The Lord’s Prayer
In Luke we hear a different version of the Lord’s Prayer than the one we use more frequently in worship. It is shorter but includes additional teaching from Jesus on prayer. This focus on prayer, which is such an essential aspect of the Christian life and the practice of our congregation will be the focus of this sermon, but first I want to address the Old Testament lesson from Hosea briefly, because it is such a difficult passage and can provoke strong responses.
One of the commentators I read was in favor of discounting the imagery of the nation of Israel, represented by Hosea being forced by God into marriage with a prostitute (the actual word is whore, which is even more offensive) named Gomer. The children they have are named first for the instigator of a bloody insurrection, Jezreel and the other two have names meaning “I will have no pity on you” and “You are not my people.” The entire book of Hosea is a scathing condemnation of the greed, infidelity and betrayal of the nation who claim to be God’s people. Yet, at the end, it provides a picture of God’s faithfulness and the reconciliation of God’s faithless children who have turned away from their rebellion to live according to God’s purposes.
In order to counter the patriarchal language of this imagery, while retaining the power of the message regarding the faithless nation, I wonder if we might reverse it and see if it still has power.
Imagine the nation as the beloved, beautiful bride. She finds herself married to a serial adulterer, a husband who consistently lies and demeans her. His friends are only interested in capitalizing on her dowry and taking advantage of her. He plunders everything she has and besmirches her reputation. He uses her image to sell trinkets to enrich himself and his children. He professes his love for her, while hollowing her out for his own benefit. He manipulates and steals from her. He claims to be her rightful husband and master and reminds her that she must forsake all others, including her God and Father, her brother Jesus and Sophia, the Holy Wisdom of God’s Spirit.
In that light, perhaps the ancient words of the Hebrew prophets still have some relevance worth paying attention to.
But… this is a sermon about prayer, specifically about the most famous prayer in Christendom, the Lord’s Prayer. One book by John Dominic Crossan, calls it the Greatest Prayer. It is Jesus’s response to the disciple’s request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Their request came because they observed Jesus in prayer many, many times throughout his life. He prayed with them, for them and when he was alone. He prayed in times of distress and need, in gratitude and thanksgiving, for himself and others, formally and informally. As an observant Jew, his prayers were filled with words of Scripture, particularly from the psalter, the prayer book of the Jewish people.
It seems that some of his disciples had first been disciples of John the Baptist who instructed them on how to pray. Knowing the message of John, it’s likely they learned a lot about prayers of confession and repentance. John’s prayer originated in a sense of unworthiness in the presence of a Holy God.
But the prayers of Jesus were different. Jesus addressed God familiarly as Abba or Daddy. He prayed with confidence and trust, and a certainty that God was already present and in an intimate relationship with those who pray. Like John, he had an understanding of God as Holy, the word in the Lord’s Prayer is “hallowed.” He knew that his disciples stood in need of the forgiveness of God if they were ever to be able to forgive others, including those who would put him to death. Jesus taught them to pray out of his deep relationship to God and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
But here’s the thing. The prayer he taught them, the prayer we still call “The Lord’s Prayer” never mentions Christ or the church, the Bible, the Virgin birth, the gospel, or any doctrine. The prayer originates in Judaism but is not a Jewish prayer. It is prayed by Christians of every denomination in every age, but it is not a specifically Christian prayer. It is a universal prayer based in the very particular and intimate knowledge of God that is specific to Jesus. He can teach us to pray because he knows who we are praying to.
At prayer meeting, this past Thursday, I asked everyone how they would answer the request, “Please teach me to pray.” I figured I might get some pretty profound and helpful advice since some of these folks have been praying fervently longer than I’ve been alive. Their wisdom is as great as their humility.
In so many ways, they mentioned regular, inner connection with God, often in a conversational style and sometimes in communication that went beyond words to praying in the Spirit. One even confessed that she continued praying during the years when she had given up on believing in God or going to church! They mentioned praying when times were desperate and help was greatly needed, but also when grateful and filled with thanksgiving. They spoke of experiences of awe and wonder that left them filled up but wordless, those “Wow” experiences from
Anne Lamott’s book on prayer, “Help, Thanks, Wow.” Many of them talked about how uncomfortable it was initially to pray out loud. Praying with and for others both taught them about prayer and gave them confidence to try it themselves.
We were all reminded that the nearly 40 years of feeding people through the ministry that is now called, Edible Hope Kitchen, began because a group of people met to pray together regularly in the 1980’s and heard the call to do something about the many seasonal workers in Ballard who had run out of money, food and shelter when their work ran out.
Barbara Wilson reminded us that at the groundbreaking for our 84-unit Affordable Housing building, St. Luke’s Apartments, the official from our secular, non-profit BRIDGE Housing developer said that from now on, she wouldn’t say it takes a village to build affordable housing but that it takes a village AND a prayer group!
If Jesus was known to be a person of prayer, then it only makes sense that those who gather in his name are to be known as people of prayer. Prayer is not purely a spiritual practice. When we pray, we are closely linked to the heart of Jesus and his heart is always with those who are in greatest need.
Jesus uses the example of a person who is unable to feed a late arriving guest. Hospitality is a cardinal virtue and practice in the Middle East and the inability to welcome and feed a visitor is a terrific shame and failure. The host goes to his neighbor to plead for bread and because of their relationship and the host’s persistence, the request is granted, and he is given whatever he needs. When we persist in praying for those in need, we will find the resources to provide what is lacking and to step in where we are able to help.
Finally, Jesus compares prayer with the needs of a child. The parent won’t substitute a scorpion for an egg or a snake instead of a fish. When we ask God in prayer, God promises to give us what we need most, the power, wisdom, inspiration, comfort and courage of the Holy Spirit. We may or may not have our prayers answered exactly in the way in which we ask, but through prayer we will be blessed and gifted by what we need most, God’s Spirit.
I was reminded of this last week. As we negotiate an extension for the groundbreaking on our second building and new church space, it’s become clear that we will have to take care of our buildings and properties for longer than we expected. I had a sleepless night thinking of all the repairs, cleaning and upkeep that we will need to do if we are here through next winter and I felt overwhelmed. Exhausted, I turned to God in prayer and was able to leave it with God and get some rest.
The very next morning, while I was busy getting some folks to Edible Hope in time for breakfast, the construction manager of our developer showed up unannounced in our courtyard. When I returned, he was still there waiting for me. He had decided to organize all his office staff to do a workday at St. Luke’s in September. I wondered if they had the skills we needed so I began to show him everything that needed doing, starting with the tree rounds that needed to be hauled, split and the firewood delivered. He just smiled and said, “I have a truck, trailer and a wood-splitter.” He then proceeded to take photos and notes of the various tasks that would get us ready for another winter. I almost started crying.
More important than the much-needed help and encouragement he offered as well as this proven commitment to our project, was the sense that the Holy Spirit hadn’t forgotten about St. Luke’s. We already have a huge affordable housing building that will welcome new tenants in October. We have a development partner who sees us and knows that this delay is difficult for all of us. But even more, we have a God who hears our prayers, who is with us through it all and who will never forsake us.
The great writer, C.S. Lewis was asked about prayer in a time of his great grief over the death of his wife, Joy. His wife’s son Douglas asked if prayer shouldn’t provide positive outcomes. Isn’t that its purpose. Lewis answered, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.”
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