“A Lesson Or Two About Praying”

Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – July 24, 2016

Centenary United Methodist Church

Psalm 85:1-3, 8-13; Luke 11:1-13

 

    Our Gospel lesson this morning contains The Lord's Prayer.  These words from Jesus resulted from a request made by one of the disciples to teach him the proper way to pray. Why would there be any confusion about how to talk to God?  This should be as easy as sharing our thoughts with anyone.  And yet, if I called on one of you to close our service today with prayer, it could become an awkward moment if you were unaccustomed to praying publicly.

    Our only role models are pastors and lay persons that often pray in a style that is quite foreign to normal conversation.  Sometimes their prayers are expressed with great emotion where every other sentence is punctuated with the words, "We just thank you Heavenly Father for this or that, or we just ask you for this or that."  It would never occur to us to say, " I just want to thank you for the lovely dinner you prepared for us this evening." 

    This disciple came to Jesus because the others in his group found it very difficult to learn anything substantive from listening to the Pharisees as they engaged in public prayer.  Jesus warned against their style of praying publicly. (Matthew 5:5)  He also was critical of the Pharisee who prayed, "I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest or an adulterer, like everyone else." (Luke 18:11)

    There is nothing awkward when it comes to sharing our thoughts with each other.  Just look around.  Whether we are walking across the street in Hamilton or in Quebec City, as our family did two weeks ago, people everywhere are talking to each other through their various electronic devices.  Most of us are mystified by all that they apparently have to talk about. We are going to consider some of these themes this morning. 

    After providing words of what we know as The Lord's Prayer, Jesus told his gathered disciples, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you."  Many of us have memorized these words and have actually tried them only to find that they do not work on a regular basis.

    Such words can almost make God sound like an Automatic Teller Machine. We insert our debit or credit cards and out comes the desired money we requested.  For some people God remains dormant until they activate our Creator with a request of some kind.  Being so used to instant gratification, many of them become disappointed when they find that their confusion, sadness, frustration or pain are still haunting them.  Why is this?

    Think about the days when we were children.  A number of us can remember when our parents did not honor many of our requests.  More than likely we heard them say, "You may not have chips and candy now; it is too close to suppertime." Parents might have responded to a body-conscious teenage daughter, "I don't care how much you want to be like your friends, that bathing suit is too revealing for a 13-year-old.  We are not buying it."

    A number of years ago there was this interesting country-western song that had these words, "Thank you, God, for all my unanswered prayers." The lyrics told the story of a number of heart-rending moments in life that had led to far more rewarding experiences. Life can be just like that when we remember the words Jesus taught, "As immature as you are, you know how to provide good experiences for your children; how much more is God understanding of your needs."  (Matthew 7:11)

    The process of how we grow into adulthood can remind us of the struggles a caterpillar must endure in order to become a butterfly. Think of the transition from crawling to flying when this creature has no idea what is coming up in its future.  It is like a child struggling to learn how to tie his or her shoes.  Think of how proud we were when we finally could get dressed all by ourselves.

    God knows each of us.  God knows our capabilities.  God also knows that none of us is ever in any danger because we are infinite beings with imaginations that need a lot more training.  Our only problem is that we have amnesia about where we came from.  People find themselves asking God to give them strength to get through a rough patch.  God could easily answer such a prayer with these words, "Start using and develop what I already gave to you at birth."

    God would not have created incomplete people just so they would remain dependent.  Look at everything in creation.  Can an apple or an orange be any more whole than what each of them is?  This is the same with our strength.  When people believe God intervened and gave them more strength, what they were experiencing is their own determination to get through some ordeal.  All of us came pre-wired with all the strength anyone could possibly need.

    When we experience pain, hurt, frustration or disappointment, often we do not understand what such emotions are telling us.  Such feelings are symbolic of a skill that needs further development, e.g., patience, tolerance and forgiveness.  It is the lack of a developed skill that causes us to blame and label anything that we believe is causing our misery.

    Finally, the Gospel of Luke provides us with an answer to the mystery of God's silences.  According to Luke, Jesus told his listeners, "God knows how to give The Holy Spirit to those who ask him." (Luke 11:13b) This teaching adds a different dimension to our understanding of prayer.

    Jesus was not talking about speaking in tongues since Jesus never mentioned this practice or indicated that he had knowledge of it.  Rather, he was speaking about God's willingness to offer guidance once people are awake enough to perceive it. The awakened spirit is what Jesus was referencing as holy. This is when we ask, seek and knock and the door opens to greater understanding.  (Luke 11:9)

    God never rushes any of us. We are the ones that are conscious about time.  Time does not exist for God.  There is no finish line for any of us; there is only infinite growth in our ability to reflect God's nature.  God also knows that we cannot absorb the information we need without first having self-knowledge of who we are as infinite, spirit-beings.  Giving people more than they can handle will not work.  It would be like trying to teach Geometry to students who have not mastered their Times Tables, or giving books to students that never learned to read. 

    There are many people who live their entire lives and never awaken.  They have no idea about all the treasure inside of them. The French poet, Anatole France, once described people who have not yet found their orientation in life with these words, "The average person, who does not know what to do with his or her life, wants another life that will last forever." 

    When we have awakened to the larger picture, much more insight, information and guidance comes flooding into our awareness.  Our former fears disappear.  Our faith that God loves us is replaced with confidence that such love comes as automatic as the rain and sunshine.  The only thing that can block the presence of God's love is a spirit that has been lulled to sleep by the rhythms of the material world.    

    We understand what Jesus meant when he told a well-respected teacher in Israel, "When your spirit is awakened, it is like being born again. It is like commanding the raging seas of our emotions to be calm. It is like telling a mountain or barriers to life to be cast into the sea." Awakened people know that nothing in this life really matters but the spirit that they bring to every experience.  A peace comes to our living that is beyond explanation.  (Philippians 4:7)

    James Toliver was a technician for American Tower, one of the companies that builds the tall structures where microwave and cellular communications equipment is mounted.  He was well-known for his contagious positive attitude about everything.   His spirit had awakened to the point where he could rise above every potential obstacle of life. Nothing ever caused his bright outlook on life to falter. 

    One day James lost his footing and fell 60 feet from one of the towers.  A friend later inquired about what he experienced during those moments.  He wondered if his friend’s unbridled enthusiasm for life had changed.  This is what James said:

The first thing I thought about immediately after the fall was the well being of our daughter who was to be born in the next several weeks.  The second thing was that I had a choice.  I could live or I could die.  I chose life.  The paramedics were great!  They kept telling me that I would be fine. They were lying, of course.  When they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the faces of the doctors and nurses, their faces read, 'This man is not going to make it.' I knew that I had to spring into action. 

A big burly nurse was shouting questions at me.  She asked, "Are you allergic to anything?"  I said. "Yes!"  The medical team immediately stopped their preparations until I provided further information.  I took a deep breath and said, "I am allergic to gravity."  Everyone laughed.  That broke the tension.  Then I said, "Listen you guys, I am choosing to live, so operate on me as though I am going to experience a full recovery." 

    While being a man of faith, James never asked God for assistance.  He did not have to ask God for anything.  He knew that attitude is everything.  He also knew that if his body died on the operating table, he would be fine. After nine hours of surgery and several later surgeries, he recovered and is as enthusiastic about life as he was before his accident.

    While many of us wish that we could behave the same way, the truth is -- all of us can.  James moved beyond wishing or praying for anything.  He is a practitioner of remaining a ray of sunshine every day, rain or shine.  He talks to God all the time.  He does so in the same way that he talks to good friends from whom he needs nothing.  James knows that he has everything he needs to continue building a remarkable life.  Plus, he has the joy that comes from having a good friend that created the universe.   He knows that good friends never abandon each other.