Pastor Linda Friesen
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost




Philippians 4:4-9:
⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  ⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Psalm 130: 
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
²LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to the voice of my supplications!
³If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
LORD, who could stand?
⁴But there is forgiveness with you,
so that you may be revered.
⁵I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
⁶my soul waits for the LORD
more than those who watch for the morning,
more than those who watch for the morning.
⁷O Israel, hope in the LORD!
For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
and with him is great power to redeem.
⁸It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities.

John 17:
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said (he prayed), "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, ²since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. ⁵So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.

⁶I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; ⁸for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. ⁹I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. ¹²While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. ¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁵I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. ¹⁷Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.

²⁰I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these (all these) know that you have sent me. ²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."  (AMEN)

SERMON:
Today we begin a two-week sermon series on PRAYER so let’s start today with a simple definition from one of my favorite resources, Crazy Talk by Rolf Jacobson:
Prayer:  A form of talking that is often forced on children before bed, under the assumption that they ought to be introduced to God before they have a really serious need.  Simply put, prayer is talking with God.  Think about the relationships in your life with your spouse, your kids, your parents, your mail carrier, your friends, your plants, etc.  Whether it’s in person, via email, or via text messaging, communication is crucial to all relationships.  That’s true with God, too.  You can talk to God about things as small as the meal in front of you and about things as big as your mother’s cancer…
Jacobson ends with:
Still need a little help?  You’ve probably figured it out by now, but there is no one right way to pray…
He concludes:
Here is a good way to end:  Amen.

Why a sermon series on prayer?  Seems pretty easy according to this definition, talking with God, a pretty basic Christian discipline, a tool of the trade one might say.  Well, it might SEEM pretty basic, but honestly, I don’t fully understand prayer.  I know that I am supposed to believe that it works and most of the time I see evidence that it does.  I know that I am supposed to do it.  And I do, probably not often enough.  Sometimes I find myself using prayer as a last resort if I can’t handle the situation on my own.  I pray, but that doesn’t mean I understand it.  I don’t understand, for instance, how it works, not completely.  I’m not always sure what I am supposed to do or say either.  And I definitely can’t quite figure out the part about answered prayer.  In fact, if I am being truthful, I sometimes wonder if God is really listening when I pray; I’m looking for that burning bush or listening for a voice from heaven calling my name and I haven’t quite experienced either of these.  And, if this is true confessions, I know my prayer life is not all that it should… or better put, could be.  Maybe you’ve felt this way, too.  Maybe there’s a lot about prayer that you don’t understand, but you (like me) still do it.  And guess what, maybe that’s OK.  Maybe prayer is too big to simply understand, too important for us to be able to define simply or once and for all.  Maybe, at its heart, prayer is a mystery, and maybe that’s OK.

But mystery, not simply defined as an unknown, like a puzzle.  Puzzles, and many other kinds of unknown, beg to be solved, to be figured out.  Maybe prayer as mystery is bigger than that.  David Lose, a respected theologian, has an interesting take on mystery and prayer.  He considers that, it is not that mystery is completely unknown, but that it is ultimately… let’s use the word - elusive.  You can know some things about mystery, but you can’t finally nail it down.  In fact, “knowing” does not seem like quite the right word when talking about mystery because, in essence, mystery defies knowing.  But consider this, mystery also and simultaneously invites experiencing.  Lose uses this explanation:  Think of the most important people in your life, those relationships that you hold most near; a child or sibling, partner or spouse, best friend or close colleague.   You know some things, perhaps even a lot of things, about this person.  Yet, who that person really is remains something of a mystery, even of a child, even of your own child, there is still more to know, more to discover, more to uncover.  But consider this,beyond what you know and what you don’t know there is still an actual person right there, a person that you can experience, a person that you can love and be loved by.  You simply don’t need to know everything about the person to experience him or her.  In fact, when you think about it, you realize that this not-knowing-but-still-experiencing is part of the delight of mystery.  You see, there is always more to experience, more to learn, more to be surprised by.  And maybe, just maybe, prayer is like this type of mystery, this knowing-but-not-knowing.  Perhaps prayer is more about the experience than the knowing.  Which is why today we begin a two-week sermon series on prayer along with a take home challenge for you to consider during the week; not with hopes that we will get it all figured out, but rather that together we can learn how to experience prayer more fully.  (I invite you into conversation on our sermon blog, The Talking Pew, where each week I will post about prayer.  I will also post a bibliography of some of my favorite resources on prayer each week.  Simply click on the Talking Pew link on our home page.)

Prayer:  a huge topic of which many books have been written.  Today we turn our attention to the 17th chapter of John.  It is a chapter entitled: The High Priestly Prayer.  Some people have called it the OTHER Lord’s Prayer.  We are familiar with the Lord’s Prayer where Jesus teaches his followers how to pray, but in this prayer we actually see and hear Jesus pray. 

So what is Jesus’ prayer like?  First, some context for the reading.  It is printed for you in entirety on the half page insert.  This prayer takes place on Thursday night, the evening before Jesus’ betrayal and crucifixion.  In this gospel story, Jesus has spent the three previous chapters teaching.  He knows that he will soon be leaving his disciples to fulfill his mission.  He wants them to be prepared.  He is preparing them for life and ministry without him, speaking to them about their role and future in all of this… and then… then, in Chapter 17 Jesus turns to his Father in heaven and lifts his voice and prays for them.  This prayer was not a private prayer; it was intended to be heard by others, most probably those same followers.  Most scholars agree that the prayer is divided into three major sections; the first section (v1-5) concerns Jesus and his Father, the second section (v6-19) focuses more upon the disciples who walked with Jesus, and the topic of the final section (v20-26) is all subsequent disciples, followers of Jesus after his death and resurrection and that, my friends, includes us.  Did you hear what I just said?  Jesus was praying for us way back during his earthly life, on the night before his death on that cross (point)- that’s why he went there, died on a cross for us and he continues to intercede, to pray for us today. Listen as I read parts of Jesus prayer from John’s gospel the 17th chapter/ or read with me the highlighted sections:  (insert text)

We hear that Jesus prayed for his disciples and then we hear that Jesus prayed for us… and he still is praying for us.  Today, listening in on this prayer, we are reminded of Jesus’ constant care and concern and compassion for his followers both then and now and of God’s love for this world, this world where the beloved Son was sent, where he walked and talked, where he preached and where he prayed.

So, back to the text, what does Jesus pray for?  He prays for his followers to hang in there and for them to hang in there together.  He asks that God would strengthen them, care for them, protect them, and keep them together.  Jesus asks that they would be one, one fellowship, one family.  Jesus is incredibly realistic in this prayer.  He knows that it will be hard for his companions; it has been hard for him.  He knows the dominant spirit of the world, one of scarcity and competition and fear versus Jesus’ vision and mission of self giving love and courage, of abundant life, where we not only have enough but are told that we are enough- that God loves us just the way we are.  Jesus prays not for an escape from, but rather for perseverance in.  He prays this for his immediate followers and for those of us who follow even today, this gathered community.

Maybe that’s a good place for us to start in prayer, to experience prayer; that is, to be realistic, to be honest, to share what is hard in our lives, to ask for help, to ask God to hold on to us, to help us not just survive but to flourish… and to do it together.  To be in relationship with each other, supporting each other, celebrating with each other, bearing each other’s burdens and hopes, disappointments and dreams; we all have them.

In this prayer Jesus prays for us today and, after he leaves, through the sending of the Advocate, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, Jesus continues to pray for us.  The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans reminds us:  for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the very Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words; and that Christ Jesus indeed intercedes for us. 

Our prayer is ultimately letting go of control and certainty, our certainty, and asking for help.  In this way, every prayer is an expression of hope, hope and trust in the one who answers our prayers.  When we pray with hope we do not get tangled up with concerns of how our prayers will be answered, our prayers are not directed toward the gift (the outcome) but rather toward the one who gives.  When we pray with hope, we turn ourselves away from the world and our own self-centeredness and we turn toward God, the giver of life, abundant life.  Whenever we pray with hope, we put our lives in the hands of God.  Fear and anxiety fade away, and everything we are given and everything we are deprived of is nothing but a finger pointing out the direction of God’s will for the whole world. 

What might you want Jesus, the Savior of the world, to pray for you?  What do you want Jesus to know?  What sits on your heart?
•    Is it patience to be a better parent or friend? 
•    Is it encouragement amid a difficult chapter in your life? 
•    Is it courage to stand up to a bully or befriend a friendless kid in the neighborhood? 
•    Is it joy in the face of the loss of a parent or the end of a relationship? 
•    Is it hope when we feel like we’ve got no options left? 
•    Is it companionship at a time of loneliness? 
•    Is it healing of body, mind or spirit? 
•    Is it forgiveness…  for ourselves, or the ability to forgive another? 
•    What?  What do you want--- what do we want—Jesus to know about and pray for?

At the end the scripture reading that I printed for you, there is an image of hands reaching up into the light.  Here is where you get to participate today.  Jane is going to play a longer introduction to our Hymn of the Day, Beautiful Savior, during which time I am going to ask you to write one word that captures what you want Jesus to pray for, just one word, no explanation just a word.  You know what it means and so does Jesus.  Then take this sheet with you all week, fold it up and carry it with you in a pocket or purse or put it someplace where you will be reminded of this word and Jesus praying on your behalf.  During our prayers of the people, Dawn will leave some space for you to voice these words aloud, or whisper them in your heart.  Consider sharing your WORD on the Talking Pew.  I will be sharing mine so that you can pray with me.

Next Sunday our prayer journey continues…