Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

As most American’s find themselves under a ‘shelter in place’ order, we Christians suddenly find ourselves with the need for domestic worship practices.

This situation has certainly affected my family, which occasionally gathers in our icon corner for evening prayer. Just imagine — seven bodies crammed into a small niche! Can you see the squirms and the interruptions already?

At a moment such as this, one is reminded tangibly of Jesus’ words about little children, which we read today in Mark’s gospel. We are instructed to receive the Kingdom of God like little children; in fact, we won’t receive it unless we do!

St. Theophan the Recluse said that a little child ‘is not arrogant’, ‘does not despise anyone’, ‘is innocent and guileless’, ‘does not inflate himself in the presence of important people’, and does not ‘withdraw from those in sorrows’. Perhaps we might say that children ‘say it like they see it’; they aren’t afraid to express themselves without modification, or without putting on airs.

Perhaps, if you’re like me, you find the adult need to ‘be good’, to ‘put yourself together’, to do things ‘correctly’ in the prayer corner. But really, prayer is not an opportunity for us to engage in posturing so we feel good about ourselves. We should come exactly ‘as we are’: messy, chaotic, stressed, or whatever. Prayer is an opportunity for us to simply be and to speak directly to the One who is present with us at every moment. This honest ‘being’, combined with a sincere effort to communicate clearly with God, can fundamentally shift our experience of prayer.

Now is an opportune moment to learn to pray together, and to take our cues from the smallest among us!

Yours in Christ,
Justin