August 14, 2022 St. Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Colossians 2:6-7
6 As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
Second Lesson: Luke 11:1-13
He 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.” 2 So he said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. 3 Give 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.”
5 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, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 And 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.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything out of friendship, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
9 “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 Is there anyone among you who, if your child asked for a fish, would give a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if the child asked for an egg, would give a scorpion? 13 If 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 concluding our exploration of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, fortunately today we are receiving five new members into our family of faith. I want to welcome Michele, Mark, Anne, Allison and Jane into the St. Andrew Church family. I pray you find a spiritual home of love and support in this community. During our Summer Sermon Series from Luke’s gospel, we have looked at not following the crowd, addressing our excuses to following, welcoming ways to be empowered to follow Jesus. Then we asked, “Who is my neighbor?” with the story of the Good Samaritan. We looked at trusting God and felt how personal discipleship really is with the first-person account from Martha. Right after the encounter with Mary and Martha, Jesus decides to pray. Jesus prays a lot in Luke’s gospel, more than any other evangelist, demonstrating the importance of prayer in Jesus’ life and ministry (3:21, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 9:28, 10:21-22, 11:1, 22:41-4, 23:46). So, it makes sense that the disciples ask Jesus how to pray. But you will notice this is a little different than the Lord’s Prayer we all know and love. Here in Luke, it is a more simplified version which helps us to see the vital parts of what Jesus is conveying. Listen to God’s word as it comes to us from Luke 11:1-13.
Recently Parker and I helped to celebrate my niece’s graduation from college. She recently came home for a visit, prompting the delayed party. Sitting outside looking at the ocean in Bonnie Doon, we heard about her relocating to NYC, exploring Greenwich Village and her initial pursuits in getting a job. Then Parker gave an update on his moving out and working for AT&T having not yet completed his education. Several parents and a set of grandparents were there, and you could sense the differing expectations and ways of nurturing these two young twenty somethings. Should parental support mean everything is paid for, for does it mean they find their own way in the world? I sat there proud of Parker and the fine young man he has become, engaging with all these adults contributing in meaningful ways. He was blooming right before my eyes, even though he did not follow the path I had set for him.
I start here because Jesus starts his prayer and ends this passage with calling God “Father.” Jesus is teaching us of the parental relationship we share with God. Jesus does not say “my” father, and other ancient texts do say “our” father. Yet here, Jesus is granting his familial relationship with God to us through prayer. One commentator writes, “Jesus invites us to address the Holy One of Israel as pater, ‘Father.’ One addresses God, that is, akin to the way a child would ask a parent something of dear need and desire” (Working Preacher, David Lose). Much like a child asks for bread and the friend asked another friend for bread in the middle of the night. These are the basic needs we bring to our Lord, our Father, our Daddy. Prayer is to be relational and intimate, not formulaic, and cold. Yet you might have noticed this prayer is shorter, a simplified version of the one we know from Matthew’s gospel and the Sermon on the Mount (6:9-15).
But it says five clear things. Honor God and God’s name. Invite God into your heart and into our community. Lean into God to give you all you need, from simple bread to strength for the day. Forgive as we have been forgiven. Trust God to help us with temptations. We know this backwards and forward, yet the simplicity is startling. Honor God, invite God in, ask God for what you need, forgive, and Trust God.
Martin Luther once said, “The fewer the words, the better the prayer.” Isn’t that reassuring? We can talk to God in everyday language, just like we talk to a friend. We don’t have to pray long. God delights in a simple word of praise, like “Lord, I love you.” God answers the simplest request: “Lord, give me strength for today.” Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies that our two best prayers are, “help me, help me, help me” and “thank you, thank you, thank you” (p. 82).
Prayer is foundational for discipleship! Yet we might feel like we don’t know how to pray, or our prayer life could be better. First off, all of us feel that way. But as a teacher friend reminded me, we get better at things with time on task. The more we pray, the better we get. To address our hesitancy to pray, let’s look at prayer in three ways. Pray Confidently. Pray Expectantly. Finally, Prayer begins with God.
I don’t know about you but when I don’t feel like I am good at something I shy away from it. But how do we ever improve if we do not try? But then Ann and Barry Ulanov, two Episcopal priests, did some research that affirmed their belief that infants are born praying. “Infants are so close to God that every sound they utter, from coos to gurgles and whimpers to screams, is prayer. No matter what language infants grow into, their original language is universal. If we believe that prayer is our natural, primal language, then we do not have to learn how to pray. Instead, we have to remember how to pray. For me, remembering is easier than learning something new. I am able to relax and affirm that in my deepest self, I already know how to pray” (Jane Vennard, A Praying Congregation. P. 41-42). So, the next time you want to pray, imagine yourself as an infant fluent in God’s language and confident in praying, and all you need to do is simply remember.
We pray confidently because God has already given us the language of prayer. We are born with it!
Second, Pray Expectantly. I have often struggled with the ask, seek, knock part of this text, because I have prayed to God and my prayers did not get answered, a loved one died, a relationship ended. So, this blanket affirmation that if I ask it will be given to me has been hard for me to hold onto, even though I desperately want to. Then I started thinking about it in a new way. I heard this passage in a new light. The call and response of ask and it will be given, seek you shall find, knock and the door will be open is to help us with our approach to prayer as much as God’s consistency in answering. Do you pray with an expectant heart- hoping, anticipating, waiting for God to move mountains? How much more exciting prayer becomes when we keep our eyes open to watch for God’s answers. Sometimes I wonder how many answers we miss because we don’t really expect God to respond. Jesus teaches us to pray expectantly. Pray confidently. Pray expectantly.
Finally, prayer begins with God. Jane Vennard writes, “A student of mine shared with me he believed that all prayer begins with God. This was a totally new idea for me. I had always held the belief that prayer was up to me. I had to initiate the communication. Considering that God was the initiator of the prayer relationship turned everything upside down. God was already present. God was waiting for me to respond to God’s invitation. All I had to do was say yes” (A Praying Congregation, p. 37). Prayer begins with God and is the love language we share with God our Father.
St. John Vianney wrote, “Prayer is the inner bath of love into which the soul plunges itself.” (Prayer, Richard Foster p. 27). I am swimming right now to rehab my shoulder and foot. The most challenging part is swimming a length of backstroke breathing freely and then return free style without taking a breath. It expands my lungs, it strengthens my heart, and provides cardio. Now I am closing with a story that speaks to the power of prayer in our life as disciples of Christ. “Swimming is my deepest form of prayer,” a woman recovering from knee surgery said. “I imagine I am breathing in God’s love and breathing out my worries. And then, because my injured body is so cumbersome on land, I am grateful for how the water holds me up and gives me rest even as I swim. This reminds me how God’s love does that for me every moment of every day” (Jane Vennard, A Praying Congregation, p. 45). Amen.
