Pentecost 10C
July 28, 2013
Genesis 18:20-32
Luke 11:1-13
Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Those
of you who were here last week know that the gospel lesson was the story about
Mary and Martha, about Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus to listen, and Martha
bustling around being worried and distracted. We talked about how much easier
it sometimes is to keep busy, to be like Martha, rather than take the time to
really sit still and try to hear what God is saying to us, like Mary. We talked
about how difficult it sometimes is to hear what God has to say, because it is
often not what we wanted to hear, and sometime requires a change in us that we
are not prepared for. But in the midst of all that, taking that time to pray,
as difficult as it may be, is always an encounter with grace.
One
thing I regretted about last week’s sermon was that we didn’t get a chance to
talk more about prayer, about how we should come before God, how to listen for
God’s voice, how to talk to God. How convenient it is, then, that this week’s
scripture readings are about prayer! So we have a chance to talk about that,
after all.
It
doesn’t seem like we should have to learn how to pray, does it? It is such a
central part of faith and relationship with God, it just seems like we should
be naturally good at it. And because we think we should be naturally good at it, it is hard to readily admit
that we aren’t.
But
it turns out, people have wanted to know more about how to pray for a long
time! That’s how today’s Gospel lesson starts out: with Jesus’ disciples asking
him how to pray. They should know – they lived and walked with God incarnate.
And yet even they had questions about it.
The
answer that Jesus gives them is a powerful one for our own questions about
prayer, too. Many, many sermons could be preached on the Lord’s Prayer alone,
let alone the other parts of this passage, but for today, let’s glean just a
few points. First of all, when it comes right down to it, the Lord’s Prayer is
pretty simple. It asks for some very basic things. It asks that we would
remember God’s holiness. It is a prayer for sustenance (daily bread), for
relationships (forgiveness), and for safety (lead us not into trial). Maybe we
don’t always think to pray for these basic things, or maybe we do, but the
point is that even these most basic needs are worth talking to God about. I
think sometimes we get in our heads that when we pray it needs to be this
eloquent, beautifully worded, important prayer – for someone in great need, or
when we are enduring a great trauma, or when something very dramatic happens in
our lives. Not so! “Give us this day our daily bread” is about as simple and
mundane as it comes, but also tremendously significant, even life or death!
A
second thing to notice about Jesus’ instructions for prayer is that it is very
honest. Again, it need not be this beautiful, poetic, insightful thing. God
doesn’t want to see your best side; God wants to see you. God already told us
he knows our inmost parts, so what are we trying to hide?
When I was a chaplain for one summer, I sometimes
wrote prayers with the patients I saw. Some of these people had never prayed
with someone before, or maybe even at all. So I started by simply asking them,
“If God were sitting right here right now, and you could say anything to him,
what would you say?” The answers I got were so moving and profound, mostly due
to their honest simplicity! As they told me things, I jotted them down, then
added a “Dear God” at the beginning and an “Amen” at the end, and voila: we had
a prayer. And I would pray that prayer back to them, and they were amazed at
how easy it was. Here’s an example from one patient battling cancer:
Dear God,
I
don’t really know how to talk to you.
I
just have to ask why – what have I done?
How
can I make things better?
I
noticed that I have been different this year… not a very nice person. And my husband has gotten the brunt of
it. I apologized to him, but I
pray that you help me be a better person so that I don’t do that anymore.
I
don’t know what’s going on… I don’t know why I’m asking… maybe just so I can be
a better person.
I
pray for my grandchildren’s health.
I’m
always asking for help like that, and I don’t know why.
I
don’t know why I’m not religious.
It’s easy to fall away when it’s not right there, I guess.
I’m
just trying to figure this out, God.
Amen.
Have you ever prayed a prayer that sounded something
like that? I think it’s one of the most beautiful prayers I’ve ever heard, and
what makes it that way is its sheer honesty. It is a conversation with God.
Along with being honest, scripture tells us that
prayer should be persistent. This is sort of a weird parable that Jesus tells
his disciples, about a guy going over to his friend’s house at midnight asking
for something to feed his unexpected guest. This takes borrowing a cup of sugar
from the neighbors to a whole new level! But what we learn from this guy is
that prayer is persistent, even nagging. Even more than that, it is shameless!
Now, I wouldn’t dream of going to my neighbors at midnight and pounding on the
door for a loaf of bread – that is shameless behavior. And indeed, the word
that is translated here as “persistent” could actually also be translated as
“shameless.” There are a lot of things that I’m embarrassed to pray about –
“God doesn’t want to hear about that,” I think. But there is no shame in
praying whatever is on our hearts.
Our reading from Genesis is similarly shameless, as
Abraham literally bargains with God. God has said he would destroy the city of
Sodom and everyone in it because they are so unrighteous. “Really, God?”
Abraham asks. “Is that really the God you want to be? What if I found 40
righteous people in Sodom? Would you save it?” “Yeah, I’d save it for 40,” God
says. “Well let me ask you this: how about 30?” “Yeah, I’d save it for 30.” “If
it’s not too much trouble, Lord, how about 20?” “Yeah, I could do that.” And so
on. Abraham is shameless! On my own, I would never think this sort of praying
is appropriate – I still have in my head that prayer should be eloquent and
respectful and lovely. But here it is, Abraham, one of the biblical pillars or
faith, bargaining with God. When times get tough, when the stakes are high,
this is sometimes how prayers sound. I have certainly wanted to pray some
prayers like this in the past year! Because even though, “Thy will be done” may
be a more faithful and trusting prayer, this sort of interaction is the sort of
prayer that builds relationship with God.
And when you come right down to it, that is the most
important purpose of prayer: to build a relationship with God. Indeed,
“relationship” is a powerful definition of prayer. When we want to build
relationships with people, can
that happen if we never speak or write or spend time with each other? Not
likely! In our most intimate relationships, we spend time listening, and
sharing, and sometimes we argue and forgive, and go through bad times and good
times together. This is the stuff marriages and best friends are made of!
And this is what God wants from us. God so badly wants
to be in a close, meaningful relationship with us, that he became one of us,
walked the earth, experienced what we experience, loved and lost as we do, felt
joy and pain and humor and frustration. All this he did so that when Jesus then
died on our behalf, taking all our sins with him to the cross, it would be done
with a true knowledge of humanity, a true intimacy with each of us, so that we
might then have a sense of just how much God loves us. That God would go
through all of this for us!
And so, in response, we pray. We listen. We offer to
God our simple requests and thanksgivings and questions. We bare our most
honest hearts to a knowing God. We are shameless and persistent in our efforts
toward conversation with a God who loves us.
Normally I end my sermons in prayer, but this time
instead, I’m going to let you do the praying, by leaving a time of silence
before closing this sermon, and then we’ll let the congregational praying
continue in the prayers of intercession. There will be a time during the
prayers for you to lift up your own joys or concerns, and I encourage you, in
the interest of simple, honest, and shameless prayer, to do this aloud.
Jan/Sharon will speak a petition inviting you, and leave a silence for you to
offer up your prayers to God. For now, please offer your own silent prayer to
help me close this sermon. Brothers and sisters, let us pray…
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
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