Sermon "The Lord’s Prayer" Part 1 June 6, 2010 Matt. 6:

This morning I am starting a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer, that should take me into July. Today I will cover some general ideas about prayer before moving into the introduction of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. So, let’s start with prayer.

PRAYER

I will begin by imposing some basic questions. What is prayer? Why should we pray? What should we expect when we pray?

Prayer is a form of communication, which means it is between two parties, in this case between humans and God. To pray is to assume that God exists and is listening. In this year’s Lenten series, Walter Wangerin, Jr. said prayer was in four acts: We speak, God listens; God speaks, and we listen. Prayer is most effective when all four acts are present.

Why pray? Praying can be emotionally uplifting or draining. That is because our prayers often are about important, or ultimate things, revealing what is in our hearts that we often keep to ourselves. Prayer becomes therapeutic, freeing, and helps us understand what is important in life. And we can have confidence God is moved by our prayers.

What should we expect when we pray? I think our expectations should go beyond answers, such as yes, no, or something entirely different, according to God’s will instead of ours. There is a part of prayer that needs to be non-verbal. That is why Walt Wangerin said one act of prayer is listening. That listening becomes most effective when we are silent before God. I would suggest that is the best way to start a prayer, in silence. It helps focus on God’s presence with us rather than what we are asking. It also helps us prepare to receive a response from God. It may not be a voice, or direct answer, but more of a sense of the presence of the Holy one. When I remember to do that, it often changes my attitude and what I am praying for. It helps see circumstances in a different light.

Some examples of non-verbal prayer would be falling silent when you see something beautiful, or a wondrous thing happens, such as the birth of a child, or the graduate walking across the podium. The silence may move you when sharing the pain of a loved one, or encountering a colorful sunset. At times like that I sit in the presence of God in humility and gratitude for the relationship.

Now I want to move toward the Lord’s Prayer itself. According to Luke 4, Jesus 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." What followed was the Lord’s prayer. In Matthew’s Gospel, the Lord’s Prayer is part of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. It must also be noted that Jesus wasn’t simply offering suggestions about prayer, but commanding his disciples to pray.

Just a random thought. Jesus taught this prayer to his Jewish disciples. I asked a Jewish friend of mine if he would be comfortable praying the Lord’s Prayer. He said he would have no problem with doing that. It is a prayer asking God to be present in our lives, and to provide for us and keep us safe. That is all. Praying for salvation through Jesus Christ came after the resurrection.

The prayer begins this way: "Our Father, which art in Heaven." Note this carefully. Throughout the prayer Jesus insists on using plural pronouns, our, us, we. I think that is very significant. The prayer prevents us from seeing the Christian faith through the lens of me, myself and I. Christianity was never meant to be an individual faith experience, but always in relation to community. We don’t gather to worship just to meet our own individual needs. We confess in the creed to believe in the Holy catholic church, the communion of saints.

I saw that community feeling expressed in many of the individual prayer requests for healing. Many of them are for someone other than the person praying. Before God we are a part of the community God has called into existence through Jesus. When anyone of that community is in pain, or missing, or on the prayer chain, or celebrating, the entire community of faith is affected.

Some may take issue with the reference to God as father. It may stem from referring to God in only one gender, or it may come from someone’s negative experience with their own father. I experienced that negative father image with a confirmation class that was the worst ever. The class contained four boys who had no interest in matters of faith, who were disruptive, angry, and violent. On a retreat at Camp Hiawatha, things got so bad we almost went home a day early. I sat them down to find out why they were behaving so badly. I threatened to have their parents come get them that night. Then the truth came out. Each of those boys had a father that was absent, and in some cases abusive or neglectful. My mentioning of parents triggered both anger and tears.

The image of God as Father goes beyond having a male figure present. It is the need we have as human beings to know there is someone in our lives to guide, love, nurture, and protect us. Again, we are made for community. Does it matter to someone else that we exist? Doesn’t life become more meaningful to us when someone else matters to us?

We want God to be God. We want his name to be hallowed, or holy, not because God needs our praise and attention. It is because we need God to be the Holy one who loves, blesses, comforts, guides and forgives us as his children. We pray that God’s name be holy so that we may be made whole and holy in the name of Jesus. Next Sunday I will cover the most dangerous part of the Lord’s Prayer, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven." Amen.