on the Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost...
Sunday, October 12, 2008
From the book of Numbers, Chapter 11 10 Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, all at the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses was displeased. 11So Moses said to the Lord, ‘Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why have I not found favour in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? 12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, “Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child”, to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors? 13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they come weeping to me and say, “Give us meat to eat!” 14I am not able to carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me. 15If this is the way you are going to treat me, put me to death at once—if I have found favour in your sight—and do not let me see my misery.’ From the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 11 1He 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.’ 2He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, 9 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. From the Apostle Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. "Encountering Christ in Prayer" A
Sermon Preached by at the First Congregational Church of Stoughton United Church of Christ
What were you doing on November 23, 1984? I know that some of you were just babies or not even born, but for the rest of you, do you remember November 23, 1984? let me give you some hints: It was the day after Thanksgiving. Some of you may have been recovering from your turkey feast by relaxing in front of the TV and watching a little football. In a nationally-televised game, Boston College was playing the defending national champion University of Miami. The lead had gone back and forth, but with less than one minute left in the game, the Hurricanes had pulled ahead of the Eagles 45-41. But the game was not over. BC’s quarterback Doug Flutie knew that as long as there was time on the clock, there was an opportunity to make a play. And what a play it was! With six seconds left in the game, and with BC in possession of the ball on Miami’s 48 yard line, Flutie heaved a last-second desperation bomb toward the end zone. The ball soared in the air half way across the field -- and right into the waiting arms of BC flanker Gerard Phelan. With no time left on the clock, BC had won, 47-45. That play was the defining moment in Doug Flutie’s career and in BC football history. And because of that play, a new term entered the English lexicon – “the Hail Mary pass.”1 The rationale behind that term is that a pass thrown under such desperate circumstances could only be completed with the help of divine intervention. The phrase comes from the Catholic prayer based on the angel Gabriel’s greetings to Mary recorded in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke: “Hail Mary, full of grace…”2 Prayer is something that many of us do associate with desperation, because that is the only time some pray. They pray even if they are not sure to whom they’re praying, or if anyone out there is listening at all. Whether it’s a painful divorce, a wayward child, and grim prognosis, there are people who pray only when all other options have been exhausted. And it’s because many people are under the impression that most of the time, we can rely on ourselves. When life is running smoothly, we don’t need God. We can along just find on our own – thank you very much. But at the moment of crisis and desperation -- when we’ve run out of time and opportunity, when human cleverness and mortal strength have fled us, when all other options are gone -- that’s the time to throw up a prayer. “Hail, Mary…”3 It is not a bad thing to pray in time of crisis. God loves all people and hears their prayers even when they have ignored God for years. But praying only in times of desperation is not enough to develop and sustain a spiritual life. God wants our prayers not to be just in times of difficulty and suffering, but also in good times. Throughout all the events of our lives, God wants us to hear from us; God wants to listen to us; and God wants for us to listen, too. Prayer may be absolute silence, or quiet contemplation, or heartfelt expression. Prayer may be a petition, in which we ask God to do something for us. It may be intercessory, asking God to do something through us for someone else. Or it may be spiritual communion, in which God does something in us. For many, prayer can be a mysterious unknown that can be a little overwhelming. After all, you are approaching God, and what would happen if you said or did the wrong thing -- lighting bolts or thunder claps, right? But we shouldn't let our fears keep us from knowing the joy of God. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote that, "Human eye has not seen, and the ear has not heard, nor the heart conceived, of all the wonders that God has prepared for those who love Him." 4 And how can you love God, how can you have a serious and intimate relationship with God, unless you can talk with God? In some ways, the process of developing a relationship with God is like developing a special relationship with a person. In the beginning, you want to make a good impression on that person and only show your good side. In the same way, when you first pray, you may only want to show your best side to God -- as if God doesn't already know all about you and your shortcomings, your needs, your burdens. And then as this new relationship with this special person continues to grow, you reach the stage where you feel comfortable sharing your weaknesses and vulnerability, because you know that despite all your flaws, the person loves you still. In human relationships, this is usually a major turning point. You bare your soul, you show your warts, and the other person says, "I love you anyway." In our relationship with God, this is just as important. When I knew for the first time -- really knew in my heart -- that God loved me completely and unconditionally, even with all my flaws, I was moved to tears. It is so humbling and so freeing, too. Because after you pass this point and realize that it's okay that you're not perfect, then you no longer have to put up the illusion that you're perfect. And your relationship -- whether it be with the special person or with God -- can continue to develop and grow. At some point in your life -- and for some, this comes sooner rather than later -- a crisis will hit, a crisis of such magnitude that you can't imagine getting through it without the help and love of that special person in your life. And in your devotional life, this may be when you discover just how much you need God in your life, and how strong and healing the comforting love of God can be. But it’s hard to pray. It’s hard to even remember to pray; our schedules are so full that we forget, or we’re just too busy. Jesus was busy, too, calling and training his disciples, teaching and preaching about the Kingdom of God, and healing, ministering to, and liberating the multitudes of sick and needy people who pressed in on him. But he was able to do it all by putting time with God at the top of his priority list. The gospels tell us how Jesus "arose in the early morning, while it was still dark, and went out and departed to a lonely place, and was praying there" [Mark 1:35] and that he would often "slip away to the wilderness and pray" [Luke 5:16]. Far from wearing prayer like a life preserver, Jesus clothed himself in it every day. Sometimes we try to pray but it is difficult to rid our mind of distractions. No less than revered priest, writer and theologian Henri Nouwen once said that when we go to pray, thoughts jump around in our minds like monkeys jumping around on banana trees5. Wow, even Henri Nouwen sometimes found it difficult to pray! Some of you who attended our Taize Prayer Service last week found it helpful to use prayer beads to focus your thoughts during the extended silent prayer. Spiritual associations with beads date back 3200 years before Christ to the ancient Egyptians, and beads have been used as instruments of prayer in Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu – as well as Christian – faith traditions. Allow me a moment to make a shameless plug. I will be selling prayer beads at the church fair, so stop by my table and pick up an already-made string, or pick out individuals beads and I will make them for you. More information about Prayer Beads is contained in a booklet on the back rack which I’ve put together. Another reason we might not pray is because it’s downright counter-cultural. We live in a world of action, one that is goal-oriented and consumed with activity. In our secular lives, we are concerned with productivity, efficiency, and achievement measured in external terms. By contrast, prayer has no categories of measurement; there is no tangible "product" to show for one's efforts. By the standards of the modern world, some might even consider prayer a waste of time. But… you don’t know how many people have been strengthened because you asked God to encourage them; you don’t know how many people have been healed because you prayed for their bodies; how many spiritual runaways have come home because you prayed for their souls. None of us may ever know the true effects of our prayers this side of heaven.6 But we can be sure they do make a difference. Another reason we might not pray is that we don’t know how to, or we feel that somehow we are doing it wrong or our prayers aren’t eloquent or beautiful enough. In this morning’s gospel lesson, Jesus’ disciples had similar concerns and said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray" [Luke 11:1]. The Apostle Paul himself shared his concern about praying in his letter to the Christians in Rome. He wrote, "…for we do not know how to pray as we ought." [Rom 8:26] but in the next breath, he gives us reason to put our fears and hesitations aside, writing "…the “Spirit intercedes” for us “with sighs too deep for words. Consider the prayer we hear of Moses in this morning’s Old Testament lesson from the book of Numbers. When we think of Moses, we may picture him looking a lot like Charlton Heston, coming down from the mountain after encountering God in the burning bush, or stretching out his rod to roll back the waters of the Red Sea, or striking a rock in the desert and making the waters flow. But this morning we see an angry, petulant and self-pitying side of Moses. “Why are you treating me like this?” he asks God. “You know, it wasn’t me who brought these people into the world. I just cannot deal with their whining and complaining. I’ve had it. If this is the way you’re going to treat me, do me a favor and just kill me now.” I admit there have been times when I have felt like Moses – maybe you have, too. But what makes his words prayerful is that he speaks honestly from his heart and that he recognizes his own insufficiency and knows enough to draw up God’s divine resources. And God graciously and lovingly answers his prayer. The Book of Hebrews says of Moses, “He endured as seeing him who is invisible,” or in The Message translation, “He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going.” [11:27]. That is what prayer is. It is a verbalization of our awareness that God is there. We cannot see God, but we can be assured that God is there, listening to us and communicating with us. As we see in Moses, prayer is not saying the “right” words in the “right” way at the “right” time in the “right” position. Instead, it is sharing honestly what is deep in our heart, and putting our reliance and trust in God. I tell my confirmation students that there are only three requirements for a prayer: that it is directed to God, that it’s reverent, and that it comes from the heart. Perhaps one of the shortest prayers I ever heard about consisted of one word. A young man, a teenager, was in the hospital, terminally ill with cancer. The nurse who had been with him throughout his long and courageous battle was by his side in the early morning hour when he died. As she left his hospital room one last time, in her grief and anger, only one word was audible between her sobs. Even though it was profane, it was also reverent and heartfelt. And God understood the nurse’s groaning expletive as a prayer. I know there have been times in my life that the only prayer I could utter was, "O God, O God, O God" or “Help, Help, Help.” But God understands our aches and pains, our groans and tears. In the words of one theologian, "Prayer is the Divine in us, appealing to the Divine above us…We cannot know our own real need; we cannot with our finite minds grasp God’s plan; in the last analysis all that we can bring to God is an inarticulate sigh which the Spirit will translate to God for us." Does prayer change things? Absolutely! But even more important, prayer changes us. Once we enter God's presence, we cannot leave as the same person. We can share with God all our needs, feelings, hopes, and fears. Where do you begin? You start with the recognition that prayer is simply talking with God. It doesn't have a set structure or mysterious format. It is sharing honestly, simply talking with God about what is important at that moment. Start out by just spending time -- quality time -- talking with God. Share how you are doing. Share your hopes, your dreams, your fears, your troubles. Ask God to be with those you love. Let God know how much you love God. Don’t forget to say a prayer for yourself, too. And remember that despite anything you may have done in your past, any mistakes you have made, God loves you and God wants you to draw closer into relationship. As Jesus reminds us in the Great Commandment, the love of God requires the total gift of ourselves. We are to love God with all our heart, and all our soul and all our mind. And so, rather than viewing prayer as a desperate act of last resort, may we clothe ourselves in prayer; may we make prayer part of the fabric of our lives so that we may communicate with and grow closer to the God who always invites us, always seeks to know us, and always reaches out to touch us, fully. God invites us to come together in prayer right now… Let us pray….
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| 1OK, perhaps this wasn’t the first “Hail Mary pass.” Wikipedia states that “the term ‘Hail Mary pass’ is believed to have been coined by Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Stauback, referring to his desperation (and Catholic beliefs), for his game-winning touchdown pass in a December 28, 1975 NFC semifinal playoff game.” |
The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.