Observation: As Paul closes his letter to the Thessalonians, he gives them lots of final advice for their life together. Three very short exhortations stick with me today: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances."
Application: I've been making a real effort recently to live into that word, "give thanks in all circumstances," and I've been inviting others to join me. In August, Advent's church council and I kept journals giving thanks to God for a few things every day. We invited the whole congregation to do the same in September. When October came, we actually included "Three Minutes of Thanksgiving" as part of our Sunday worship, and invited one member to share their thanksgivings and facilitate others' sharing thanksgivings too. Ironically, with Thanksgiving Day only two days away, my daily practice of giving thanks has dropped off. Guess it's not too late to pick it up again.
But "pray without ceasing" is another thing again. It's hard to interpret what exactly that means. Of course you can't literally have your eyes closed and hands folded (or extended out, as I tend to do) all the time. There's a classic of Russian Orthodox spirituality called The Way of a Pilgrim, in which a Russian peasant learns the "Jesus Prayer" ("Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me") and repeats it to himself enough times where it becomes a running loop in his head, even as he goes about his life. I first learned about this book from J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, and it made an impression on me. The Jesus Prayer has been part of my prayer life on and off for at least ten years.
There are definitely habits we can cultivate to help us strive for what Paul has in mind here, but not all of them will work equally well for all people, all the time. More than any one way of executing it, I think the vision he seems to have in mind is one to hang onto.
Have you ever watched a movie, and the imagery of a particular scene stuck with you for a long time afterward? Or had a song in your head for days or even weeks at a time? Paul's vision for our joy, thankfulness and prayer is that it be similarly infectious. That whatever our practices of prayer and worship, that they stick with us through the day, and maybe even spread into the "regular" times in our lives where they're not "supposed" to be. That instead of trying to avoid negative thoughts and behaviors, our thankful, joyful and prayerful thoughts would infect more and more of our minds, setting them aside for God. If we need a mantra, we can do a lot worse than "Thank you Lord".
Prayer: Lord, kickstart my life of prayer and thanksgiving again this morning. Set aside more and more of my thoughts as holy, that my life can be a reflection of your reign here on earth. Amen.
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