"Teach Us to Pray"
Pastor Cynthia Schnaath
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Luke 11:1-13
Top 10 reasons people give for not praying
10. I'm too busy
9. I forget.
8. It won't change things
7. I don't want to be disappointed.
6. I'm not good enough.
5. It's boring.
4. I'm not very religious.
3. With all the trouble in our world, my needs are
too insignificant.
2. I don't know how.
And the number one reason people don't pray:
I am afraid to.
As a pastor I am often asked to pray for someone or a family member of someone or over a concern that someone has. My usually answer is I would be glad to do that – and I try to remember when I do my daily prayers. Barbara Brown Taylor tells the story of someone who comes up to the pastor just as the worship service is to begin and asks them to pray for her Uncle Chuck. The pastor asks her to write it down, but they have no paper or pen. So pastor says they will remember. As they are walking down the aisle, they keep repeating, “Chuck, Chuck, Chuck”.
A few years ago I was traveling with my mother to Philly to see my brother and his family. We had a layover in Milwaukee and decided to have lunch. As is the practice of my mother and myself when we are traveling is we pray before we eat. A young man saw and heard us, and we begin to chat. Then he shared some concerns of his family and asked us to pray for his family. My mother said, “let’s pray right now,” and begin to lead the three of us in prayer.
As I hear this gospel lesson today, I know that those of us who have grown up in the church know the Lord’s Prayer very well. We may have a few different translations that we use. We may prefer to sing it. Len Dale on synod staff told of how when he was a child with a very bad ear infection, his grandmother said the Lord’s Prayer in German to him –and although he did not know German, he knew what she was praying. Dan Glamann told the staff recently how at Camp Tomah Shinga the campers at their closing worship service on top of a hill shouted the Lord’s Prayer. Then I told how, during a Taize service, we whispered the Lord’s prayer.
Monday night at Bible Study when I asked the group who taught them the Lord’s prayer, most thought in Sunday School or just by being a part of worship. This prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is perhaps the most familiar prayer in all of Christendom. It is a prayer we share as a faith community. It begins our prayer relationship with God.
Sometimes when we are with others who are not from a faith community and tragedy happens we may be called upon to pray. There may be fear of what to say or to do it the right way. But I want to encourage you to not just say I will pray for you later, but to pray with them right then. It might be a simple prayer. But by inviting God’s presence in to your conversation you might see and witness to something that God desires. In the conversation, calmness may come, new insights, clearer thinking. Prayer is the presence of God – not that God will always change the situation - but knowing that God is with you, that God is going through the tragedy or suffering or depression or even death with you, not as a far off God, way out in space, but as your very close and loving parent.
There is nothing wrong with coming to God with your laundry list of needs and wants – just know that the answer may be, "we’ll see" or "not yet," or "no" or "yes," but there are consequences. Like the relationship between a parent and a child, the healthiest of kinds is where both are patiently waiting together to see what will happen.
So we gather together today with this familiar pray before us, to those of us who have grown up in the church, been active in the church, and to those who may be new. May we know the power of the presence of God revealed to us. May we be a part of God’s plan to set the world right. May we have enough to feed us for our life's journey. May we live forgiven and forgive others. May we resist temptation and live in the power and glory of our Creator.
Closed with hymn ELW 752 “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”