A Life of Prayer
Special Sermon Series: PRAY: Dwell Intentionally with God Each Day
Readings: 1 Sam 3:1-10 Psalm 25:1-9 2 Cor 12:7-10 Luke 11:1-13
“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. . .”
umit-bulut-143016.jpg
hand
Albrecht_Dürer_-_Praying_Hands,_1508_-_Google_Art_Projec BWt
man prayingl-769319-unsplash
It is very easy for us to think that there was no “real” prayer until Jesus of Nazareth came onto the historical scene. Yet the truth is that Jesus of Nazareth was simply living out of his own Jewish tradition in his discipline of prayer. Even today, observant Jews pray three times a day during the week, four times a day on Shabbat, and on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement that just recently occurred, five times.So the practice of prayer was not alien to Jesus. It was as natural to him as breathing. We seldom get to eavesdrop on Jesus AS he prays. Clearly, Jesus knows that his cousin John the Baptist has taught HIS disciples how to pray, and it is likely he has some sense of what the Baptist taught. In fact, some scholars believe that earlier in his life, Jesus may have been a disciple of John’s before he was baptized and began his own ministry.
hans-urs-von-balthasar-251x300
So Jesus knows John’s teachings.We are told, in various accounts in the gospels, that Jesus goes off alone on mountains to pray. In other words, a lot of his prayer is done in quiet and solitude. Yet sometimes even that didn’t work, because his disciples call him away from his prayer time on more than one occasion, for him to teach or heal.The only significant time we eavesdrop on Jesus’ prayers is the night before he dies—in the Garden of Gethsemene.There, under a full moon that casts dark shadows among ancient olive trees, Jesus begs God to “take this cup from me.” At the same time, Jesus prays, “Not my will, but yours be done.” The next day, we hear him cry out from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At the point of death, we hear an agonizing cry: WHY? No answer. Then Jesus gives up his life, and dies. The answer does not come until three days later, at the moment of resurrection.What we often fail to notice is that in Jesus’ prayers, is that prayer is not a business transaction. Jesus doesn’t pray, “Give me this, or give me that.” He doesn’t say, “I’ll do this, God, if you do that.” More than requests or pleas, my sense of prayer from the rabbi from Nazareth is that prayer was more about relationship than transactions. Jesus knows that in order to learn how to pray, you have to practice prayer. That means you draw apart from the craziness and division of the world to spend a little time with God.Now we just sang an old gospel hymn entitled “Have a Little Talk with Jesus.” It’s catchy. You may remember the Oak Ridge Boys singing it with fabulous harmony:“I once was lost in sin but Jesus took me inAnd then a little light from heaven filled my soul.It filled my soul with love and wrote my name aboveAnd just a little talk with Jesus made me whole. Now let us have a little talk with JesusLet us tell him all about our troubles.He will hear our faintest cryAnd he will answer by and by. Now when you feel a little prayer wheel turningAnd you know a little fire is burningYou will find a little talk with JesusMakes it right.” (Want to hear this? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fbuQvoKH9U ) Now we do not really have time this morning to address the theology of this gospel hymn. Clearly it is meant to give people hope and comfort. However, the idea that some people are “lost” and some people are “saved” is problematic in itself—at least it is for this preacher (who grew up with this kind of theology in the Baptist Church.)Instead, I would like to point you to Hans Urs von Balthasar, who was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who died in 1988. Considered to be one of the most important Roman Catholic theologians of the 20th century, von Balthasar said this: “There will never be beings unloved by God, since God is absolute love.” Perhaps being “saved” happens when a human being realizes the need to enter an unconditional, complete universe of love, turns from the broken constructs of our humanity, including the limited human perception of love, repents of that small perspective, and chooses to follow God’s way of unconditional, self-emptying love. This kind of salvation can make us whole, but I am not sure it happens with “just a little talk with Jesus.” Furthermore, that kind of salvation can easily take a whole lifetime. Yet I think salvation also only only happens in the context of relationship, which I believe is really what prayer is.For example, if I want to have a relationship with you, and you want to have a relationship with me, what has to happen? Well, I don’t stand way across a room and yell at you, do I? I don’t tell someone else to go and tell you I want a relationship with you—well, not unless I’m in the third grade. I don’t hide from you. No. First, I come close to you. I commit to spending some time with you. I need to get to know you, to see if you and I have enough in common to have a deeper relationship. If I find that we do, then we spend even more time together. Easy example: dating, getting engaged, getting married. Deciding that this person is the one I want to spend my life with. That doesn’t happen when you merely talk about dating or engagement or marriage. It happens when you experience relationship, friendship, love, commitment.Such is the life of prayer. You can’t just talk about prayer, or its merits. You can’t just get into the mindset of asking God for stuff and then being mad when you don’t get your wish granted. God is not a cosmic vending machine.Please note that I do not make light of this. Someone we love is very ill and we beg God for healing mercy. We are in chronic pain, and beg God to take that pain away. Our child lies in a hospital bed and the scary word leukemia is uttered softly as a possibility. If you are a parent, you start bargaining with God immediately. Or if we are really brave, we challenge God: “Don’t you dare let this child die.”Or if you are African American, or any mother or father of color, and your son goes out for the evening. I am going to bet your prayer life is strong that night as you intercede for that son’s safety. Please God, don’t let him get stopped by the police. Please God, don’t let him mouth off like the belligerent normal teenager he is.Please God, don’t let that phone ring. Please God. Please. Or if you are a woman who gets beaten or raped or sexually assaulted in any way. Where is God in the midst of such abuse? Your prayers may seem to fall on divine deaf ears.I do not have answers about all these things. Like you, I am human, and my own understanding is limited. Why do people abuse each other and force their victims to cry out, to pray for help, to get no help or to have their pain ignored or dismissed? Why does the racism in our country and in the world become an ongoing unanswered prayer? Why do human beings get sick, and why do some die from diseases that take them too soon?I wish I had answers for those questions. I do not. All I know is that God is. God is. God is love. Abuse and racism has never been God’s idea. God is always in the midst of us in challenging times. God means for us to be the hands, feet, face, arms of God to each other, And I believe that God intends for you and me to participate in bringing God’s realm to earth just as it is in heaven.I do not think we are supposed to wait until we die, and maybe heaven really is not “up there” (wherever “up there” means.) Maybe heaven is already here, with eternity inside us, and God waits for us to realize that, to make God’s love come to reality in the fullness with which God knows it already.Back to actual prayer. You may say, I want to pray, but I don’t know how, or I am scared that I won’t do it “right.” Well, think about this. You may want to have a friendship with someone, whether that is a business relationship or a personal relationship. You may not know exactly how to go about connecting. But you make an attempt. And assuming that the relationship you desire is a healthy one that honors people’s boundaries, you initiate a conversation. The same is true for prayer.Now today, I want to give you some practical guidelines. First, a disclaimer. I did not come up with this idea. I read about it years ago in a church magazine. But I love the idea. It’s called the “Five-Finger Prayer.” You can use it yourself. You can use it to teach your children or grandchildren how to pray. Here is how this goes.
Hold your hand up and look at your thumb. Your thumb is closest to you. So pray for those who are closest to your heart—your family, your dearest friends.
Touch your index finger. Your “pointer” finger. Now pray for people who point you in the right direction: teachers, doctors, nurses, therapists or counselors, coaches. Maybe even clergy or spiritual directors. People who teach, guide, heal, direct.
Now touch your tallest finger, your middle finger. Pray for those who lead. Pray for leaders in this nation, leaders in this state, leaders in your local community, leaders in the Church, the lay and clergy leaders in this parish. We all need God’s guidance, God’s wisdom, God’s direction. Sometimes we need God’s strength and stamina—especially right now. Pray for that.
Touch your ring finger. If you ask any piano teacher, he or she will say that this is physically your weakest finger. So here, pray for those who are weak: those who are sick, abused, troubled in any way, in pain, or dying.
Touch your smallest finger, your pinky. Here is where you put yourself. Not one of us is to be the greatest. We are to be servants of all. The least, not the most elevated. So here, we are to put ourselves in perspective, but we also need prayer. So touch your little finger and pray for the one you see in the mirror every morning.[1] As you use this “Five-Finger Prayer,” remember that we are not just about asking God for stuff. We pray so that we might get closer to God. By getting closer to God, we might just get a glimpse of what God wants for us and our lives, not just what we think we need or want.
help thanks wow
Lastly, this. In 2012, the writer Anne Lamott wrote a best-selling book entitled Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. If you want a simple guide to how to pray, get this book. It’s edgy, funny, direct, and true. Lamotte says there really are only three kinds of prayer. 1. You ask God for help. 2. You say thanks to God. 3. You say “Wow.” You look at stunning sunrises or mountains or sunsets, beautiful flowers or birds, or watch as your baby takes his first breath. What else is there to say but one word? Wow.So if you want to have a little talk with Someone greater than yourself, or you want to connect with some divine energy and light, just take a step and begin what may seem like a stumbling walk into prayer. Use your fingers. Ask God for help. Say thank you to God and cultivate what Oprah has called “an attitude of gratitude.” Look around you and be amazed at the beauty and wonder of someone or something. Say “Wow.”Try it. Before you know it, you’ll be in a real relationship with God. Suddenly, you’ll find yourself talking to God—and more importantly, listening to God—in some unexpected times and places. See? You’re praying. Now wasn’t that easy? Amen.[1] Kathy Stefferman, “Five-Finger Prayer,” in The Living Church, Vol. 221, No. 13, (Milwaukee: The Living Church Foundation, Inc., Sept. 24, 2000), 8.© The Rev. Dr. Sheila N. McJilton[1]Kathy Stefferman, “Five-Finger Prayer,” in The Living Church, Vol. 221, No. 13, (Milwaukee: The Living Church Foundation, Inc., Sept. 24, 2000), 8.