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Sermon July 24, 2022
The Rev. Canon Robert Schiesler
The Church of the Nativity and St. Stephen’s
Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearC_RCL/Pentecost/CProp12_RCL.html
Audio: /documents/Eucharist__July_24__2022
Video: https://youtu.be/vmuCqCibpkM
PENT 7C (LK 11, Prayer) Nativity & St Stephen, 7/24/22
On this sultry summer morning, we are introduced or perhaps confronted with an essential feature of every religious tradition: prayer. We hear Luke's version of the Lord's Prayer, a response to the disciples wanting to emulate their master and teacher as they ask, "teach us to pray, Lord." So, Jesus teaches a model of prayer that is derived from traditional Jewish prayer forms as the prayer opens with a simple and intimate address of God as "Abba", dear Father. Here Jesus reveals a familiarity with God grounded in divine holiness and wholeness. He presents prayer in the context of "kingdom" where the ideal is a striving for a perfection found only in the Master; thus, "your kingdom come". The prayer continues in expounding on this intimate relationship with humanity as we seek daily bread, nourishment, for each and all in the kingdom. And as we seek nourishment, we seek forgiveness for our brokenness and in turn, the strength to offer the same to those whom we have harmed. And finally, we seek God's grace to face the trials, disappointments, offenses and temptations that come to us through the choices we make and the choices we strenuously avoid.
In short, prayer is not a request for miracles nor faith-building signs. The deepest concerns of our lives are addressed as well as the strain and challenges of building the kingdom of God here and now.
In her book, An Altar in the World, A Geography of Faith, the Episcopal priest and scholar, Barbara Brown Taylor, admits that she is often weak in praying this intense prayer of life. To be a godly person is to have a full prayer life; but she would rather reveal her checkbook account and admit her shortcomings than confess she is a failure at prayer. "To say I love God but I do not pray much is like saying I love life but do not breathe much." She continues her thought, "l have learned that there are real things I can do, both in my mind and in my body, to put myself in the presence of God. God is not obliged to show up, but if God does then I will be ready. At the same time, I am aware that prayer is more than something I do. The longer I practice prayer, the more I think it is something that is always happening, like a radio wave that carries music through the air whether I turn in to it or not.. ...prayer is a practice and not a discussion topic."
In using the Lord's prayer as our model, we find the genuine elements of any individual prayer: an acknowledgement of the holy and the Holy One; a desire to be one with the Divine and all creation; the surrender to our need for substance outside of ourself and the need to receive and give forgiveness for our common frailty. There is no time table involved; no formula, even that found in our beloved Book of Common Prayer, the highest form, to be discovered; there is no one word, phrase or even practice that will suffice. In short, prayer becomes an individual experience, for some grounded in silence and centering and for others, grounded in ministry that reaches out to another with compassion and yet for another, a combination of attentive silence, intentional ministry and gentle, loving word.
For myself, I find my prayer is a focused one that begins on my awakening each day. I give a quick word of thanksgiving for the day beginning, a day grounded in Christ's love for me. As I proceed through the day, I might be grieved at the sight of a young fawn lying along the road, killed by an oncoming car in the twilight of day and I pray on behalf of all of God's creation. I pray as I drive home today in gratitude for each of you gathered in communal praise and prayer. I pray for loved ones, familiar ones, needy and hurting ones, as I sit quietly on the porch. I pray for the elderly, hunched over, woman that I pass with my shopping cart at Giant.
The spiritual writer, Anne Lamont, distills her prayer practice into a slogan, "Thanks, Help, Wow" also the title of one of her many books. She says, "Prayer is about getting outside of your own self and hooking into something greater than that very, very limited part of our experience."
Jesus concludes his prayer teaching with a parable that urges persistence and a certain shamelessness in asking, searching, seeking. Take Lamont's phrase, "Thanks, Help, Wow" as your own when you pray. Be attentive to the Holy One who centers you, keeps you on a steady course in turbulent times. Be ready to say thank you to God who creates and sustains; be humble to seek help in the Holy Spirit; be open and willing enough to exclaim "wow" to the ever unfolding mystery of God.
