Teach Us To Pray

Summary In Genesis 28, Jacob, the "fleeing deceiver," sees a vision of a ladder (or stairway) linking heaven and earth. The surprise of this story, which leads to prayer, is not about the dream itself, but in the Who, the When, and the Where. Episode 66 | Stairway to Heaven (Pt 1) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us. Resources Wendell Berry, "How to Be a Poet" Led Zeppelin, "Stairway to Heaven" Listen to "What If I'm not good at prayer?" episode on The Faith & Work Podcast to hear the story of Teach Us To Pray

Summary Luke 2 is the wondrous story of the shepherds hearing of Jesus' birth from the chorus of angels. As we trust in this story we are formed by it; we are "made better," which is what Handel hoped would happen for those who listen to his oratorio, Messiah. Episode 64 | The Light Has Come: Angels, Linus, and Why I Believe Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us. Resources Charlie Brown Christmas Special Handel's Messiah: Movement 16 and Movement 17

Summary Movement 9 of Handel's Messiah combines two texts from Isaiah, one which proclaims that the exile is about to be over, and one that celebrates that the exile is over. This combination of passages is a beautiful juxtaposition that orients us in betweenness, which is what Advent is all about. Episode 63 | The Light Has Come: The Darkened Between Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us. Resources Messiah, Part I, No 9 from the London Symphony Orchestra "Everything That Rises Must Converge" by Flannery O'Connor

Summary In this episode, I explore Isaiah 9:2 and Handel's interpretation of that text in Movement 11 of Messiah. Advent is all about light, which means it is also all about darkness. This dialectic is beautifully explored by Handel in the way he juxtaposes major and minor chords. God's light is how we pray in the darkness. Episode 62 | The Light Has Come: Seeing the Light Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us. Resources Handel, Messiah, Movement 11 by the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Summary Psalm 127 is a wonderful and beautiful prayer about work. All of us long for our work to somehow remain, or endure, and praying this psalm is a way of praying about God's glory, which can act like the mortar for whatever it is we are building through our work. Episode 61 | Soli Deo Gloria: God's Glory and Our Work Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  Resources "Holiday Road" by Lindsay Buckingham "Glory Days" by Bruce Springsteen "How Brightly Shines the Morning Star" by Johann Sebastian Bach, Bach Choir of Pittsburgh William Clark's inscription at Pompey's Pillar

Summary Psalm 19 brings together God's work as creator and God's work as lawgiver in a beautiful hymn of praise that not only conveys the unity of God's creative work but also invites our praise. Episode 60 |  Psalm 19: The Starry Host Above and the Moral Law Within Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  Resources The Hallelujah Chorus by Handel

Summary Jesus' parable of the Lost Sheep is the first of three parables in Luke 15 about lostness. This parable is abound being found by God, and also about leaving the ninety-nine and going after the one, a journey that may be costly but that also leads to joy and freedom. Episode 59 |  The Ninety-Nine and the One: Following the Good Shepherd Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  Resources Broken Vessels by Hillsong Worship You Found me by the Fray Leaving 99 by Audio Adrenaline

Summary Jesus' parable of the "Rich Fool" in Luke 12 is about money, and about a lot more than money. It's about what we put our store in–where we place our hope. In prayer, we can pay attention to the conversation we are having with ourselves about the barns that we are building. In prayer, this conversation can be scripted by God rather than by the culture in which we live. Episode 58 | God Loves Work: Barns and Self-Talk Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  Resources Download the FREE God Loves Work Devotional Vol. 2 focusing on Work & The Parables of Jesus. Listen to "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley.

Summary Jesus' story about the Samaritan who showed mercy to the wounded man on the road is not simply about being a good human. It's actually about who God is. It's about the eternal story of God, and how we can live this story out in our lives, through prayer. Episode 57: God Loves Work: The Good Merciful Samaritan Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  Resources Download the FREE God Loves Work Devotional Vol. 2 focusing on Work & The Parables of Jesus. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Theme Song

This is the first of four episodes guided by four parables of Jesus. It is meant to be used alongside a devotional called God Loves Work: Work and the Parables of Jesus. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a simple and convicting story that will shape our lives drastically if we do not just read it, but pray it. Episode 56: God Loves Work: The Pharisee and the Tax Collector Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Wherever you're listening—Spotify, Apple, or YouTube—subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show helps others discover what we're doing here. It's a small way to support the mission—and it means a lot to us.  RESOURCES Celebrate Labor Day with us by downloading the FREE God Loves Work Devotional Vol. 2 focusing on Work & The Parables of Jesus. Jesus Prayer Chant by Sound of Prayers (*note, this is a 10 hour recording in case you ever want to to try praying for a whole day!)

Psalm 139 is one of the most powerful prayers in the Bible. It's also daunting, because David prays about how God knows every thought and is present everywhere, always. In prayer, we can wrestle with this knowledge, and come to trust the God who knows us fully and loves us fully. Episode 55:  Fully Known and Fully Loved: Praying to the God Who Knows Everything Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify.   RESOURCES "Beautiful Anyway" by Judah and the Lion

Summary Teach Us to Pray is on Summer Break! Meet our podcast producer, Naomi Hartman, and stay tuned for new episodes starting August 18.  Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. Resources In the interim, listen to The Faith & Work Podcast also hosted by Denver Institute.

SUMMARY Psalm 34:8 is a very surprising line from David: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." What does it mean to taste God's goodness? Praying this prayer can help us perceive God within our embodied lives, in community, and, in particular, in the course of risky action. Episode 53: Taste and See That the Lord is Good: Bodies, Community, and Risk Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. RESOURCES "Psalm 34" by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Psalm 27 orients us to God's presence, and calls us to practice that presence in every moment of our lives. This is what "Coram Deo" means, "before the face of God." What if we lived every moment with the awareness that we are in God's presence? Episode 52: Before the Face of God: Practicing God's Presence Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. RESOURCES "The Lord of the Rings; The Riders of Rohan" - Eliott Tordo feat. Victor Macabies "The Death of Theoden," Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers "What is Prayer and How to Begin" - Conversation with Roberta Bondi, interview by Krista Tippet

SUMMARY The seven last words of Christ on the cross end with a prayer of trust and surrender: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." This dying prayer of Jesus can be a prayer we live and work by. Episode 51: Trusting the Father (Last Words of Christ Pt. 7) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. RESOURCES "I Surrender Now" by Mumford and Sons Pie Jesus, Recorded at Fremont Presbyterian Church; Cheryl Eshoff and Kalen Skinner, soloists

Jesus' sixth word from the Cross, "It is finished," is a whispered victory cry. The momentum of God's eternal love overtakes the momentum of sin and evil in the world, in in our lives. We may not fully be able to understand this cry, but we can receive it, in prayer. Episode 50: It is Finished (Last Words of Christ Pt. 6) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. RESOURCES Judah and the Lion, "Beautiful Anyway" Schola Cantorum of Saint Peter's in the Loop, Chicago: "This is the Feast"

In the fifth word from the cross, Jesus says simply, "I thirst." This is an expression of Jesus' humanity. Because of the Incarnation, which was the intersection of eternity with history, we can be those who experience what is eternal within ordinary, earthly moments. Episode 49:  I Thirst: The Humanity of Christ and Finding Eternity in Time (Last Words of Christ Pt. 5) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. RESOURCES A Collection of Prayers for Our Daily Work "Sleeping at Last" by Saturn "The Dry Salvages" by TS Eliot

Christ's lament from the cross, "My God, my God, why have your forsaken me?" is the fourth and most important of the seven last words. By praying this prayer, Jesus transforms our own experiences of godforsakenness, enabling our words of lament to become seedbeds for hope.   RESOURCES "Not Alone" by Patty Griffin

"Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother." With these words, as he was dying on the cross, directed to Mary and to the disciple John, Jesus founded the church. By praying these words our vision is transformed, enabling us to see anyone and everyone as a beloved child of God, and so continue to build Christ's church. John 19:23-27 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. Episode 47:  The Church at the Foot of the Cross (Last Words of Christ Pt. 3) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement and Theologian in Residence, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify. Resources Ra-Ra Folklore d'Haiti "I Arise Today," by Emmaus Music

As Jesus is dying on the cross, a conversation occurs between the two convicts who were crucified on either side of him. One of these men then says to Jesus, "Remember me, when you come into your kingdom." Then Jesus says, "Today you will be with me in Paradise." By allowing this conversation to shape our conversation with God in prayer, our lives and work can become cruciform, taking the form of Christ crucified. Luke 23:38-43 There was also an inscription over him,[a] "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him,[b] saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise." Episode 46: Jesus, Remember Me (Last Words of Christ Pt. 2) Hosted by Jeff Hoffmeyer, Denver Institute's Vice President of Advancement, this podcast seeks to focus on the practice of prayer through scripture as a primary way to know, trust, and rest in God in our daily work and life. I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to me at jeff.hoffmeyer@denverinstitute.org with your feedback. Do you like Teach Us To Pray? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! Now available on iTunes and Spotify   RESOURCES Taize "Jesus Remember Me" Gandalf and Pippin in The Lord of the Rings Rembrandt's "Christ Crucified between the Two Thieves" c. 1653