Prayer and meaningful action

Minister Sharon McRann

“. . .They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, ‘Galileans, why are you standing there looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.’” (Acts 1:10-14) In verses 6-10, Jesus entrusts His work to His disciples. He tells them, “You will be my witnesses ... to the end of the earth.” It’s hard for us to understand just what happened at Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension. Some of us believe exactly what it says in the Bible. We’ve never questioned it and we’re not about to. Some of us can’t accept the literal interpretation, yet we know that there is symbolic truth in it for us today. For the disciples and for us today, much time is wasted staring at the sky, longing for something miraculous to happen, waiting for God to step out of heaven, and make everything “right”. But the messengers of God say, “Why are you wasting time looking at the sky?” Instead, live out your hope in the world as God’s people. The disciples walked the crowded streets until they came to the familiar gathering place. Eventually someone led them in prayer. Before He died, Jesus prayed for His disciples. He expressed all of His hopes for them and His fears as well. He lifted them to God in prayer as He prepared to hand over His work to them. The time had come for Him to hand over responsibility to those whom He had gathered around Him for that very purpose. He said, “I have made you known to those you gave Me out of the world ... I gave them the message that you gave Me and they received it; they know that it is true.” If these words are to make sense to us today, we need to realize that though Jesus was talking to the disciples of His day, He is also talking to us and to all who profess to be Christians. We are commissioned with a huge task - the task of living and loving as Jesus did. The responsibility of carrying on His eternal work is now ours. Jesus said, “I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world...” “They” is ourselves! We are the disciples for whom Jesus prayed, “Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave Me, so that they may be one just as you and I are one.” We have a long way to go toward the fulfillment of that prayer, but we take the responsibility with the assurance that God is with us every step of the way. Prayer was important to Jesus and to His disciples. Why? Prayer is a way of connecting. By daring to make the connection we can access a reservoir of energy and understanding that is buried within us - a bottomless well of love and affirmation. Prayer is an instrument for the transformation of the world. Jesus offers the disciples a challenge. The temptation today would be to jump right in, to do something right away. Either that or we’d procrastinate and it would never get done. We live in a fast-paced world, things have to be done right away. The trouble is we don’t always have enough energy for all there is to do. We get tired and the task suffers. The disciples, however, were simply told to pray. The work of the kingdom would not require their planning or effort. It would get done by the Spirit working through them. And that is something we often forget. I often forget that I don’t have to have all the answers, that the Spirit of God will and does work through me if I pause for a minute, take time to pray and offer my struggle, my dilemma, my lack of energy to God. I believe prayer is one way we engage in a relationship with God and with ourselves. I also believe that prayer and relationship with God - and with others - helps us to come to what I call wholeness. Simply, wholeness for me is a sense of peace within. I believe God wants each one of us to seek and find wholeness. Wholeness can be achieved even though life presents us with difficulties, worries and hurts to overcome. The first step to wholeness and transformation is prayer. If prayer is to become real to us, our best starting point may be to look within ourselves rather than to gaze up to heaven. A little time regularly spent in prayer can make us more aware of what we should truly value.