Belief, Unbelief, and Prayers

I've entitled my blog "Soul Searching" because that's what I am--a soul always searching, doubting, believing, questing to know the truths of God's love and my calling to live a Christian life.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible comes from Mark (9:17-29): a man asks Jesus to cast the spirit out from his son, who has suffered for years from possession.  Jesus tells him (in a somewhat cranky tone, I might add), "'All things can be done for the one who believes.' Immediately the father of the child cried out, 'I believe; help my unbelief!'  Jesus saved the boy.  The cry of that father, "I believe; help my unbelief!" perfectly sums up my own longing.  I do believe, and yet I need help daily to overcome the many ways in which I doubt or do not act on my belief.

Later in that story, Jesus tells the disciples that the kind of healing he did for the possessed boy "can come only through prayer."  And prayer has become one of the ways that I have been trying to "help my unbelief."  My private prayers are simple and straightforward.  I thank God for the gifts in my life, for the ways I have felt His help and support recently, and then I ask God to help others I know who are going through a rough time, and finally I ask for continued help with the strengthening of my faith and my conviction to live a good life.  A typical private prayer might, then, go something like this: "Thank you for the wonderful church service today.  It helped me feel so close to you.  Thank you for the confirmation kids who make me laugh and think harder and love you more.  Please take care of Linda and Elijah who need your healing and support right now.  Please help me not give in so easily to worries and minor obsessions that keep me more distant from you.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Amen."

I've been responsible for leading the prayers at my church's second service every Sunday for the past month or so.  Some people have asked me to share some of the prayers I've composed, so I decided that doing so would be an appropriate way to get this blog started. The first few entries, then, (and some of those to follow) are more formal prayers that I've written and read at my Church (Faith Lutheran in East Hartford, CT).  I hope you like them.  Feel free to borrow them anytime.