Envoi, from the 1928 Church of England Prayer Book

Ben Crick, veteran Church of England minister in Birchington, Kent posted this prayer that is said in farewell to those dying. I think it is wonderful.

Go forth upon your journey from this world, Christian soul:
in the name of God the Father almighty who created you;
in the name of Jesus Christ who suffered for you;
in the name of the Holy Spirit who strengthens you:
in communion with the blessed saints,
and aided by angels and archangels, and all the armies of the heavenly host. Amen. May your portion this day be in peace,
and your dwelling in the heavenly Jerusalem. Amen.

Asking

Our home group has been listening to Phillip Jensen's five talks on Christian Prayer. We thoroughly enjoyed listening and discussing this topic and found the talks a great encouragement to pray.

During the five talks, Dean Jensen emphasised that Christian prayer is talking to God and asking him for things. He said that we should always pray with thanksgiving, but that thanking God is not prayer, because to pray is to ask.

He repeatedly urged us to pray because God can do everything and is interested in us, in both the big things and small things of our lives.

The Lord's Prayer and other parts of the Bible show us that we should pray for things which God has promised to give, but should also share all our concerns with God, even if they are not mentioned in the Bible and are not specifically promised.

We should pray about the things God tells us he wants to do [God's aspirations] and also about our problems [our anxieties].

One of the things I pondered from listening to the talks was these words in James chapter 4:

You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

They reminded me of the short and painful time when I was a pastor. It was short and painful because some in the church decided that they needed me like a fish needs a bicycle!

Although it was pretty painful for me and my family, I guess it might have been worse for the congregation!

Once, one of the leaders of the congregation told me that he would have done all kinds of things for the church if only I'd asked. I got the feeling that he was saying that he would have done wonders, if I'd only pushed the right buttons.

I'm assuming he was saying he would have put in money for projects and maybe that he would have given assistance in getting them up and running.

Now I'm hoping that this is not what James is saying when he says

James 4:2-3 You do not have, because you do not ask.

I'm assuming he means that we ignore God and try to be self-sufficient and wonder why we fall down in a screaming heap and make such a mess of things.
I'm assuming he is not saying that God will only do things if we ask, because this has not been my experience with our generous God.
But I think he is encouraging us, as Dean Jensen was, to ask and not to be embarrassed to ask because what we ask is so trifling or such a big thing.

Five ways to pray the Psalms

Another helpful article on prayer by Ben Patterson, in Christianity Today.His five points?

1. Say them out loud.
2. Festoon them, as you would a Christmas tree. Add your prayers to them.
3. Paraphrase them.
4. Learn them by heart. Come to understand them so well you can recite them — by inflection and tone — as though you had written them yourself. This is by far the best way I know to learn to pray the Psalms. I can think of no more powerful way to allow the Word of God to change who you are and how you think. Over the years, the prayers of the Psalms have offered incomparable comfort and clarity in desperate, murky, and confusing situations, when I didn't have a worthwhile word of my own to say—when I quite literally didn't have a prayer.
5. Marinate in them. Some people use the Bible like they use spice to liven up the taste of food—a little Tabasco here, some salt and pepper and oregano there; a particular psalm to read when you are (check one) sad or glad or afraid or lonely or struggling with doubt. But it's better to use the Psalms as you would a marinade. A spice touches only the surface of the food; a marinade changes its character. The soul should marinate in Scripture by repeated, thoughtful, slow, comprehensive, and Spirit-enlightened reading.

Prayer and might-not-have-beens

Dan Phillips has posted at least two very helpful posts on prayer. The one linked to above, and What prayer is and isn't.

In What Prayer is and isn't, Dan makes the point that prayer is talking to God and that it is not a conversation. He shows this very clearly from the Scriptures.

The article linked to above is all good stuff, but particularly worth taking away is his 4 point conclusion:

1. God gives believers' prayers a significant place in His plans.
2. We should never downplay the importance of approaching God in prayer, Biblically understood.
3. It is the height of folly to let circumstance or human reasoning discourage us from bringing our petitions to God. In other words...
4. Let God say "No, I have a better plan," rather than, "Since you did not ask (James 4:2b)...."