Pray to Grow Together

Submitted by Pastor Sarah Isakson

Wherever you are, please join together with other Faith family members in morning prayer each morning at 7am.

On Tuesdays this summer, we will take this daily prayer into Faith Chapel at 7am, where we will focus on praying according to Martin Luther’s concept of the Four-Stranded Garland. Each strand of praying with a scripture passage can be woven together in a manner that is intended to strengthen your theology. The idea is that you consider each of these strands individually, and focus all of your energy on the concept while you prayerfully consider scripture. The strands are INSTRUCTION, THANKSGIVING, CONFESSION, and GUIDANCE, and here’s how you do it.

You can choose any short portion of scripture and read it four times, each time concentrating your soul-energy on one of these strands. For example you can ask yourself the following four questions:

• What did The Holy Spirit teach me?

• For what am I thankful?

• What does this make me think about that I might need to confess?

• How does the Spirit guide me into God’s truth with Love?

Using these questions will help us to pay attention to the paths God is opening up to us, as well as spend more time focusing on the gift of the Word. A few other things that Martin Luther liked to do during his time in study included reciting a creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and a psalm. I strongly encourage you to pull out your Small Catechism and take a look at what Martin Luther suggests we do daily for our spiritual practices! If you are a singer you can do the same praying with a hymn or praise song. Luther is also known to have said “One who sings prays twice!”

Please consider adding this practice to your daily routine, and join me in-person on Tuesdays at 7am, in the chapel. Lay leaders are encouraged to lead, using different traditions each month! If you are interested in leading one of our morning prayer sessions, please let me know!

Happy Pentecost practices, everyone! Let us pray to grow together.