Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 invite us to pause and consider all that we’ve been taught or think about prayer. As we enter the season of Lent, we are invited to slow down, pay attention and notice our humanity in the real world around us.
One starting place might be to ask ourselves, what do we need to be honest – truly honest about our needs and the needs we see in others? What helps us slow down to listen long enough for our real feelings, emotions, needs, and longings to emerge? What helps us to find courage to begin acknowledging these discoveries to ourselves and to God?
May there be grace to pause, go gently and simply listen to what is stirring within our soul. May we hear the Spirit’s invitation to bring our real selves into conversation with God. May we sense the door wide open in anticipation of our company.
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21 The Message
“Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.
“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
“And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for fifteen minutes of fame! Do you think God sits in a box seat?
“Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
“When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint. If you ‘go into training’ inwardly, act normal outwardly. Shampoo and comb your hair, brush your teeth, wash your face. God doesn’t require attention-getting devices. He won’t overlook what you are doing; he’ll reward you well.
“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.
For Reflection and Prayer:
As you listened to the text, was there a word, phrase or image which caught your attention? Gently allow it to linger, giving it room to form and settle deeply in your body and heart.
Reflect on what you heard. Relish the words. Notice how the word or words affected you. Which emotions are stirring within you? Notice what is happening in your body as you linger with how the text is affecting you. You might begin to describe that and choose to journal about what you are experiencing.
Respond to what you noticed and reflected on in your prayer with God. Might there a prayer that rises within you?
Rest in God as you simply be and entrust yourself to God in the quiet.