Traveling the Prayer Paths: At the Cross

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Luke 23:26-34:

Today we conclude our path in looking at the prayer’s that Jesus prayed, and how he prayed and what he prayed, by looking at Jesus’ prayer from the cross of offering forgiveness. Now it could probably argued that Jesus actually offers three prayers from the cross. One is “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit” and we could look at that as a prayer of learning to turn our lives over to God, except in this case it is literally his life that is being turned over. That’s an important prayer, and perhaps one we could place with the prayers of going to a quiet place to pray, but one which we are not going to discuss, at least not today. The second is “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” a quote from psalm 22, and one of my favorite scripture passages, which is a cry of despair, which for simple classification of prayers I am going to put with Jesus’ prayer asking God to take the cup from him, which we discussed last week. And so, although it’s a really important passage, we are not going to discuss it, although I was supposed to give a short message on this passage for the community Good Friday service, but which probably won’t happen this year. I would encourage you to go read the 22nd Psalm which moves from a cry of despair to one of God’s triumph, which I think is attached to Jesus’ cry. But again, another message for another day. And so today, for prayers, we are going to be looking at the prayer of forgiveness, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

But before we do that, a quick recap of the other things we learn from Jesus’ prayers. The first is that just as Jesus often went and spent time by himself in prayer, that we are to do the same thing, whether it’s just a few moments, or a few hours, or even a few days, or maybe even 40 days, but we need that time to talk with God, but even more importantly to listen to God. Second was to be in prayer throughout the day in everything that we do, most especially to be in prayer for others, a great thing always, but especially now, and also to pray for God’s help with those things that seem impossible, that we need God’s help to accomplish. Third is to make sure to give prayers of thanksgiving, not just in good times, but also in troubling times, most especially in troubling times so that we can be reminded of the blessings we receive and the fact that God is always with us. Then the prayer for last week was Jesus lamentation, or cry of asking the cup to be taken from him, which had us talking about embodied prayer, that is our bodies being engaged with the words that we are saying, about, again, going to a quiet place, about listening to God when we pray, and also about asking God for things, like help in times of despair. But also knowing that merely because what we ask for doesn’t happen, doesn’t mean it is the will of God, or that God isn’t there for us or doesn’t care, because every time we go to God in prayer we receive the Holy Spirit and God’s assurance that we are not alone. And so that then leads us into the last prayer.

Traveling the Prayer Paths: In the Garden

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Mark 14:32-42:

It’s been said that the most fervent prayers are those that are prayed at the bedside, especially at the beside of those who are dying. I’m not sure that’s entirely accurate, because often the bedside prayers for those who are dying, at least in my ministry, are about being okay to let go, and praying for a peaceful transition, and praying into the unknown. They are often more praying for God’s peace, not necessarily for a changed situation. I certainly know of some that do, but more fervent are those with an accident or sudden illness or terrible diagnosis. Prayers when things are totally unknown, or when the outcome might be known, but dreaded. Or simply about our greatest fears. As I said before, at another church one woman whose son was deployed in the bomb squad in Afghanistan told me she now knew what Paul meant when he said to pray without ceasing. Those are prayers of fervency. An impassioned prayer to God, for answers or for a change of potential outcome, a prayer of deep intensity, of profound emotion, or zealousness. These are prayers that are markedly different than the normal prayers we offer, and so as we look at traveling the prayer path of Jesus, of learning to pray like Jesus, we have a fervent prayer being offered in the Garden of Gethsemane.

But, before we look at that prayer, we should notice that Jesus goes off by himself to offer this prayer. First he leaves most of the disciples behind, taking only Peter, James and John and then leaves even them behind and pray by himself. And so this is a reminder that the first way we follow Jesus’ prayer paths is to go off in quiet to be in prayer by ourselves. In Luke’s version of this story, he says that Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives, “as was his custom.” And so to be engaged in reconnecting with God through prayer, we need to take time to be by ourselves in prayer. One of the other instructions that Jesus gives to the disciples in the passage is that they are to pray, although it doesn’t appear that they do. And, if you remember, they had the same problem in the story of the healing of the boy with epilepsy, that they tried to heal him, but weren’t able to, but Jesus des, and when they ask what the difference was, Jesus says that it could only be done through prayer. And so our second step was to engage in prayer throughout our day, especially in praying for others, and then in praying for God’s help in accomplishing the things that we think are impossible. And we’ll come back to that story in a little bit, so keep it in mind. And then last week we looked at what comes immediately before Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, which is the last supper, and the fact that even in the midst of what was going on, of Jesus’ proclamation that Judas would betray him and Peter would deny him, that he stops and gives thanks to God. And so it was a reminder to us to always be practicing prayers of thanksgiving, even in the worst circumstances in our lives, and to give thanks not for the situation, but in the situation, but also recognizing how difficult that can be. But in giving thanks, it reminds us that we are never alone, never abandoned, never lost, for God is always with us and God’s love and blessings are forever with us.

Traveling the Prayer Paths: At the Table

Here is my sermon for Sunday. The text was Luke 22:14-23:

Today’s passage of Luke’s account of Jesus’ last meal might be a great scripture for today, or perhaps it’s even a terrible one for today, given where we are as a community, a state, a nation and a world in dealing with the coronavirus. Perhaps it’s good because it sort of encapsulates the darkness of that night and the unknown future, at least for the disciples. And perhaps it’s not good because Jesus seems to indicate that he knew how things would turn out. But regardless of which it is, it is an important piece of scripture because it is part of what we still practice liturgically in communion as part of worship even today, although there were lots of conversations going on in the wider church this week about whether to serve communion or not and how to serve it because of fears of touch and contamination and the unknown. I truly wish there were some easy answers to these questions, because it would make this job a lot easier, but there are not, and what we are really focusing on for today is not communion itself, or at least not all of it, but the prayer that Jesus gives, as part of our series in traveling the prayer paths of Jesus, and looking at where, when and how Jesus prays.

But before that a quick recap and correction. We began with the idea and need of going off to a quiet place to pray by ourselves, just as Jesus did, in order to reconnect with God and recharge ourselves spiritually and even physically in order to do the ministry in the world that we are called to do. This time can be a short period of time or even days, depending on what’s happening and what we have to dedicate to this time. Then last week we moved onto the prayers that we offer as part of our ordinary life, and it’s here that I want to add a correction. As I was thinking about the message, which was based on Jesus’ healing of a boy with what appears to be epilepsy, and he said that the reason the disciples couldn’t heal the boy was because it could only be done through prayer. And so I talked about the necessity of prayer for the impossible things in our lives. And that could have given the impression to some that bad things in our lives could, or perhaps did happen simply because we didn’t pray, or didn’t say the right words, or that we might not have prayed hard enough. And if only you had done that, then the outcome would have been different. And that was not what I intended at all, or what I meant to say, and so I apologize for that potential misunderstanding. This is a message for a different day, and perhaps as part of next week, but I don’t believe that prayer works that way, or that God works that way. Instead, my point was about the need for prayer in our lives and that we should be praying for others, and that those could be just short burst prayers or arrow prayers, short prayers given to others, like those trapped in endless lines at Smith’s, and especially for the employees. But that we also need to be praying for God’s help in all situations, especially those that we think are impossible. That should be part of our prayer practice.

Traveling the Prayer Paths: In Real Life

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Mark 9:14-29:

“I believe. Help my unbelief.” I love that phrase from the father in that story. I think that is such an incredibly important piece of scripture, because it’s such an incredibly vulnerable thing for the father to say. He knows he is supposed to believe. He knows he is supposed to live it out. And he knows that, or at least assumes that, if he doesn’t believe that his son won’t be healed, and he desperately wants that for his son. Needs it for his son. You can hear his desperation even two thousand years later, “if you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us,” he implores Jesus. And Jesus, sort of incredulously replies, “‘If you are able!—All things can be done for the one who believes.’ Immediately, the father cries out, immediately, such a key word there, ‘I believe; help my unbelief!’ I believe, help my unbelief. Have you been there? I certainly have. I don’t know that I have necessarily voiced it out loud, at least not about the important things, but I’ve been there. I believe, help my unbelief.

What I’ve always wondered in hearing this story, though, is what had the disciples who the father originally brought his son to been doing? How were they trying to help him? Whatever it was that they were doing, it obviously didn’t work, which makes Jesus statement about having to put up with this faithless generation even more striking. Were their efforts unhelpful because they didn’t believe, or because they were faithless? Or was it something more? And of course when they later ask Jesus why they couldn’t heal the boy, Jesus says “This kind can come out only through prayer.” So at least, presumably they had not been engaged in prayer, but was that really the overall difference? If they had simply prayed would they have brought a cure? Or was it something more? Something deeper? Something more faithful? I believe. Help my unbelief.

Traveling the Prayer Paths: In Solitude

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text is Luke 5:12-16:

In December, the Rev. Howard-John Wesley, senior pastor of the historic Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, a historically black church which worships 4500 in every week, announced to his congregation that he was stepping away from his ministry for a season because he feels far from God, tired in his soul and needed to recuperate mentally and physically.  He will return to his church and the pulpit on Easter Sunday, but is taking the time in between to try and rest and recuperate and reconnect with God. He said that early in his ministry he was asked by an older woman in the congregation why he worked seven days a week, something endemic to clergy, and he replied “The devil doesn’t take a day off.” To which she said, ‘Why is the devil your role model?’ Jesus models that we need to rest.” But, he didn’t listen to her advice, and he said that now he is tired in his soul “and a nap aint gonna’ fix it.”

Today we begin a new worship series entitled Traveling the Prayer Paths of Jesus, based on a book of the same name by John Indermark, in which we will look at the way that Jesus prayed in order to learn about ways, or things we should be doing in our own prayer lives. Now I guess I should start by saying that if we want to look at the nature of prayer, or what we should say, that when Jesus is asked about prayer, he gives us what we know of as the Lord’s Prayer, but that’s a different message for a different time. Because while what we say can be important, much of what we see about Jesus’ prayer life is where he is praying and why. And even the Lord’s Prayer itself comes from a specific place, as Jesus has gone off to pray and then when he is done, the disciples ask him to teach them about praying. It is that reality that we want to focus on today, because Jesus often goes off to be by himself, or sometimes with a small group of others, in order to pray.