Take a good look at this window. Two people in prayer. Vivid reds and blues, and softer greens and golds. One man standing proudly and gesturing with his hands, the other man kneeling with folded hands. One of the men is confined by the shapes of the window, the other man is captured in the light which descends on him. There is a lesson here in this window about the posture of prayer. The window takes its story from the Gospel of Luke:
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)
Today, Garrett-Evangelical looks through this window and prays in confession:
Lord Jesus Christ, you are the way of peace. Come into the brokenness of our lives and our land with your healing love. Help us to be willing to bow before you in true repentance, and to bow to one another in real forgiveness. By the fire of your Holy Spirit, melt our hard hearts and consume the pride and prejudice which separate us. Fill us, O Lord, with your perfect love, which casts out our fear, and binds us together in that unity which you share with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen. (prayer by Cecil Kerr, Northern Ireland. In Book of Worship, #482)
By Al Caldwell, Retired Faculty, editor
