RETREAT - Matthew 6:1, 5-6
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them for then you have no reward form your Father in heaven. ...And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. - Matthew 6:1-6
A look at the right time and place for prayer: not in the front of the church or out in public for all to see but in private when you can be alone with God.
Right after this passage, Jesus gives us a way to pray, offering us the Lord's Prayer as an example of how to pray. First, though, he gives us this imperative. He does not speak here of one way or a better way. "Whenever you pray," he says, and he says it twice.
Get away from the crowds. And don't just stand there, Jesus says. Go. Retreat from the church pews and street corners. Go somewhere you can shut the door to the world and be alone with God.
This doesn't say we shouldn't pray in church. Rather, we should not make the congregation an audience. Go away to a quiet place - and maybe the church can be that quiet place, or maybe you can retreat as a united congregation - but go, and find a place where God can be alone with you.
For his own part, Jesus was always praying this way, retreating from the crowds and looking for a place ot be alone. He started his ministry with forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11: "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ....Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him."), and he ended it with some quiet time in the Garden of Gethsemene (Matthew 26:36: "...and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.'"). At Matthew 4:12: "...he withdrew to Galilee" and at Mark 3:7: "Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea." At Mark 6:45-46: "...he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray." And for his transfiguration, at Mark 9:2: "Jesus ..led them up a mountain apart, by themselves."
This is the time and place for prayer.
He said to them, 'Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.' ...And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. - Mark 6:31-32.
Dear God, thank you for giving me time and leading me to quiet places. Thank you for seeing me here and hearing my prayer.
A look at the right time and place for prayer: not in the front of the church or out in public for all to see but in private when you can be alone with God.
Right after this passage, Jesus gives us a way to pray, offering us the Lord's Prayer as an example of how to pray. First, though, he gives us this imperative. He does not speak here of one way or a better way. "Whenever you pray," he says, and he says it twice.
Get away from the crowds. And don't just stand there, Jesus says. Go. Retreat from the church pews and street corners. Go somewhere you can shut the door to the world and be alone with God.
This doesn't say we shouldn't pray in church. Rather, we should not make the congregation an audience. Go away to a quiet place - and maybe the church can be that quiet place, or maybe you can retreat as a united congregation - but go, and find a place where God can be alone with you.
For his own part, Jesus was always praying this way, retreating from the crowds and looking for a place ot be alone. He started his ministry with forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11: "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ....Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him."), and he ended it with some quiet time in the Garden of Gethsemene (Matthew 26:36: "...and he said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.'"). At Matthew 4:12: "...he withdrew to Galilee" and at Mark 3:7: "Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea." At Mark 6:45-46: "...he dismissed the crowd. After saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray." And for his transfiguration, at Mark 9:2: "Jesus ..led them up a mountain apart, by themselves."
This is the time and place for prayer.
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And I'll stretch this leash from here to heaven.
And I'll sometimes think I know the way,
And I'll take the paths that I've been given.
I'm learning how to pray.
--- This Is My Walking Song, 2012
--- This Is My Walking Song, 2012
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He said to them, 'Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.' ...And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. - Mark 6:31-32.
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Dear God, thank you for giving me time and leading me to quiet places. Thank you for seeing me here and hearing my prayer.
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