My grandmother was a long time Truth Student. During the Great War, 1914 -1918, she worked in The War Department in Washington D.C. This was also the time of the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918 – 1919 which killed over 20 million people worldwide.
At one point my grandmother was very ill with the flu. She heard of a woman, a healer, who was in town offering a series of lectures and private healing sessions. She took a cross town bus, missed her connection and arrived late for the lecture. The woman was on the phone when she arrived and asked her to wait.
After a while, the woman came to my grandmother asking why she was there and then quickly proceeded to pray with her.
It was a very deep and spiritual prayer according to my grandmother. On her way home on the bus she suddenly realized that she was well, the disease had left her.
The woman’s name was Dr. H. Emilie Cady a Naturopathic Physician and the author of Lessons In Truth, a basic text book for Unity and the New Thought Movement. My grandmother was a big influence on me and on my decision to follow the spiritual path.
“He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples’” Luke 11:1. What follows is a version of what has come to be known as The Lord’s Prayer or The Our Father, only a little different than the version found in Matthew 6:9-13.
In Matthew’s version Jesus begins by saying, “Pray then like this:” What follows is a model for prayer; rightly understood, it is a model for positive affirmative prayer similar to the Shepherd’s Psalm #23.
It’s interesting to note that he did not say, “Pray this prayer” but “Pray then like this:” The words we use are not as important as the consciousness within which we pray.
A conscious awareness of our intimate connection to the infinite, unlimited, eternal Presence and Power we call God (our father) is essential to effective prayer.
“Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” Matthew 6:8. Our goal is not to pray to God necessarily, but to pray in God; we pray in a consciousness of the all knowing, ever present, all powerful, essence of Being that we live and move and have our being in (Acts 17:28.)
In the Our Father, we express our willingness to open our minds of what is (earth) to an awareness of what can be (heaven), we affirm that all we need and desire (our daily bread) is readily provided and ask forgiveness for our belief in lack and limitation (debts or trespasses) knowing that in forgiving we are forgiven.
We acknowledge that we are tempted by our senses to believe in lack and limitation and that raising our awareness to the light of God dispels this darkness (evil.)
This results in an attitude of gratitude. We are grateful for the greatness of God that fills our minds, hearts and lives with infinite blessings “thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever.”
We conclude with a positive statement of acceptance: Amen. This word comes from an ancient Chaldean word, “Ameyn”, which includes the concept of planting it in the ground and watching it grow. Simply put it means, so be it or it is so. I believe it, I receive it, and it is so!
My grandmother lived to the age of 97. In her final days she was not very conscious of the outside world, her body was failing fast.
But, if you listened closely, you could hear her reciting her positive affirmations of Truth. Like Gandhi who died dedicating himself to God saying, “Om Shiva”, she crossed over in a conscious awareness of her connection to the infinite, unlimited, eternal Presence and Power.
I ask, what more could we want than to live in a conscious awareness of the all sufficiency of the divine permeating every aspect of life and living, including the change we call death? God is I Am (Exodus 3:14.) Wherever I am God is. All that God is I am, can do and be through him who strengthens me (Phillipians 4:13.)
Joining you in the awareness of peace, joy and love.
The Rev. Matthew E. Long is pastor of Peace Unity Community