How can we stay spiritually fresh and alive and plugged into the power of the Spirit?

We rely on being able to do some things automatically, without thinking our way through them. Some things like tying our shoelaces or riding a bike are the result of skills we have learned so well that our bodies perform them without fail. Other things like brushing our teeth or putting on the seat belt are habits we have developed so fully that we no longer realize we are doing them.

But in other parts of our lives, we don't want to be on automatic pilot or to rely on programmed skills or habits to get us through. In some situations, we need to give our full attention and demand that same degree of attention from others. Spouses can quickly tell the difference between an automatic, "I love you," and a heartfelt expression of genuine love. Our kids can tell the difference between an automatic, "What did you do at school today?" and a parent's honest, authentic interest in the events in their lives. Friends can tell the difference between an automatic, "How are you?" and the compassionate reaching out of one soul to another.

It is amazing and amusing how we have convinced ourselves that God hasn't yet caught on to the difference between our expressions of genuine spirituality and our automatic, rote readings of the "Lord's Prayer." How many times have you recited the "Lord's Prayer" in worship, at weddings, at funerals, with your mind and your spirit on full automatic? The words are so familiar that we can be on "cruise control" for the entire prayer.

For too many people, in too many situations, the "Lord's Prayer" has become little more than a meaningless mantra, or even worse, a kind of "good luck" saying. One Christian recalls this tendency in an amusing/appealing story:

I remember reciting that with the NeoshoHigh School football team for four years. Every Friday night, right before we'd go out to play, the whole team would gather around in one moment of sanity, as together we said "The Lord's Prayer" and ended it with "lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen." Then two or three seconds later, we'd all scream, "Let's kill 'em!" (Mike Cope, Righteousness Inside Out [Nashville, Tenn.: Christian Communications, 1988], 102.)

The tragedy of that story is that it demonstrates how the very prayer Jesus gave us to keep us spiritually alive and alert, and not tied to praying simply "vain repetitions," we have managed to turn into the biggest vain repetition of all.

Today's lectionary texts, Luke and Colossians, go well together. They both talk about staying in the fullness and freshness of the Spirit. Jesus promised us that we could stay fresh and alive and plugged into the power of the Spirit. "Ask," he insisted, "and you will receive" not just some of us, not just those with special gifts, but "everyone."

In fact, Jesus gave his disciples their own prayer so that they might live a "wired" life being "wired in" to the Spirit. The "Lord's Prayer" was never intended to be a creed or a catechism, repeated exactly the same by all Christians at every stage of their lives. The "Lord's Prayer" is only a template, a blueprint, showing us how we can gain access to the power and love and grace God offers to us daily. Essentially, Jesus says, all we have to do is ask.

Admittedly, there is something compelling and comforting about a mantra. There are, and need to be, mantra prayers. Consider the quieting peace that comes from repeatedly reciting the "Kyrie" "Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy." To stay vitally connected to the Spirit, however, we must expand our understanding of a "mantra" and view it as the repetition of certain practices, attitudes and relationships, instead of just the recitation of words alone.

A Christian mantra, empowered by the spirit of the "Lord's Prayer," has at least three components:

1. Daily Scripture Reading. This does not mean books of scholarship about Scripture, or study guides and manuals for investigating Scripture, though these are key growth-agents in the life of faith. But prior to that is the ability simply to steep yourself in the Word through repeated readings of the Bible.

The men and women of the Old and New Testaments should not be strangers to us. They are our family. We are related to them in the faith. Daily readings soaked in the stories of our tradition will make for a stronger, fuller, richer faith. We can only remain spiritually "fresh" by conscientiously feeding and watering the roots of our faith. Scripture remains a miraculous gift of God because despite its antiquity, its misuse by the church, its abuse by its doubters and its overuse by literalists, it still speaks a fresh word from God to us every day.

2. Daily Prayer. The "Lord's Prayer" was not intended as a "daily prayer." It only points to the fact that "our Father" wants to hear from us every day. Jesus counseled his disciples to be persistent in prayer to the point of peskiness.

Four-year-old Thane likes to get up at 5 a.m. every day weekends, holidays, winter, summer. He immediately climbs into bed with his parents and parlays a series of specific requests: a pop tart, orange juice and a video. Every morning, we groan sleepily and tell him to go back to bed because it is just too early. Every morning, he prevails not because we love him, not because he is a joyful child, not because we want him to be happy. We give in because we want him to go away! His persistence pays off. (Personalize this story from your own family life.)

Likewise, Jesus encourages his disciples to go continually into God's presence in prayer. But God, unlike human parents, delights in our clamorings in prayer all hours of the day and night.

3. A Daily Relationship With Others. Reading the Word and praying to God are faith mantras we must exercise on our own, but we must also read and pray, praise and question, in small groups. We need that communal, cellular contact with faith every day of our lives.

Part of our spiritual freshness depends on opening up our hearts and spirits to the sounds and sights of other Christians. We need to be involved in cell groups, where the members are spiritually connected to one another. It is a good "sign of the times" that prayer meetings are coming back into popularity again and yes, prayer groups among the faithful on the "Internet" do count! One month in 1994, the Prayer Connection bulletin board on Prodigy was the most widely used bulletin board on-line.

All Christians struggling to keep their faith fresh and vital develop favorite ways, personal mantras, that aid and sustain them in that task. They might employ techniques as ancient and honorable as fasting, or they might involve something as trendy as "Christian aerobics." Ask your congregation to share among themselves this morning their personal "mantras" for maintaining spiritual freshness.

Go down now into your congregation and ask those present how they keep spiritually fresh in their own walks with God.