Don't Cease - Col 1:1-14

​“I’m too busy”. This is an excuse that we often give when we are asked to do something that we do not want to do. It’s also the reasoning we have to give, regrettably, when there is something we really want to do, but just cannot manage to fit into our schedules. To make something a priority, we must shift around the things we are already doing, and possibly even have to give up something that we really want to do. What we spend time doing, and the attitude that we approach the things we do with, speaks to our character, the very core of who we are.

​I don’t feel that you would get much argument from people if you stated that the apostle Paul was a busy man. He founded churches throughout the Mediterranean. He was well educated and well traveled. He was a tent maker to support his travels so he would not have to ask those in the areas he was reaching out to, to reach into their own pockets on his behalf. And yet… And yet, Paul was never too busy to pray. He tells the Colossians, “In our prayers we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints.” Paul and his appetence Timothy, took time to pray and every time they did so they thought of the Colossians. Paul was not too busy to sing God’s praises for a community that he had not been with for some time, but felt called to remember in prayer. Paul goes on to say that the apostles have “not ceased praying, since the day we heard it.”

​Often in our own prayer lives, we pray for the many things that we, or others, struggle with. We petition God to hear our cries and respond, because we know that God is faithful to listen to us. But why would Paul not cease praying for the Colossians when they seem to have it all together? He says that they are bearing fruit and being in love with the Spirit of God. Shouldn’t Paul put better use to his prayers by praying for all of those other churches that seem to be in so much trouble?

​But Paul knows the truth – that the Devil lurks around when things are going well, just as much as when they are seemingly going aerie. Therefore, the Colossians need to be filled with God’s understanding and wisdom so they can continue to please God. For only through God can the Colossians be filled with strength, patience, and joy for all they do. In other words, even when things are going well, the journey is not over yet. And God is worthy of all praise.

​There is a story told about one of the saints of the church named Brother Lawrence. Brother Lawrence was a monk who was given the most degrading and meaningless tasks to do all day, in hopes to discourage him from continuing to be a monk. Only this plan backfired. It was in those moments, washing the dishes, when he learned one of the greatest secrets to the spiritual life, practicing the presence of God through a life of unceasing prayer. He transformed his time in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning, to a time of worship that was just as meaningful for him as if he was on his knees praying in the church. He learned to praise God in the moments that others would dismiss as being not needing God’s attention through prayer.

​The Jewish tradition would call what Brother Lawrence did ‘hip-boo-day-doo’, or becoming so intimate with God that you are constantly praying through what you say through your heart or your lips. Moments of sincere prayer when you whisper “thank you” or “help me”.When we start to see our lives as living in the presence of God and embracing all that life gives us, the wonderful moments and the trials, as opportunities to be in the presence of God through prayer, then our core being can be transformed.

​I believe the passage given to us today by the apostle Paul, and the story of brother Lawrence leave us with questions for us to use to examine ourselves this week. I encourage you to reflect on these questions throughout the week and use them as a lens to examine your own core. When you become busy, do you pray more or is prayer something that you often find yourself thinking that you are “too busy” for? Do you find yourself asking God for things in your prayers more, or praising God for the gifts you or someone you know have been given? Do you find your thoughts shifting to people to pray for throughout the day? Have you found a way to live in the presence of God in whatever you do? And what does praying without ceasing mean to you – is it possible or unattainable in your life?

​I know that these are hard questions to wrestle with, but know that you are not wrestling alone. We are examining ourselves together this Lenten season. We often beat ourselves up about not praying more than we actually pray. But what if, for this season of Lent, we take at least five minutes a day to pray to God? Five minutes to sit with God and build your relationship. Over time, maybe you will find prayer not to be the daunting process you imagined it to be, but rather a time to be refreshed by the Spirit. Maybe then, a bit at a time, you will find yourself slipping into a life of prayer that doesn’t cease.

​Lent isn’t just about setting things aside, its about growing deeper in love with God along this journey of faith. But we also don’t enter into the season of Lent alone. We don’t learn to grow in a life of prayer alone. Look to your left. I would like us to covenant with each other to pray for that individual – thanking God for how they were created, for their gifts, and asking for the Spirit to strengthen them, make them patient, and bring them joy this season.

​Brothers and sisters, may we strive to see ourselves as a community like the Colossians, bearing many fruits amongst each other’s and beyond these walls and falling deeper in love with the Spirit of God as we grow in a life of prayer. Amen.