Sermon for July 24, 2016
Proper 12C – RCL
Jesus 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." He said to
them, "When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be
your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."
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; for a friend of mine has arrived,
and I have nothing to set before him.' 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.' I tell you, even though he will
not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of
his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
"So I say to you,
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door
will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who
searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there
anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead
of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? 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!"
It is too easy these days to
lapse into a dark world view with all the news that we have been hearing. From the shooting several weeks ago in the
Pulse nightclub, to individual deaths at the hands of law enforcement that seem
to be unjust – all based on cell phone videos -
to the targeting of police officers and the latest attack in
Munich.
With our current instant news
cycle and social media we can become overwhelmed with information. What used to take at least a few hours to
make it to our lives now happens nearly instantly. Instead of having some time to find answers
we are bombarded with raw news. It is so
easy to become negative. It is so easy
to cease praying.
And into this world we have a
gospel reading teaching us how to pray and telling us that the God we worship
will give us all things. Does it leave
you wondering if it is all true? Surely
our prayers to end violence should have been answered by now if God was paying
attention. Surely I would have the 1965
Rolls Royce Phantom V by now too. But
that is not what prayer is about. I don’t
care what the prosperity gospel preachers might tell us. Prayer is not about asking for the fancy car
and a lot of money.
How do we see prayer? Is prayer coming into a church building or
going to your special place in your home?
Is prayer about opening the prayer book and reading the beautiful poetry
that is found in it? We can usually
safely answer that these are prayers.
But sometimes it can also be just showing up. And sometimes the prayer is without
words. Sometimes prayer can even take
the form of an expletive! And frankly sometimes
prayer is hard.
When we hear about people
being injured or killed it is pretty easy for most of us to prayer for the
victims. We can pray for the repose of
the souls of the martyrs of Orlando. We
can pray for the Repose of the soul of the police killed in Baton Rough. It is easy to pray for all the victims.
Unfortunately it is also far
too easy to turn the perpetrators into monsters. We need to remember that we are also called
to pray for those we see as our enemy.
We are to pray also for those who have been seduced by violence. I have said it before sometimes the only
prayer I have for someone who has done something evil is “Dear God – only you
have the power to reach into the grave and heal the heart of these persons.”
Sometimes all we can do in the
face of darkness is to show up. We show
up and go through the motions. We can be
so numbed by all of the darkness around us.
When we are overwhelmed by all of the darkness we can find comfort in
showing up. We can find comfort in
knowing that certain prayers can become woven into our very fabric.
When I did my clinical
pastoral education as a hospice chaplain I visited people who most might say
were already gone. Alzheimer’s disease,
advanced dementia or the results of a severe stroke had in many ways already
robbed the person of their lives. Their
loved ones are already grieving. And
into that setting I was sent to offer spiritual support. To offer prayer to people the caregivers said
did not understand. So I sat in
silence. I listened to what sounded like
gibberish. And I prayed.
One of my patients had been in
a church choir so I sang many of my prayers right from our hymnal. And they reached into the spot of her where
there was still light. It unlocked – if
only briefly – the voice of a woman who had gone mute. For another patient it was the Lords Prayer
and the Hail Mary that opened that door.
And in those moments – in the moments of, silence, gibberish, and the blessed moments of
lucidity I saw the Holy Spirit at work.
I saw prayer at work.
In Paul’s letter to Timothy
there is an instruction to pray without ceasing. That doesn’t mean that one has to join a
religious community or become a hermit.
Praying without ceasing means living our lives as prayer. It means that we bind up the wounds of those
who are hurt. It means that we listen to
the person who can only see the darkness and attempt to light a small candle so
they can glimpse the light.
Another preacher I follow [David Lose] said: “At
times prayer is words we say alone in moments of thanksgiving or desperation.
At times prayer is words we share with others, gathered in the sanctuary or
around a hospital bed. And at other times prayer is action and work as we try
to live into and even bring about those things we’ve prayed for. All of this
can be praying shameless, praying, that is, confident that the God who came in
Jesus understands our hurts and disappointments because that God took them on.
Because God in Jesus not only endured the life we lived, but died the death that
awaits us, and was raised again to show that even death does not have the last
word and that all things are possible for God. And so we pray with confidence,
trusting that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more
will God give us as we embrace God’s Holy Spirit and live, as well as speak,
our prayers.”[1]
[pause]
Which brings me to the
parable. The parable today is a bit on
the crazy side. First what kind of
friend would knock on the door at midnight to borrow a couple of loaves of bread. Lets be real.
I don’t think they would remain friends very long. If it was an emergency we would be right
there with Jesus. Of course we would
respond right? That is what friends
do. But to lend bread because this so
called friend has another unexpected visitor.
Couldn’t they wait until morning to break bread together?
God promises that the response
to our prayers is going to be crazy. God
is willing to go to extremes to remind us that the world is not ruled by
darkness. That no matter how many politicians
and pundits paint a picture of darkness and despair there is a light. A light that is willing to reach into the
depths to prove that love will ultimately win.
Because that love was willing to walk among us. That love was willing to die for us and to
show us the path to eternal life.
The parable also reminds us
that our God wants us to open the doors to our friends. Wants us to provide the bread that is
needed. We are to model the radical
generosity of a God that loves us so much that he gave us the gift of the Holy
Spirit.
See the Gospel lesson doesn’t
say that God will give you a Rolls Royce or a million dollars. It says “how much more will the heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" The answer to prayer is the gift of the Holy
Spirit. That is about as radical a promise as they come.
If we are open to accepting
God’s gift of the Holy Spirit onto our lives our lives will become one of
action. The Holy Spirit will open our
eyes to the hurt around us and drive us to help eradicate that hurt. Our lives will be lived in prayer. Both prayer that is passive and also prayer
that is active. Prayer that feeds the
hungry. Prayer that listens to the
stranger. Prayer that clothes the
naked. Prayer that actively helps usher
in the gift of God’s reign. A reign
where we no longer give evil for evil or evil for good. A reign where we can recognize the gift of
the Holy Spirit in each other.
So Pray
shamelessly without ceasing. Open
yourself to receive God’s gift. And be
ready. Because The gift of the Holy
Spirit will drive us out of our comfort zones.
It will drive us to give bread, forgive, and to work to bring God’s
dream to fruition here. That is our charge as Christians. To pray shamelessly with our whole being
being confident that we are children of the living God.
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