Prayer
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
7/29/07
Luke 11:1-13
I want to talk to you today on the subject of prayer, but before I do, I
want to offer you this brief caveat on the subject of prayer.
With all my heart I believe that Life
is not a problem to be solved, but a mystery to be lived. Thus, I don’t
believe prayer offers any ironclad guarantees—just the certain promise that we
need not live that mystery alone.
Who taught you how to pray? Take
a moment to think about that. It has
been my experience that prayer is often something we assume others know how to
do. Some of us are aware we need
teachers, but feel embarrassed to admit our need for help.
The Tuesday morning prayer group prays at the end of our time together.
I always feel a bit nervous the first time we have a new person in our
midst. We go around the circle,
everybody praying. Nobody gets a
pass. I’m always worried that the
very act of having to pray in front of others will scare people off.
I don’t know why I should feel this way.
When it comes to prayer, many of us, I suspect, learn to pray by osmosis,
filtering through the semi-permeable membrane of our spiritual consciousness
various prayer forms learned from the graces said at meal time, the prayers
intoned by ministers and congregations in worship, or the specific instructions
that we may have been given by a family member for our bedtime prayers.
From an osmosis point of view, my greatest teacher was my maternal
grandmother, one of the four saints I have had the privilege of knowing.
We always visited her for two or three weeks during summer break at her
home in
Then she would pray. Her
prayers were never boring. They were
prayers for family and friends; prayers for the church; prayers for our nation;
prayers for people in the world whose lives had been torn apart by war, violence
or natural disaster. When I was in
prayer with my grandmother I felt connected to a bigger reality, which I could
not define.
But as I grew older, I longed for a prayer model, a
way of praying that I could be sure would get the job done, would secure
God’s blessing, would be said with the type of words that would make angels
come running to listen and would lead God to exclaim, “Good mercy, listen to
that prayer! I’ve got to answer
that one!”
And so we seem to be in search of perfect prayers.
In the past few years, self-help books like The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People or The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families have become very
popular, as people try to find just the right formula to live a successful and
happy life. People want solutions to their problems, and they want them in a
compact, simple, and understandable format.
When Jesus' disciples ask Jesus for a lesson on prayer, they too are
expressing a wish for a simple solution on how to talk to God. They want The 7
Habits of Highly Effective Prayer. They say that they want a prayer to pray just
as John the Baptist gave prayers to his disciples. It was common practice in
those days to have a traditional formulaic prayer that would express the needs
and concerns of a specific group. Jesus' disciples are asking for a prayer to
meet their own needs as a group.
Jesus responds to their request with a short prayer and some teachings
about prayer. He keeps it clear and simple, and gives the disciples – and us
– insights on conversing with God. The prayer recorded in the book of Luke is
shorter than that found in Matthew, the version known to most Christians today,
but it expresses the same basic ideas that make the well-known prayer as
meaningful as it can be.
Today, in church services around the world, the Lord's Prayer is recited
every Sunday. Do we find it as meaningful as Jesus meant it to be for his
disciples? Unfortunately, too often we rattle of the words without giving them
much thought. We don't really think about what we are saying, what we are
promising, what we are asking of God.
But Jesus meant for this prayer to be of comfort and encouragement for
us, and his teachings can still provide knowledge and guidance for us today. If
we examine this prayer and Jesus' words closely, we just might find the habits
of effective prayer that we so desire.
When we pray, "thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven",
we are praying for what God desires to come to fruition on earth. We are saying
that we will be obedient to God's wishes for us. The doing of God's will would
mend our broken relationship with God.
When we pray "give us this day our daily bread", we speak of
the natural order of life. We get our food, our very ability to live, from the
plants, water, and animals that make up the creation. When we pray for our daily
bread, we seek reconciliation between humanity and nature.
When we pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who
trespass against us," we are saying that we know that we have to work on
our human relationships. We are saying we want our human relationships to be
like a relationship with God should be. We are saying that we know our human
relationships mean compromise and giving on both sides. When we pray about
forgiving and being forgiven, we are asking for a renewal and healing of our
relationships with one another.
In this small prayer, Jesus teaches us to seek healing for the problems
and hurts that have been with us throughout human history. He effectively covers
all the bases in this powerful but under-appreciated prayer.
So how do we pray?
Well, first, pray simply.
Perhaps most importantly, we should note the very simple and direct
manner in which this prayer speaks with God. It seems always to have been
a problem that we humans want to make our religious speech somehow more exalted
in style than normal speech. The motivation for this is understandable and
laudable, but it appears from Jesus' teaching that it is misguided.
For Jesus prayer was a private matter. He had seen too many
hypocrites crying out in the public square, praying to draw attention.
Jesus told his apostles to go their room and pray in private.
One reason we pray less than we should - either in private or in public -
is probably that we think we should pray like a professional. Or maybe we
think we need some special language to make prayer acceptable. Jesus shows
that our prayers can be very simple and very direct. Prayer is
"conversation with God." God understands not only our words but
also our hearts. Therefore we should feel free to speak to him in our
normal voices and words.
Secondly, pray persistently.
Jesus was not finished teaching them to pray when he gave them the model.
He went on to tell them a brief story about going to a friend at
There is a company in the
In response to that flood of notices, the rancher drove the ten miles to
the nearest post office and sent in his money for the renewal. In addition, he
sent along a note that said, "I give up! Send me your magazine." In a
way, the subscription company learned that persistence does pay off." (1)
Finally, pray expectantly.
Next we find the familiar words of Jesus, "Ask, and it will be given
you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for
you." He follows this with the example of the kind response of the
earthly father to his child. The father would not give a snake if asked
for a fish, nor a scorpion if asked for an egg. So we can pray to the
heavenly Father expecting that he, even more than earthly parents, will respond
with kindness. In fact, the conclusion of Jesus here is rather surprising.
God is seen giving not just what we ask but also "the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him!" This God who responds to our prayers does so with
surprises that go beyond "all we can ask or imagine." (Ephesians
3:20). In this knowledge, we are encouraged to pray expectantly.
How then shall we pray? We should pray simply and directly, knowing
that God reads our hearts as well as understands our words. We should pray
persistently, knowing that the gracious God wants to respond with what is best
for us. We should pray expectantly, trusting that God will pour out gifts
far beyond our dreams.
I remember last summer doing
some light shopping at the Big Y. By
light I was shopping for what I wanted, and I wanted cookies!
After picking up some staples, things Barb thought were important like
milk, I headed to the all-important cookie aisle. Unlike my usual routine, I had
already decided what kind of cookie I wanted to buy. With my eyes set like
flint, I walked unflinchingly down the center of the aisle, ignoring the siren
calls of all the competing brands, until I stopped in front of the Archway
cookie display.
As soon as I picked out the brand of choice:
Iced Lemon Cookies (I got through fads!)
as soon as I picked out the popular cookie of the moment, I heard a
familiar voice behind me: "Way to go, Mark! Thanks a lot, buddy." It
was my friend Paul, Joshua’s former baseball coach—and a delivery man for
Archway cookies!
Now, imagine how I would have felt if Paul had seen me all hugged-up to a
seductive box of Nabiscos. But there's a reason that he didn't. About 30 minutes
earlier, I had run in to Paul at the Dunkin Donuts. He and I spent a few minutes
talking together, and then we each went our way. When I arrived at the grocery
store and began considering what cookies to buy, I remembered that Paul worked
for Archway and would probably be pleased if I purchased the brand he sold. So,
the fact that we had just spent some time together really did influence my
choice.
The whole experience reminded my of something important: spending time
with my heavenly Father, and being reminded of what pleases him, will likely
result in my decisions being more pleasing to him. Perhaps I'll even get a,
"Way to go, Mark!”
Prayer is not a mystery. It is not an indecipherable lock to a connection with God. It’s the way we draw close to God. Communication is important. So pray simply, pray persistently and pray expectantly.
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton
,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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