Sermons

"Lord, Teach Us to Pray"

Sermon by the Reverend Greg Cole
Emmanuel Church, Newport, RI
Proper 12C, July 25, 2004

Clearly, Jesus was a man of incredible focus and a profound sense of purpose. The Gospel record makes clear that the power that sustained and guided Jesus derived from his active and consistent prayer life. Luke includes many examples of Jesus at prayer. Jesus prayed after his baptism and the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit descended upon him. Before choosing the Twelve, Jesus went up a mountain and spent the entire night in prayer. Jesus was praying alone with his disciples before the first prediction of his passion. Prayer sustained him as he came to terms with what lay ahead for him. Before he was transfigured, Jesus was at prayer with Peter, James, and John.

No doubt, the disciples noticed the wisdom, clarity of thought, and power that resulted from Jesus’ active prayer life and wanted to participate in it as well. So, in the reading appointed for today, we hear the disciples ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” One thing that we gather immediately from this is that prayer is a learned experience, something to be taught and practiced, not simply the spontaneous outpouring of our longings and desires.

Prayer is the central spiritual exercise around which all the rest find their meaning. Prayer is our communion with God, our ability to enter into and to maintain a relationship both with God and with our fellow disciples. Notice that the example that Jesus gave, known to us simply as the Lord’s Prayer, is communal, not private. It is not ‘I and me, but us and we.’ When we gather together to worship, as we do this morning, we participate in the practice of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. Together, we give God thanks. Together, we petition God, asking God to heal those whom we love, to guide the leaders of our nation, to lead the church. Together, we ask God to forgive us and to transform us, to make us more completely the people that God calls us to be.

Of course, there are many aspects of prayer that we would do well to address this morning and that have the potential to enrich our spiritual lives. However, one lesson jumps out more than any others in today’s readings – the value of persistence in prayer. This is particularly the case in our reading from Genesis in which Abraham petitions God to save the people of Sodom. In this dialogue, Abraham pleads with God six times, asking God first to spare the city if fifty righteous people can be found and gradually working his way down to ten. Each time, God agrees, and Abraham, with much hesitation and apology, pushes the request just a little more.

The model of prayer that emerges here is based on persistence, passion, and the assurance that God will indeed answer. It points to a quality of relationship that suggests that the human has the right to petition God, particularly on behalf of others. It reminds me of the words of the great theologian, Karl Barth, who once said: “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” Abraham does not seek selfish gain. Instead, he calls for a new standard of justice, a new possibility in the midst of corporate notions of crime and punishment – that the majority who are guilty could be forgiven because of the minority who are innocent. This would not be possible were it not for the persistent and bold prayers of Abraham, who considered his relationship with God to be of a quality that allowed for such communication.

This theme of persistence continues in the Gospel reading with the parable of the friend who knocks on the door of his neighbor at midnight. Jesus says that the man will get up and give the other the bread that he seeks not because of their friendship but because of the persistence of the asker. Jesus goes on to say: “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.” He concludes by saying that God will give good things, particularly the gift of the Holy Spirit.

How does all of this apply to us? Jesus models a way of praying that is intentional, practiced, and determined. He teaches us that prayer needs to be at the center of our spiritual lives because it brings the quality of spiritual relationship that we need to live as disciples of Jesus. However, prayer is not easy. It does not necessarily come naturally. It requires discipline, determination and persistence.

One of the reasons that prayer is so difficult is that we often believe that prayer is about talking, about telling God what we need or want. Certainly, there is a place for that. However, the most important thing about prayer is the ability to listen. Soren Kierkegaard once observed: “A man prayed, and at first he thought that prayer was talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realized that prayer is listening.” In our culture we have a hard time with this. The contemplative, meditative quality of spiritual life has largely been lost in the west. We would do well to reclaim it, to learn to sit quietly in the presence of God in ways that allow us to receive God’s word to us.

Richard Foster, who wrote, The Celebration of Discipline, says: “Our prayer is to be like a reflex action to God’s prior initiative upon the heart.” Ultimately, prayer is our response to God’s presence in our lives. The more aware we become of that presence, the more alive and powerful our acts of prayer will become.

With the disciples, let us too ask Jesus, “Teach us to pray,” that the same power that sustained and guided Jesus would sustain and guide us as well. May we live in the loving presence of God who taught us that we can approach God as a child approaches a loving parent, confidence that God’s love will bring good things to our lives. Amen.