Prayer - Part 2

¹⁶Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰Do not despise the words of prophets, ²¹but test everything; hold fast to what is good; ²²abstain from every form of evil. ²³May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this. ²⁵Beloved, pray for us. ²⁶Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss. ²⁷I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all of them. ²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

Psalm 46- read responsively:

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;

³though its waters roar and foam,

though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Selah

⁴There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,

the holy habitation of the Most High.

⁵God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;

God will help it when the morning dawns.

⁶The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

⁷The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

⁸Come, behold the works of the LORD;

see what desolations he has brought on the earth.

⁹He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;

he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;

he burns the shields with fire.

¹⁰"Be still, and know that I am God!

I am exalted among the nations,

I am exalted in the earth."

¹¹The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

Luke 11.1-13:

He/Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." ²He/Jesus said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."

⁵And he/Jesus said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.' ⁷And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.' ⁸I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

⁹So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? ¹³If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"

SERMON:

(From the delightfully funny movie: Evan Almighty on PRAYER.

MOVIE CLIP: 7:05-08:20

Well, that’s one way to pray… or perhaps not!)

Week 2 on Prayer: Last week we listened as Jesus prayed for his followers and we listened as he prayed for us. You left with a challenge to keep a prayer WORD in front of you all week with the knowledge that Jesus was praying, interceding for you on your behalf. So, what happened? Did your prayer “work”? Did you see your prayer WORD in action? Did your prayer change you?

We also considered that prayer is a form of mystery, not to be figured out completely but rather an experience of knowing the unknown. We considered prayer as an exercise of hope and trust. Hope and trust not that we will get what we want but rather hope and trust directed toward the one to whom we lift our prayers. When we pray with hope, we turn ourselves away from the world and our own self-centeredness and we turn toward God, trusting the giver of life, abundant life. I shared words from Henri Nouwen:

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.

Of course this is one of the problems that I encounter with prayer. When I pray without ceasing (as Paul suggests in our reading from Thessalonians today), focusing on one prayer or one prayer word as we did this last week, sometimes things happen that surprise me, sometimes things happen that I do not expect or even want, sometimes things are taken away and sometimes things are given, and sometimes… sometimes prayer changes and challenges me.

Prayer Part 2: Let’s begin/continue with a movie clip from a light-hearted movie Evan Almighty about prayer. Evan, newly elected congressman, has been asked by God to build an ark and Evan’s wife (Joan- yes, Joan of Ark) is uncertain. Her prayer is that their family might be closer. Here we see God, portrayed by Morgan Freeman, who (in turn) is playing the part of a fastfood waiter (note his name on his nametag- Al Mighty); Al is speaking to Evan’s wife about prayer:

MOVIE CLIP: 1:00.20- 1:02:10

Prayer as opportunity- opportunity to participate in God’s kingdom living on earth as it is in heaven.

In today’s gospel text from the writer Luke, we hear a follower of Jesus asking him about the how-to’s of prayer. The writer Luke depicts Jesus teaching them about prayer and then reminding them of God’s reliability when they reach out to God in prayer. Let’s listen in from Luke 11:

TEXT:

Luke 11.1-13:

Prayer- complicated, yet simple. Ask, says Jesus, just ask.

Who taught you to pray? When I look back into my childhood, I remember praying in church (watching my parents as they turned their eyes downward and grabbed hold of each other’s hand); I remember my grandmother praying (sitting with her Bible and prayer notebook in the early morning on the cabin couch); I remember praying before meals. Both my parents and grandparents taught me to pray, more through example than specific words. From them I learned that God was good, even when the world was not. From them I learned that turning to God in good times and not so good times was something that we just did.

In seminary I learned more about prayer, how to pray, and four reasons to pray- the A/C/T/S or ACTS of prayer: to praise God (ADORATION), to ask for forgiveness (CONFESSION), to thank God (THANKSGIVING), and to ask God for what I needed… or even simply wanted (SUPPLICATION). Of course, it was always a good thing to add on “not my will but your will be done”… even if we really wanted our way, which most often we did.

Today we look to Jesus as our teacher for a few suggestions. Today’s text takes us back to the beginning of prayer with and in Jesus. The Lord’s Prayer is one that many of us utter by memory without grasping the impact and of those words for us or for the world. It is a prayer that we use corporately in worship and also a prayer that many use as part of their personal prayer life. It is a beautifully, simple prayer that is deeply human, reminding us of our creature-liness and our need for a God beyond ourselves.

Before turning to this prayer and instruction by Jesus, it is important to remember that prayer was an integral part of Jesus’ life. Luke’s gospel story of the life of Jesus points out that Jesus would withdraw to deserted places to pray and at other times he went out to the mountain to pray, in another instance Luke tells us that Jesus spent an entire night in prayer to God. Jesus prayed before he chose his followers and then when he fed the 5000, he lifted his voice to God. Jesus prayed the night before he died and then, from the cross, before taking his last gasp of air, Jesus prayed once more, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”, surrendering in trust. Prayer was part of Jesus’ life even unto death.

Knowing this, let’s take a look at this prayer that Jesus taught to see if we can glean any ideas about who Jesus was, who God is, and our part in prayer.

First, Jesus gives us words to address God, the holy of holy, as Father, or in Hebrew, Abba. Abba was used by a child when calling for their father’s attention; it was also an adult’s name for an elderly person who has earned reverence and respect. In both cases, this name given by Jesus suggests nearness, understanding, approachability, trust, respect and love. We are to approach this divine other as Abba, Father, one that we can relate to on an intimate basis. In a world where existence was so fragile- a condition that has not changed but increased over time- Jesus’ prayer immediately reminds us that there is one who has power over all and, at the same time, is so very near to us.
The two phrases that follow call on God to be God: Hallowed be your name and Your kingdom come. They implore God to truly take charge of life, even our lives. To bring justice and peace to our world, something only God can bring about. Hallowing God’s name fills us with awe and adoration as we open our hearts and souls to the God whose selfless, sacrificial love surrounds us like the air we breathe. Praying your kingdom come promotes God’s intention for the world, God’s intention. This petition, although asked of God, is aimed straight at our hearts, for God’s kingdom comes to fulfillment when each one of us engages the world and brings peace, love and justice. We know that God uses the contribution, collaboration and cooperation of his creatures to fulfill this petition and so as we ask God to be God, we do so knowing that we have an opportunity and responsibility to participate in God’s kingdom coming today on earth as it is in heaven.
After this briefest of salutation, the prayer quickly moves to the human condition. Consider how direct, how almost rude it seems: Give us- Forgive us- Lead us- Deliver us. There is no please, no softening interjections. It seems almost brazen except… except that the entire assumption of this prayer is that it is uttered out of a condition of real necessity for we are the ones who are dependent (give us) and guilty (forgive us), lost and vulnerable (lead and deliver us). Of course this all requires that we realize as we pray that we are in need: in need of a savior, in need of a God who is almighty and all-powerful, a God who loves us enough to send his only Son into the world. We find in these simple petitions that the purpose of prayer is to find our true selves and to open ourselves to this God of love.

Jesus ends this prayer session with a parable and some advice urging persistence: to continue to ask and seek and knock and that God will give, not necessarily whatever we desire, but rather God will give what is necessary and beneficial for God’s kingdom to come.

Prayer is, above all, acceptance; acceptance that God is God and we are not. It is giving up our control and opening our hands to the world. Prayer creates an openness in which God gives his very self to us so that we can be loved more fully by him, healed and restored, so that we can participate in kingdom living today, on earth as it is in heaven- a true opportunity.

Prayer, today I end with a reflection on today’s psalm, Psalm 46 (one of my favorites), focusing on God’s word to us to be still and know that I am God; and then a personal story of prayer and asking for what we want and need.

Be still and know that I am God: did you know that the Latin imperative for “be still” is vacate? Stop and think about this for a moment, God invites us to take a holiday, a vacation, to stop being God for a while and let God be God. Too often I think of prayer as a serious chore, part of my job, something that must be scheduled around other appointments, squeezed in among other pressing activities. If this is our notion of prayer, my friends, we miss the point. God is inviting us to take a break. We can stop doing all those important things we must do in our capacity as God, and leave the God-doing up to God! Prayer allows us to admit our failures, weaknesses and limitations to the one who responds to the human condition with infinite mercy and grace.

To let God be God means climbing down from our own executive chair of control, un-creating the world that we have so carefully fashioned, and letting God be God. Of course our own EGO is at stake, but then I remember what EGO stands for: EDGING GOD OUT. Prayer has become a realignment of sorts, shifting my point of view away from myself and toward God, Abba, so that God’s kingdom may come through even me.

When it comes to prayer we are all beginners. We can be thankful for those people who have taught us to pray. In the last weeks of his life, my father taught me many things. He knew that his life was quickly slipping from him. He took care of business and requested time for peace. I’m not sure what he meant by that, except that he surrendered and put his trust in what was to come. During a pastoral visit, Steve prayed for my Dad. I don’t remember his exact words, but I do remember my dad’s response. Following the AMEN, my dad simply lifted his head and said, “Could you pray that I die soon, I’m ready.” Steve looked at me, my eyes instantly filling with tears and then to my dad… and then he prayed that the end of this life come quickly. It did… and finally, peacefully.

In the process of pondering these two weeks of sermons and re-evaluating my own prayer life, I have come to see prayer as a privilege, not a duty. Yes, it requires some discipline on my part. I have found that prayer includes moments of ecstasy and also dullness, mindless distraction and acute concentration, flashes of joy and bouts of irritation. Prayer can be filled with tears of joy and tears of sorrow, and sometimes both at the same time.

Prayer- three simple words- just do it! Amen.