Sunday, March 15 - Fourth Sunday in Lent

                             What does prayer mean for me?

Prayer to me is communication with God. The challenge of prayer is, of course, the fact that God does not return our calls, answer our texts or our emails. God does not respond to us in the ways familiar to us humans. Thus, prayer is often fraught with frustration in the sense that we seem to get no answers to prayers or what happens in the situation that prompted our prayers is the opposite of what we prayed for.

When I am confronted with this situation, I have discovered that I am not alone or the first one with this experience. For comfort, I often return to the Psalms. The Psalms in my mind are a wonderful compilation of prayers that were made by ancient people of faith trying to discover where God was and what God was about, no different than us and our lives today.

I am most comforted by the Psalms when I hear the breadth and depth of the feelings expressed. As an example, let me share some verses from Psalm 28. First the situation of Prayer. . .

1 O Lord, I call to you; my Rock, do not be deaf to my cry; lest, if you do not hear me, I become like those who go down to the Pit

2 Hear the voice of my prayer when I cry out to you, when I lift up my hands to your holy of holies.

3 Do not snatch me away with the wicked or with the evil-­doers, who speak peaceably with their neighbors, while strife is in their hearts.

Then the Psalmist goes on, expressing his faith and hope: 

7 Blessed is the Lord! for he has heard the voice of my

prayer.

8 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped;

9 Therefore my heart dances for joy, and in my song will I praise him.

How can we not be comforted by these words?

David A. Feyrer