospel, the good news, has spread among them.
-his prayer that God will show them everything He wants them to do and give them all the wisdom and understanding that comes from the Spirit. This will have four results in their lives: they will live lives that honour God, they will always please God by doing good deeds, they will come to know God even better, and God’s glorious power will enable them to be patient and strong, and able to withstand anything.
-his prayer that they will be grateful to God for their salvation, for their part in being part of what God has promised His people in the kingdom of light and for having been rescued and set free from Satan and his dark dominions and forgiven.
Notice, if you will, that Paul’s prayer has past, present and future aspects to it. They were to be thankful for what God has already done, they are ‘keep at it’, keep being faithful and loving and hopeful in this present time, and they are to grow in their knowledge of God and His will and be even more
obedient in carrying it out. I would suggest that these would be good prayers for us, you and I, to engage in as we pray for each other. Amen.
Forward notes: “Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God” (verse 6).
Commemoration: Peter William Cassey and Annie Besant Cassey
“The letter to the Colossians begins with grace, the great gift of God that comes through the power of the gospel. The gift of grace seems an appropriate connection as we remember today Peter William Cassey, ordained by the Episcopal Church in 1866, and his wife, Annie Besant Cassey. In the face of slavery, discrimination, and injustice, they worked fearlessly to bring the blessings of education and spiritual haven to marginalized people in the communities they served.
“The gift of grace reflects God’s unconditional love for us. Whoever we are, wherever we are, however we are, whatever we have or have not done, God loves, forgives, and accepts us fully and without reservation. For that, I am immeasurably grateful, always and in all ways.”
Moving Forward: “How does the gift of grace affect your involvement in the world?”
A concluding note: God truly does love, forgive, and accept us fully and without reservation. We do not have to earn any of this. He offers all of this to us as a gift, but like all gifts, we must receive it if we are truly to make ours. Amen.