We are always asking God for blessing: bless this food, bless this child, bless this bread and this wine, bless this day. We are asking for the presence of God to make holy. Be present to us in this food, be present to this child, be in the midst of us as we share worship, be in our days. God blesses us with God's presence.

 

Is it possible, then that we might reciprocate? Is it possible that we might, in turn, bless our loving Creator with our presence as well? And might this be a way to live through Lent?

 

Of course, you and I do not feel much like a blessing. It is difficult to imagine that we might give God delight by our very presence; we are, after all, sinners. It is difficult to imagine that we might give God joy with our attentive listening for the voice of the Holy Spirit; we are, when all is said and done, superbly hard of hearing and hard-headed. And it is difficult to imagine that we might please God beyond measure by our quiet stillness in that place away from the eyes of others, where we offer our prayer in private, alone with God. Can you imagine being a blessing to God?

 

Listen to these words from Martin Smith, SSJE: "...the flame of God's will is the desire to be in our lives so that we become aroused to love. Prayer... is about letting go of our resistance to being the desire of God's heart. Prayer is coming to know that Christ wants to be in our lives now in a particular way that answers our deepest needs, entering not merely through the path of our highest ideals, but more likely through the places of our brokenness and our wounds."