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Sunday,July 25, 2010

Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Luke 11:1-13

Reverend Sabrina Chandler

“Lord, teach us (how) to pray”.  It seems like such a simple request. And because the disciples asked, we have this sacred prayer that we recite each Sunday and each time we fellowship at the communion table. It is committed to our memory. We recite it almost without even thinking about it. Almost as if we have mastered the ‘how’ of prayer. Somehow, I wonder if this text invites us to step back a bit and really examine our prayer life and what this prayer really means.

Recently, I found myself in a heated conversation with someone. We are the same age. And she is in crisis. In addition to another serious health issue, and for no reason that doctors can seem to explain, she recently suffered her 5^th stroke. They have come without warning; they have in at least two cases left her with some form of paralysis. Her doctor wants her to stop working, stop driving, apply for disability and stay home. She can’t handle it. “I am too young for this; I don’t just want to be home; sitting down; doing nothing!” And, although I can empathize, and because I love her, I want her to stop too – especially the driving. I made all of the arguments about hurting herself, hurting other people, hurting her family, regrets afterwards. And one thing she said gave me pause, “every time I get behind the wheel, I always pray for myself and for the people on the road”… Now, I guess that sounds right. As a minister, I guess that should work for me. And, I don’t want to judge her. But, as I began to think about today’s gospel lesson, I had to ask myself, is that how God would have us apply prayer in our daily lives? Do we go a little astray sometimes? Do we take it for granted that we know how to pray? Do we need to continually ask, “Lord, teach us how to pray”?

Generally, when we ask ‘how’, we are asking for two things. First, what are the mechanics? What is the physical aspect of the task? We ask for the form. When we teach children to pray, isn’t that what we start with? We teach them the proper posture. Eyes closed; head bowed; hands clasped together; kneeling by the bed before bedtime; bowing at the table before our meals. It’s really poignant and beautiful because we are using the physical to give them a sense of reverence; a sense of the bigness of God. Eyes closed – because God is Spirit and we commune with God in our hearts and in our minds; head bowed because God is omnipotent and we approach the throne of God with a sense of awe and humility. Hands folded together in front of our hearts, symbolizing obedience, submission, repentance. Kneeling, again showing our submission and reverence. The physical part of the ‘how’ gives us the internal foundation for prayer, for worship, for service - for just about anything we do as God’s church. And, once we have that foundation, we can take that with us anywhere. Our body informs our spirit and our prayers can become heartfelt. I can pray internally. My favorite prayer is a breath prayer that I can say anywhere, anytime “God, Help me”. I read somewhere recently that the author Anne Lemott had two basic prayers: “Thank you, Thank you, Thank you” and “Help me, Help me, Help me!”

The other reason we ask ‘how’ is the outcome. We want to know that we are doing it right, so that we get the result we want. If I’m playing golf, I want to know how to bend my knees, how to hold my club, and how to twist my body, so that my drive improves. If I am preparing a special dish, I want to know that I have all of the right ingredients, in all the right proportions, cooked at the right temperature, so that it tastes just the way it is supposed to.

When the disciples say to Jesus – “teach us how to pray”, I hear so much of us in that, as modern day disciples. The truth is we want our prayers to produce results, don’t we? The disciples had already witnessed that Jesus would routinely withdraw to be alone and pray (Luke 5:16). Jesus had been able to do miraculous things. Clearly, the prayers of Jesus produced results. So, they went to the one who could give then the ‘how’.  In their request, you can hear an underlying plea: ‘Lord, teach us how to pray so that God will hear us… and respond’.  Show us how to do it, so that, if we do it right, things will happen.

But, buried under that, if we are really honest, we can hear the question we really want to ask: ‘When I pray, does God hear me? Am I praying in vain? Am I speaking into nothingness; my voice echoing back to me, like I’m talking into some black hole? Or, when I pray does God hear me; and will God respond?

Interestingly, it’s not the question that the disciples ask out loud, but Jesus answers it anyway! First, Christ gives us the form. The first lines of the prayer give us the proper posture: “Father, hallowed be your name”. With those words, we are reminded that God is not like us. God is transcendent. God is sovereign. God is so holy and so high, that God’s very name is sacred and to be revered. The words give us the foundation to inform our spirit, so that our prayer can become heartfelt.

The next line provides the context for our prayer; the framework that will shape our petitions to God: “Thy kingdom come”. Our prayer is that Your kingdom, Lord, will come in its fullness and, that you would use us to make it so. So, we ask for sustenance: give us what we need to live each day so that we can serve Your purposes; forgiveness: forgive us and remind us to forgive each other; preserve us – guide us away from circumstances that will test our faith; and where that fails, strengthen us in the face of the trials we know will come from time to time. But, most importantly, let Your kingdom come!

But, what about that nagging question – ‘When I pray, does God hear me? Am I praying in vain?

In answering the unspoken question, and in teaching us how to pray, Jesus talks about ‘persistence’. It’s funny, but I think that we learn at a very early age that persistence pays off. My mother likes to remind my sister that she was the master of the ‘persistent whine’. She was famous for the “please, please, please; why can’t I? You let Sabrina do it? Pleeeeeasssseee!” The ultimate was sitting down in the middle of the street to get the job done. And, sometimes she won the battle purely on sheer will and determination to get what she wanted.

I don’t think that this is the type of persistence Jesus is talking about. As with my friend, I don’t believe that Jesus teaches us to use prayer to stretch the world to our view and our desire. I don’t think this passage advises us to use God like a genie in a bottle, who grants our every wish if ask hard enough or often enough. I believe that Jesus is very purposeful in the examples he gives us, as he teaches us how to pray.  We have to read really carefully.

And he 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. (Luke 11:5-8)

Don’t you find it interesting that the friend is not coming to us purely on his own behalf, but because he desires to show hospitality to someone else? In an earlier passage, Jesus is asked by a lawyer “what must I do to gain eternal life”. Jesus reminds him of the answer "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself”, which leads to the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:27). 

We are called to offer what some have called ‘Radical Hospitality’! In his book, ‘Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations’, Robert Schnase says this, “Radical means ‘drastically different from the ordinary practice, outside the normal,’ and so it provokes practices that exceed expectations, that go the second mile, that take welcoming the stranger to the max. It means people offering the absolute utmost of themselves, their creativity, their abilities, and their energy to offer the gracious invitation and reception of Christ to others.”

If knocking on your neighbor’s door at midnight to make sure that someone else gets fed is not going the extra mile, I don’t know what is!

“Thy kingdom come” and use us to make it so. We say we want it to come because it is a kingdom that embodies justice and peace. Give us what we need to live each day so that we can serve Your purposes; forgive us and remind us to forgive each other; guide us away from circumstances that will test our faith; and where that fails, strengthen us in the face of the trials we know will come from time to time. In the meantime, we cannot and will not give up.

Just as Christ continually advocates for us, we are called to advocate for others and to work to bring justice and peace to a world that seems to continually reject justice and peace. That takes commitment and persistence! It is a characteristic we need and prayer sharpens it. And, Jesus leaves us with the assurance that ultimately, God will answer our prayer.

⁹“So 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.

^-AND-

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!”

We are made in the image of God, and just as God calls us to extend ‘radical hospitality’ to others, God extends ‘radical hospitality’ to us! God’s gift to us exceeds anything that another human being could ever offer us. God goes beyond giving us what we ask for, rather than something foreign or even harmful, like the parents depicted in the parable. God gave His only Son, so that if we would accept the salvation that is offered through the death and resurrection of Christ, we will become part of God’s family for eternity. God gifts us with the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And God’s Word tells us that the fruit of that Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness” (Galatians 5:22). All of this, and it will be given to us; we just have to ask. Ask sincerely, fervently, persistently, faithfully – believing that the One who created us will not deny us.

And so, my prayer this morning is this: “Lord, Teach Us How to Pray”. Give us the correct form and posture, so that our spirits might respond and our prayers are heartfelt.  Remind us of the context, ‘let your kingdom come’ and use us to make it so. Let your Holy Spirit abide in us, so that the fruit of your spirit is exhibited by us, in the form of ‘radical hospitality’. Press us to go the extra mile, in your name. Remind us that you are faithful and that when we pray, you hear and will respond. In the name of your Son, we pray, Amen.  

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