Rev. Tom Tate
Rose City Park United Methodist Church (near the corner of NE Sandy and 57th.)
5830 NE Alameda, Portland, OR
HYPERLINK "http://www.rosecityparkumc.org" www.rosecityparkumc.org
Prayer. What comes to mind?
Friday afternoon, we took the confirmation class up to Mt. Hood for their retreat and final sessions. It is a most important time. It is a good time. My task was to present the opportunity for decision-making. Will they accept this faith we profess and will they pledge their lives to Christ. After professing Christ, receiving the scriptures, and accepting the power of the Holy Spirit, the next question is, "Will you be loyal to the United Methodist Church and support it with your service, your gifts, presence and your prayers." No, that's not how it goes. I have it: "Will you support the church with your presence, your service, your prayers and your gifts." No, that's not it. What is the first thing we pledge, but probably have the hardest time doing on a regular basis: "I will support the church with my prayers - that's first - for a good reason I suspect.
Prayer is our lifeline with God. Prayer is our deep well of living water for life. Prayer is our basic bread for nourishment. My grandmother, Iva, had an identical twin sister, Eva. In their last twenty years on this earth, that was the call they made each morning: to each other. Like your first word to your spouse when you wake or last word at night; Like the lunch with the best friend, calls to children, prayer is our source of spirit for life. At the same time, I wonder if there is a lot of uncertainty about the nature of prayer. I know there is for me. Sometimes I would be ahead if I just said, "Now I lay me down to sleep." Over these next three Sunday's I want to invite you to think with me about prayer and reflect on the life, and specifically, the prayer life of Jesus to see how we might grow in our relationship with God.
But, before we get to Jesus, we can consider the Psalms as a resource for prayer. The Psalms so intimately reflect the deep tenderness and love of God. Psalm 84: "How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God...Happy are those whose strength is in you." Psalm 57 says, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in my soul takes refuge; in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, until the destroying storms pass by...God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness." Or Psalm 42: "As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God." You know as well as I, prayer is our life-line in all circumstances of life: Praise and discouragement, joy and turmoil, confusion, grief and jubilation. Through prayer, we can hear and sense, again and again the absolute acceptance and grace of the one in whom we have our hope.
So, have you considered why you pray, when you pray, where you pray and what you expect from prayer? Paul says to pray continually. That sounds a bit difficult. Let's reflect on the passages today as we consider how to create a life of prayer. According to Mark's gospel, Jesus had begun his ministry with great success. They were at the beautiful lakeside town of Capernaum, up in the Galilee. People were coming by droves to be healed, to be freed of forces controlling their lives, and to listen to the news of God's Kingdom. I don't have any facts to back this up, but I believe he did not sleep well that night. It says he was up early, "In the morning, while it was still very dark," and went out "to a deserted place," to pray. When the disciples got up they went looking for him because the people were looking for him - Jesus was a big hit the day before! But he said, "We have to go on to the next town to share the news as well." So, what happened early, "While it was still very dark," in that prayer? I would wager he listened, he sensed first, God's grace enfolding him. Jesus knew the delight of God's presence that he received in prayer. But for Jesus, prayer was the source for direction. Jesus knew in his prayer life that his ministry wasn't about him - it was about the Kingdom of His Heavenly Parent, and Jesus' job was not to get sucked into the popularity of the moment, that which was considered in his experience of temptation, but to be focused on spreading the news of God's love. Prayer for Jesus was often discernment: What does God want of me.
In Luke's 6th chapter we hear of Jesus' call of the disciples. How does he prepare himself to select those who would join him in his creation-transforming task force? He spent the entire night in prayer.
Again, in Luke's gospel, when Jesus was discerning whether to go to Jerusalem and the cross, he went up the mountainside. He took with him, Peter, James and John. They experienced the transfiguration. This was a mystical experience of prayer: hearing God's direction. And when they came down, they were confronted by a mishap: The rest of the disciples, those who had not gone up the mountain and witnessed the transfiguration, were in a conflict. There was a man with a son who had a demon that the disciples could not cast out. At first, Jesus blew up in frustration, and then after healing the boy, he said, "This kind can only be cast out by prayer." But prayer for Jesus was not just to stop and say a small prayer and then the healing took place. For Jesus, living was prayer - prayer was his life and breath: a constant connection with God.
And when Jesus was contemplating his arrest, trial and execution, he went to the garden of Gethsemane where he prayed. He invited others to join him. In his prayer, he asked to have a different outcome than his death, but God's answer was the cross. Prayer for Jesus was an experience of being overwhelmed by the grace of God. I'm sure it was full of the amazement of God, the wonder and joy of being one with the Creator. I'm sure it began with the gratitude for the creation and the delight of God's world. But also for Jesus, prayer was listening; it was often discernment: What direction shall I go?
Our lives are busy. I know the feeling that I don't have time to pray. We are also conditioned in this life to believe that doing is better than being. We believe in action, and only through action are we accomplishing the important things of life. But, prayer is more about "Being" than doing and when we discover whom and whose we are, we are then more prepared for the doing.
Let me say that at least half of our prayer life ought to be listening - You know, giving God at least half the time to speak. It is a good discipline for us. I would also like to offer that it isn't the silence of God that is so dangerous, but the word of God we hear that will be uncomfortable or frightening and challenging. I am enjoying very much the book, "Mother Teresa, Come Be My Light." Some of her prayers are recorded, and they are insights to what this saint's prayers were like. Early in her carrier as a nun, she felt the call of Jesus to be with the poor in Calcutta, and to begin a new order that would include Indian women reaching the poorest of that city. How did she come to this? She heard Jesus' call. This is what she recorded as her prayer - not her words, but the words Jesus spoke to her:
"My little one - come - come - carry me into the holes of the poor. Come be My Light - I cannot go alone - they don't know Me - so they don't want Me. You come - go amongst them, carry Me with you into them. - How I long to enter their holes - their dark unhappy homes. Come be their victim. In your immolation, in your love for me, they will see Me, know Me, and want Me. Offer more sacrifices - smile more tenderly, pray more fervently and all the difficulties will disappear.
You are afraid. How your fear hurts me - Fear not. It is I who am asking you to do this for me. Fear not - Even if the whole world is against you, laughs at you, your companions and Superiors look down on you, fear not - it is I in you, with you, for you.
You will suffer - suffer very much - but remember I am with you. Even if the whole world rejects you - remember you are My own - and I am yours only. Fear Not. It is I. Only obey - obey cheerfully and promptly and without question - just only obey. I shall never leave you - if you obey." (P. 98-99)
Prayer: What is it? It is a loving silence wherein we know we are loved. How shall we begin? Begin the day with thankfulness for another night's rest and a day to live. Look around and behold the beauty of the world and the wonder of who you are and give thanks. Prayer is honesty before God: Like a mirror reflecting the truth of our thoughts and actions. Being alone with God can be an alarming experience. But, it is also our avenue of reassurance that when we have sinned - done things of which we are ashamed, God's word comes to us announcing our humanity and God's constant accepting, forgiving grace. When we feel abandoned, when we are hurting, prayer is God's reminder that we aren't alone: "Even though I walk thought the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me." And when we are stuck, wondering what direction we are to go, what the possibilities might be, prayer is our avenue of discernment, an opportunity to hear what God might say.
Prayer led Jesus to the cross. Prayer can be a very dangerous thing; it can set our feet in an uncertain direction - at least that is the biblical record. Friday was the fortieth anniversary of the death of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In my opinion, he was in the true classical sense of the word, a prophet in our midst: grounded in the biblical, prophetic tradition of God, calling society to justice and humility. Not a perfect person by any means, but a person who spoke, what in the minds of many, has come to be God's word. And, like the prophets of old, who reminded the people of God's way, he was seen as threatening, and was eliminated.
Martin King was entrenched in prayer - He had to be to live the life he lived. I suspect that like the Prophets and Jesus and many others, Martin King's prayer life was troubling because he heard God's call. He understood the lives of saints in the bible and history. You know, we hear the word "extremist" today, frequently. We apply the word to our enemies. In his book, "Why We Can't Wait," Rev. King refers to certain "Extremists."
He says, "Was not Jesus an extremist for love: love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you. Was not Amos an extremist for justice: 'Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.' Was not Paul an extremist for the Christian gospel: 'I bear on my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' Was not Martin Luther an extremist: 'Here I stand; I can do no other, so help me God. And, Abraham Lincoln: 'This nation cannot survive half free and half slave'." Rev. King goes on, "So the question is not whether we will be extremists, but what kind of extremists will we be? Extremists for hate or for love? (p. 88)
All of these saints mentioned above knew God intimately. They were surrounded by and delighted in the never failing grace of God. That was what directed their lives. Prayer is our lifeline to God. It is our way of expressing our gratitude to the God who has given life and all creation. Prayer is our way of coming to know ourselves in truth and knowing God's forgiving grace. Prayer is also God's way of directing our lives toward God's ends. And, if we can trust the biblical record and the prayers of many, that end is to follow the Christ of God, the One who was most certainly, an "Extremist of love."
Amen
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