Teach Us to Pray A Sermon

Teach Us to Pray
Hosea 1: 2-10/ Colossians 6-19/Luke 11:1-13
9th Sunday of Pentecost/ Year C/ July 25, 2010

Teach us to pray the Disciples asked Jesus, after he himself had spent time in prayer. What immediately follows is Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray. He offers to them a model of prayer which has become so ingrained in people that it is the first prayer that automatically comes to mind when people pray. Even those who suffer from the terrible disease of Alzheimer’s and senility remember the prayer. It is simple in its message but so deeply profound in its theology; praise of God, requesting what we need, asking for forgiveness, seeking direction, and receiving deliverance. It spells out our human condition and our total dependence on God.
How do you pray?
Who taught you to pray?
What do you pray for?

When I reflect on my childhood, I remember that my family prayed. My mother prayed every night before going to bed. Each of us kids said our prayers asking Go to watch over us as we slept and blessing our parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and anyone else that came to mind, even the dogs and the cats. My dad prayed every day as he drove to school or work. When I stayed with my grandparents they prayed together every night before going to bed. It was a part of our everyday life. We prayed before every meal. We prayed at family reunions, and when I was ordained it was expected that I would offer the prayer at these events. From my family and the events of our lives I learned that God was a good God, someone to be trusted, someone we could turn to on a daily basis for help and comfort and sometimes direction. When I went off to seminary, I learned about the various disciplines of prayer that the church has created over the years; guided prayer, lectio devina, the labyrinth, meditation, breath prayers. All designed to help the individual connect with the divine presence. Anne Lamott, a Presbyterian pastor and writer says that prayer for her takes two forms; thank you, thank you, and thank you! And Help me! Help Me! Help Me! Prayer is the means of our communion with God and God’s freedom.
But today it seems as though we have lost the art of prayer. Walk into any bookstore, religious or secular, and look at the number of books published each year about prayer and ways of praying. It is astounding that there are so many different directions for praying. And we all have our own personal history. But today’s gospel takes us all the way back to the beginning of praying with and in Christ. It is more than a recounting of a pious moment in Jesus’ life. It is more than a story about how we got the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus prayed. It was an integral part of his life and his ministry. Time and again through out the gospel’s we are told that Jesus would retire to a quiet place to pray, or he would go to a mountain to pray. We are told that Jesus prayed in the wilderness and again before he chose his disciples. He prayed over the food when he fed the five thousand. He prayed over the bread and the cup in the meal that he shared with his disciples that last night of his life. He prayed mightily in Gethsemane the night before he died and he prayed from the cross when he died. Prayer was a major part of Jesus’ life even unto death.
So when Jesus responded to the request of his disciples to teach then how to pray and what he gave them was important to them – and it is still important to us today as well. He gave them- and us- the words to address God, first words to praise God, and then words to petition God. He said when you pray, say, “Our Father, Hallowed be your name. “Your kingdom come.” We are to approach God as Father, Mother, Abba, someone we relate to intimately, to see God as one who looks upon us as family, to whom we are as dear as if we were God’s own children. In a world where our existence is fragile at best, Jesus prayer reminds us that there is one who has power over all and who is near to us. The words he directs us to use, implore God to truly take charge of our life in this world, and to bring justice and peace in a world torn by hatred, war, prejudice and injustice.
Each of the remaining petitions regard our basic daily needs, food, “Give us this Day our daily bread,” forgiveness, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” bring to us fidelity “Do not bring us into the time of trial. These petitions name what is essential for the life of our individual bodies, the life of our communal body, whether it is the church, our society, our world. It sets before us the life-long relationship we are to have with God. These are the gifts of the kingdom, as one writer has said, which will not be refused, because they flow from our being united with the God who sustains, forgives and is faithful. Each petition invites us to enter into a relationship. That relationship is a conversation, and that conversation begins with a word of address to the one who creates, redeems and sustains our lives in this world. In order to be in conversation we have to muster the courage to speak back.
Once Jesus has laid the framework for our prayer life, he tells them a parable. It is on the surface a strange parable, but one of deep and adding importance to us who would enter into conversation with God. It involves our persevering in our seeking to be heard. We are even in the midst of chaos and despair, continue to seek God, to call on God to act, to call upon God as a friend to come and be with us.
Today’s Gospel invites us to reflect on the story of our prayer life and where it has taken us. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who put us on the path to prayer as an essential part of life. And even when we do not know how to pray Jesus gives us a prayer to use and so we continue to ask “Lord teach us to pray, help us in our weakness with sighs too deep for words. Amen