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April 06, 2008

Sermon Series, Prayer Is…

Sermon: April 6, 2008
Sermon Series, Prayer Is…
Week One: Why Pray?

“God, help” or “God, please help.” Who among us hasn’t been in a jam that we can’t see our way out of and the next thing we know, we’re praying. Another short prayer I imagine you are familiar with is the quiet, under the breath, “Thank you” (with the inference that we are thanking God). While we would want to expand our repertoire beyond “God, help” and “Thank you,” these are in fact prayers. We are reaching out to God. And that is what prayer is…communicating with God. We can do this alone, with someone else, or with a group of people. We can pray on our knees, with our forehead pressed against the floor, sitting quietly, or while walking. We can speak our prayers out loud, sing our prayers, think our prayers, or display prayers through body actions such as dance.

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be exploring the subject of Prayer. And believe me, just touching the tip of the iceberg. My goal in this sermon series is to broaden and deepen your understanding and idea of prayer. Hopefully, you will discover some new inspiring ways to pray, that strengthen your confidence and increase you desire to pray more often.

We might mistakenly think that in order to pray we must have the perfect words for the specific situation said in the perfect order. I believe God is more concerned with the state of our heart when we pray. Are we being sincere, honest, and open? Are we willing to humble ourselves before God with all our flaws and contradictions? When we pray do we desire to strengthen our relationship with God? If we can say yes to these questions, then we are on the right path.

Who is this God to whom we pray? The Psalmist speaks of an intimate creator, “Where can I go from your spirit? Or when can I flee from your presence? For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” This is the God we come before in prayer. The one who created us, who knows us better than we know ourselves. This is the God who loves us more than life itself, as demonstrated in Jesus Christ and his life here on earth.

Some schools of thought tell us that God longs to hear from us, much like a parent whose child moves away and they sit by the phone (carry their cell phone with them) waiting for a call. Throughout the Hebrew scripture the prophets tell of a disappointed God—a God who is hurt because of people’s response or lack of response to God. The prophet Jeremiah speaking for God writes “I thought how I would set you among my children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful heritage of all the nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so you have been faithless to me...” (Jeremiah 3:19).

The Prophet Isaiah shares God’s words of longing, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49:15).

Even with this knowledge, that God loves us in all our contradictions and failures and that God desires to be in touch with us, praying to God can be a fearful, uneasy thing. Let’s look at a prayer we are familiar with, one many of us know by heart—the Lord’s Prayer.

Matthew’s gospel includes the majority of the prayer as we know it today. It appears in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew, chapter six, where the Lord’s Prayer is found, Jesus is teaching on spiritual disciplines, prayer being one of them. He gives the disciples specific instructions on how to pray.

Prayer begins with the address—in this case, Our Father. Jesus’ use of Father, Abba, (for us Daddy), sets an intimate tone. One senses that the disciples have picked up on this intimacy that Jesus has with God. I can hear Peter say, “Lord, teach us to pray,” you know, like you pray. (pause) Likewise, how we address God is important. Searching the internet, I found one site that had 625 names for God and Jesus as found in the Bible. King of Kings, Lord of Lord, Almighty God, Alpha and Omega, seem more formal, strong. He in whom I trust, Hope of his people, My beloved, My hiding place, are more personal and intimate names.

Sometimes feminists struggle with the male/female gender naming of God. There are female references to God in the Bible, as I mentioned earlier, but there aren’t many. We need not let this sidetrack us. God is not male or female. God is God.
We recall that all of us were made in God’s image, so that tells us that God is beyond sex, gender, beyond any label we want to apply to Her. But we need something to call God so why not something that reflects how we see or experience God?

If you are struggling or having a difficult time, think of the tone you set when you open a prayer with, “Rock of my salvation” or “My refuge in the storm.” These appear in our Bibles. It’s just a matter of looking for them. As you are reading your Bible, write down those names for God that speak to you. And don’t limit yourself to scripture. Check on line for other names people have used in addressing God. There are books available as well. Make it an adventure to discover some new names for God.

Continuing with the Lord’s prayer, we pray what are referred to as petitions. Our Father, who is in heaven, Hallowed (or Holy) is your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. A petition is the act of asking God for those things needed for life and living. A petition comes from the realization that we are dependent upon God for everything we are and have. So in this part of the Lord’s Prayer, we are letting God know that we know that God is good and God is in charge.

Then we move on to the next part of the petition—we ask God for three things. First, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

For many people in Jesus’ time, asking for daily bread meant survival in a world where bread was not guaranteed. It is hard for most of us to imagine this, but it is still a reality in our world where people hunger for food. There is more to this request for bread. It is also a request for the symbolic bread of life—God. We recall when the Israelites escaped from Egypt; God fed them by providing manna (bread) in the desert and water from a rock. At the Last Supper, Jesus and the disciples remembered the Israelites escape from Egypt as they celebrated the Passover meal.

For Christians, the broken bread gained even more meaning. It became the Body of Christ given for many. When we partake of the Holy Communion, we are remembering Jesus’ last supper with the disciples. We are also renewing our covenant with God through Christ in the breaking of the bread and the sharing of the cup. So this petition for the bread of life is a petition for nourishment of our bodies and our souls.

Second, “And forgive us our trespasses (our sins) as we forgive those who sin against us.” One cannot ask for forgiveness if one cannot give it. Jesus taught that healing or repairing a broken relationship requires forgiveness. We must willingly offer forgiveness in one hand as the other hand reaches out to receive God’s forgiveness.

Third, “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” These words are a petition for preservation. We think of the temptation that Jesus underwent. We recall the temptations we face. We ask to be spared temptation, while simultaneously asking for help to live through what comes.

The ending of the Lord’s Prayer as we know it was added later. In the Jewish tradition, prayers ended with a freely formed word of praise. And so when the Lord’s Prayer began to be prayed in services, the doxology was added—“for yours is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.” And we note that Roman Catholics wait to add this portion of the prayer until after some additional prayers are spoken after the third petition.

Look at your bulletin. You can see that we have included this label of Petition next to the Lord’s Prayer. Now pull out your insert entitled, Prayer Is… (if you are reading this on line, see section below sermon for handout). The first type of prayer listed there is Petition. Which definition matches the Petition? The fourth one down. “This prayer comes from the realization that one is dependent upon God for that which gives life and meaning to one’s existence. As we pray this prayer, we give our wants and desires over to God, and ask that God’s will be done.”

An example of a prayer of petition is The Lord’s Prayer. There are basically five types of prayer. We’ve learned about one. Let’s look at another one. This one is fairly easy. Let’s read the second definition together. “The full and honest admission of one’s sins and mistakes to God; honestly being sorry and sincerely requesting forgiveness.” Which type of prayer do you think this is? (Confession).

The corporate prayer of confession done in a worship setting is different from the line in the Lord’s Prayer that asks for forgiveness in that this is a corporate confession. We stand together as a community of faith and read this together acknowledging our imperfections as a community and individually one on one with God. These prayers are selected to shine God’s light into those dark corners of our life that might not get exposed on our own. We stand as a community saying, we could do better. Forgive us and empower us to forgive. Prayers of confession can be individual too. The more humble we are before God, in other words the more specific, the better.

Read the third definition. “The result of a grateful heart. There are five reasons for this kind of prayer. Jesus Christ, all the means of grace, the joy and wonder of life, the gifts one receives, and people in our lives.” Which type of prayer is this? Thanksgiving. An example from our worship bulletin would be the Offering Prayer. I like this definition of a thanksgiving prayer because it reminds us of the various areas we can look to when we give thanks to God.

1. We express our thanks to God for sending Jesus to demonstrate God’s love for the world. 2. We give thanks for all the means of grace. For United Methodists we know grace to be prevenient (ever present), justifying (turning us toward God), and sanctifying (strengthening us through faith). Or to say this another way, we express our thanks for God’s work in the world and us before we realized it, after we realize it and while we are striving to align ourselves with God to become the people we were created to be.

The third area we give thanks is about the joy and wonder of life. Notice there is no mention of happiness. In the Thanksgiving Prayer, gratitude is the attitude we focus on. And so we focus on those aspects of life that bring us joy.

The last two reasons are the two that we probably give God the most thanks for—the gifts we have received and the people in our lives. If I gave you one minute right now, could you write down one thing in each category for a thanksgiving prayer? Try it.

The fourth kind of prayer is the Intercession. The fifth definition on the handout. “To offer this kind of prayer is to lift the needs of the world to God for blessing and help. The naming of those in need is critical. God created us to be in relationship with others. We express that relationship through this type of prayer.” And the example of this kind of prayer in our bulletin is the Prayers of the People.

Intercessory prayers can be for close family members, specific people in our lives, for people in certain situations, for the world, for creation. This is the case in our Prayers of the People. Notice that we pray for those in difficult life circumstances and we also pray for those people who perpetuate violence and abuse. We pray that they might be touched by God and so changed. Sometimes when we pray intercessory prayers for others we see ourselves in their circumstances and are able to seek help from God too.

The last type of prayer is Invocation. “The intentional reminder of the presence of God, bringing consciousness of the Divine presence. It is the act of inviting God to bring the awareness of Spirit into one’s mind and soul.” God is always present in every situation, in every creature, in all creation. In this prayer, we remind ourselves of this. We often pray an invocation at the beginning of worship to ask God to break down the barriers that have been put up throughout the week. A personal prayer of invocation could be said as we open our eyes in the morning or when we have our morning prayer time. We ask God to make us aware of God’s Spirit as we go through our day.

Our spiritual model for Why Pray is Jesus. Even though he was God, he took on human flesh and took the time to keep up his relationship with God through prayer. If Jesus felt it necessary to do this, how much more important is prayer for our communication with God?

_______________end of sermon...

explanation of activity:
In the bulletins there were green rectangle cards. Everyone was asked to take a moment right then and answer the statement, “Prayer is…” by writing it on the green card. The green cards the building blocks of our prayer life. I invited people to write one type of prayer they learned about today, write a statement or description about what Prayer is to them. We continued with the service, Jason, our musician, played special music and people filled out the cards. The cards were turned in and will be displayed on the “PRAYER IS…” board in the sanctuary this Sunday.

April 6, 2008
Sermon Series

Type
(Match the type of prayer below (A to E) with the definition (1 to 5) below)

A. Petition
B. Intercession
C. Confession
D. Invocation
E. Thanksgiving

PRAYER IS…
Definition and essential components

(1): __________________________ The intentional reminder of the presence of God, bringing consciousness of the Divine presence. It is the act of inviting God to bring the awareness of Spirit into one’s mind and soul.

(2): __________________________ The full and honest admission of one’s sins and mistakes to God; honestly being sorry and sincerely requesting forgiveness.

(3): __________________________ The result of a grateful heart. There are five reasons for this kind of prayer. Jesus Christ, all the means of grace, the joy and wonder of life, the gifts one receives, and people in our lives.

(4): __________________________ This prayer comes from the realization that one is dependent upon God for that which gives life and meaning to one’s existence. As we pray this prayer, we give our wants and desires over to God, and ask that God’s will be done.

(5): ________________________ To offer this kind of prayer is to lift the needs of the world to God for blessing and help. The naming of those in need is critical. God created us to be in relationship with others. We express that relationship through this type of prayer.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM