Prayer: follow the directions 10/9/11

Prayer: As easy as following the directions

3^rd in the series on prayer

RUMC 10/9/11

Today we start with the top ten Christian prayers of all time-- Backed by literally minutes of exhaustive guessing, and speculation here are the world’s most popular prayers

#10 The Jesus Prayer  

- (Kyrie) Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

#9 Children's Bedtime Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep, 
I pray the Lord my soul to keep: 
May God guard me through the night
And wake me with the morning light. 
Amen. 

#8 A Table Blessing -

God is great and God is Good, 

And we thank God for our food; 
By God's hand we must be fed, 
Give us Lord, our daily bread. Amen. 

#7 Christ Be With Me-

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Christ.
May your salvation, Lord, be ever with us.
--- St. Patrick

#6 The Irish Blessing-

May the road rise to meet you, 

May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

--- Anonymous

#5 Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace 

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love,
Where there is injury, pardon
Where there is doubt, faith,
Where there is despair, hope,
Where there is darkness, light,
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much
seek to be consoled as to console,
not so much to be understood as to understand,
not so much to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
it is in dying that we awake to eternal life.

--- St. Francis of Assisi

#4 Serenity Prayer-

 God grant me the serenity 

to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time; 
Enjoying one moment at a time; 
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; 
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it; 
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life 
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr

#3 Silent Prayer

#2 Twenty-Third Psalm

#1 The Lord’s Prayer The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Now we might quibble about whether a prayer belongs at number 2 or number 3, but I suspect we can all agree that the Lord’s Prayer is the number one most popular prayer in all Christianity.

Of all the prayers Jesus prayed- this is the standout because it was his response to the disciple’s request, “Lord teach us to pray.” 

So in any series of sermons on prayer we would be remiss to skip over this sometimes too familiar, sometimes too popular prayer.

So let’s look at the Lord’s Prayer as a model for our praying and see what we can learn.

Before we begin, we have to get something straight.  Did you in notice reading Matthew this morning, is that he forgot to put ½ the Lord’s Prayer in today’s scripture reading.  Did you notice that?  Where is “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the Glory forever AMEN?”  We call that last part the Doxology.  Which means praise.

The truth is that we pretty sure that Jesus said that part of the prayer.  In modern translations both Luke and Matthew, end Jesus prayer with “As we forgive those who trespass against us.”  If you worship with our Catholic friends, or some Lutherans, you had better stop there, or you will be praying that Doxology by yourself. 

So where did that last part come from?  The early church seems to have adopted this doxology, which is certainly faithful to the spirit of Jesus prayer, as a way to conclude the Lord’s Prayer.  Somehow, at some time, it was included in some of the scrolls of the Gospel of Matthew.  It is very interesting to study the differences between various Biblical manuscripts.  (Or ancient copies of the Bible)  Virtually all scholars agree that the Byzantine scrolls that contain the Doxology to the Lord’s Prayer are not the earliest or the most accurate scrolls we have.

So, you might ask, why do we pray it?  Do we pray it that way because we have always done it that way?  Well, not quite.  You all remember the King James Version of the Bible?  In 1611, 47 of the best English scholars of the day prepared a new English translation of the Bible.  Given the information they had available at that time, they believed the doxology to be part of the prayer in Matthew, so they included it.  It was still not part of Luke.

So the answer to why we pray it that way is because the King James Version of the prayer in Matthew is worded that way.  Today I am considering the Doxology to be a faithful, but not authentic, part of the Lord’s Prayer.

Phew, now that we have that out of the way, we ask ourselves again, what can we learn from this model for prayer?

First, notice how the prayer starts and ends.  The introduction “Our father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” and the Doxology “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  AMEN.”  They both point to God.  They are like the bookends that hold the whole prayer together.  God is the beginning and the end of prayer.  Prayer starts with God and ends with God.  God is the Alpha and the Omega.  God is the source of prayer, and the goal of prayer.  The directions Jesus gave us in this example, say to start and end with God.

If prayer is our idea, a human construct, we are in trouble.  If prayer starts with us then the first goal of prayer would be to get God’s attention.  Maybe we would be burning offerings, or human sacrifice, or like the priests of Baal, dancing and shouting and cutting ourselves.  If prayer ends with us, we are fully responsible for answering prayer.  Again, we are in big trouble.

The truth is that prayer is not a human idea.  Prayer is not our idea.  Prayer is God’s idea.  God wants to hear you even more than you want to pray.  God is more willing to answer your prayers than you would ever believe. 

So what does that mean for our praying?

It means, first, that since the invitation is God’s.  Since God invites us to pray, and God since wants to hear our prayers.  We should go boldly into prayer.  Go to God and boldly pray to the God who is already waiting for you. 

Second, spend some time praising and adoring God.  One of my pet peeves when the kids were at home is walking in the door and being hit with all the problems of the day.  Granted I’m not anywhere near as understanding as God, but a little conversation and reconnecting would have been appreciated.  Spending a little time connecting with God, praising God, thanking God, adoring God, worshipping God, being amazed in God’s presence, goes a long ways to enriching a prayer life.  One of the things I do is practice using different names for God.  You don’t have to call God “father” all the time.  There is a list of almost 200 names for God on the computer desk back there.  Depending on your emotional condition and needs for the day, you may find some names more meaningful at one time and others more meaningful at others.

•              So the first lesson is; you are here by God’s invitation praise God boldly.  Pray boldly and praise God boldly again.

When you pray, pray like this “Our father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever amen.”

The second thing I notice is the attitude of Jesus’ prayer.  Payer is not to be a list of demands. 

Jesus prays thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

I suppose if this were a legal contract, you might consider this boilerplate language.  A sentence that you include in every single prayer.  Even though we might not include it in every prayer we pray, we need to pray every prayer in this attitude.  “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

How could it be otherwise?  God is God, after all.  I will never beat God in an arm wrestling contest.  I will never convince God that God is wrong.  My will is never going to supersede God’s will.  My plans are never going to beat God’s plans.  My ways are never going to be better than God’s ways.  And we need to remember that.  Maybe this sentence is more of an attitude adjustment for us than anything else, but we need it don’t we.  Saying it frequently, as we pray the Lord’s prayer is a great reminder that we are not engaged in debate with God, we are not trying to bribe God or manipulate God.  Prayer is the awesome opportunity for the created creature to be in intimate prayer relationship with the divine creator.

Part of our prayer needs to be asking God to align our will with God’s will.  Our desires, with God’s intentions.  Our prayers with God’s plan.  We must pray as Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but thine be done.”  That is the proper humble attitude for prayer.

When you pray, pray like this.  Not my kingdom but thy kingdom.  // Not my will but thy will.  // Not in heaven as it is on earth, but on earth as it is in heaven.

Finally, we come to the supplications in the Lord’s Prayer.  This is the part of prayer with which most of us do not need help.  A supplication is humbly asking God for what we need.  We do a pretty God job of thinking up things for which we can ask God

I want you to notice two things here, though.  Notice that Jesus asks for bread.  Not cars, private jets, winning lottery tickets, or fame.  I’m not saying it is wrong to pray for those things.  (Though I have to wonder).  What I am saying is that Jesus felt free to ask for even the simplest things.  In God’s eyes, there is nothing that is too unimportant to be included in prayer.  I used to have a quite able-bodied friend in high school, who prayed for parking places close to the mall entrances.  I always mocked him a little, but you know if Jesus can pray for bread, who am I to say that Kevin can’t pray for parking a parking spot?  God may see fit to provide the parking spot, or not in favor of providing the opportunity for a little exercise.

I’m being a little facetious, there.  But the fact is God wants us to pour our hearts out to him in prayer.  No matter how little it may seem, it doesn’t make any difference   it is up to God to decide what to do with them.  Pour out every prayer, even the smallest, and let God sweat the details.

On the other hand, I want you to notice that Jesus also prays for forgiveness, as we forgive, and protection from evil.  This is the flip side of what I just said.  Those are no small requests.  Forgiveness of our sins from the holy God almighty, and protection when we face the cosmic forces of temptation and evil are heavy-duty requests of eternal and cosmic importance.  I cannot think of any prayers that are weightier than those are.  And it is OK to take those to God too.

Little things, big things; irritations or crises; bread or salvation; a parking place or a new kidney for our Brandi.  They are all important prayers and God wants to hear them all.  Whether you consider them important or not.  .  Pray whatever prayers are on your heart and let God sweat the details. 

When you pray, pray like this: “Give us the little things like, our daily bread and give us the big things like forgive us our trespasses and lead us not into temptation.”

Without exaggerating, I am pretty sure there have been millions of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer.  You May have heard dozens.  I have probably preached my share; I am guessing 10-15.  But each one hopefully finds a new Gem in this most popular of Christian prayers.

Today we have mined three things from the Lord’s Prayer. 
And that is your homework this week.  Pray the Lord’s Prayer every day.  Make it the model for your praying.  And remember…

1. Come and be BOLD in praise and prayer.  You are here by God’s INVITAION. 
2. Come humbly seeking God’s INSPIRATION to ALIGN your will with God’s.
3. Come with TRUST.  Offer your SUPPLICATION to God.  Both big and small, and let God sweat the details.

And now let us pray together the prayer model that Jesus gave us.

Our Father…