Christian prayer foundations: Honesty

Saturday 5 March 2016

Honesty

When Jesus calls upon us to love our neighbours as ourselves in Mark 12:31, he quotes Leviticus 19:18

'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself.'

He also further elaborates on the Mosaic commandment in a challenging way.

'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. (Luke 6:27b-3o)

His concise summary offers the 'golden rule' for all ethical behaviour. It makes concrete the meaning of 'love your neighbour as yourself'.

'Do to others as you would have them do to you.'

What do we want most? How do we prefer others to treat us, according to our desires or according to what we feel we deserve? What we want may be unrealistic, and what we expect can equally be unrealistic, for in a fallen world, we may not have been loved as much as we needed nor have been as loving to others as we ought to be.

Illusions about ourselves are a product of estrangement from God. God loves us, we have imperfect ideas of God and what love means, whether God's love or the love of others. We learn of God's love through the story of Jesus, and in turning to God, start to learn how to see ourselves in the same way as he does. We pray, in order to shed any illusions we may have about God or ourselves. Many ideas we have about God and ourselves fall far short of the reality.

Much of Jesus's ministry to poor, needy and broken people is about restoring their inner peace and self-confidence, by honestly valuing the faith they have, and respecting their gifts. Nothing is gained by self exaggeration or promotion. We are asked to be honest and realistic about ourselves. He responds compassionately to the pleas of a man who honestly struggles to trust, who says to him

'Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief' (Mark 9:24)

Such is an example of genuine humility, not pretending to believe more than we truthfully know we do. Jesus reassures us, however:

'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted' (Luke 18:14)

There is no time at which the tax collector's prayer is not relevant in helping to refine us in honesty, whether we are broken by failure, or exulted by success.

'Lord have mercy upon me a sinner.'

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About this blog

The basis of Christian Prayer.

Christianity born of Judaism, owes its spiritual mother an immeasurable debt in many dimensions of faith; e.g.

Belief in one living eternal God, infinitely just, true and good, creator, source of all that exists.
Belief that time and the cosmos, despite the repeated cycles of nature, is a process of change with a beginning and end.
Belief that human beings are made in the divine image and likeness of their creator.
Belief that each person is called to find the meaning and purpose of life in relation to God, and develop this by means of prayer and worship throughout life.
Belief in the essential value and importance of understanding who and what we are as spiritual and moral beings, conveying this understanding through stories told about God in relation to humans.
Belief that remembering the story humans tell about themselves in relation with God is at the core of the personal relationship each has with God.
Belief that the rich record of these stories in sacred scripture has a life of its own and can inspire those who read and study them with a sense of meaning and to creative responses that nurture human existence intellectually, morally and spiritually.
Belief in the value of repeating the same annual pattern of scriptural story telling, in response to the cycle of the seasons, as a prime means to development as human beings as our creator envisaged.

Jewish believers derive their core sense of identity and cohesion from remembering the Exodus story and performing the rituals of Passover, and belonging to their ancestral homeland, Israel. Christian believers, keep Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide, to remember the ministry, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, two thousand years ago.

This story is understood as the foundation of personal relationship with God. It imparts a sense of belonging to a global fellowship of believers not dependent upon a specific homeland. The land of Israel plays a central part in the Christian story of faith, yet it's a story that's considered relevant to life, wherever it is told and awakes people to faith.

Forty days of Lent, fifty days of Eastertide is a season to work with the essentials of the Christian story and rediscover their meaning and relevance to lifes today. It is a time of returning and renewal, offering an enriched understanding of faith, and way to deepen the life of prayer.