Patterns of Prayer

Do you ever notice patterns? I like patterns. I see them everywhere. From fabric, to fence-posts, to planks on the boardwalk, to repetitive details on the wall of a church, I see them and I enjoy them. They call to someplace deep in me reminding me of how life should be lived – in a rhythm, a pattern consistent with the heart of God. They also convict me of where I have created my own patterns to live by – where I have exchanged God’s design for my own.

This prayer journey that we embark on is all about patterns. Observing and paying attention to old patterns that need to be abandoned and taking up new patterns that we haven’t acted upon yet. It is about the pattern of asking and listening – not just one or the other. It is, if you wish, a time to ask God for His design concerning our praying, our eating (if you choose to fast), our generosity, our repentance, our reconciliation, our allegiances, and our broken world.

We will pray in the pattern of concentric circles – starting with a small inner circle and working our way out little by little each week.

Praying Lent:
Week 1/Circle 1 – We start with ourselves. Pray to see the patterns in our own personal lives that keep us from God. Ask God what rhythms He wants us to embrace and practice during this time. Confess… lay before Him the deep longings of our hearts…let Him know that we believe, but need help in our unbelief. Then…listen.

Living Lent: (some other crazy ideas)
Read Isaiah 58, Psalm 51
Place a mirror as a centerpiece on the dinner table this week – to remind us to look at our lives or place a container of water as a centerpiece to remind us to pray “Create in me, a clean heart, O Lord.”