04/05/2021
By Pastor Vinnie Cappetta
"Saving Prayer"
Prayer, of course, has to do with God. God is both initiator and recipient of this underreported but extensively pursued activity. But prayer also has to do with much else: war and government, poverty and sentimentality, politics and economics, work and marriage. Everything, in fact. The striking diagnostic consensus of modern experts that we have a self problem is matched by an equally striking consensus among our wise ancestors on a strategy for action; the only way to get out of the cramped world of the ego and into the large world of God without denying or suppressing or mutilating the ego is through prayer. The only way to escape from self-annihilating and society-destroying egotism and into self-enhancing community is through prayer. Only in prayer can we escape the distortions and constrictions of the self and enter the truth and expansiveness of God. We find there, to our surprise, both self and society whole and blessed. It is the old business of losing your life to save it; and the life that is saved is not only your own, but everyone else's as well. Eugene Peterson, "Where Your Treasure Is."
-How is God the initiator of our prayers?
-How does prayer help you get out of the cramped world of your own ego and selfishness?
-How have you seen the expansiveness of God through your prayers?
-How do you see God saving your life and other’s lives through prayer?
