Lord Teach Us To Pray

SERMON   July 28, 2013  “Lord, Teach Us to Pray”  Luke 11:1-13   The Rev. Laura Adelia

In the spring of 1995, I received a call and invitation from my sister to come and visit her and her husband in Greece for a couple of weeks in the summer.  My sister and her husband used to rent a condo on one of the Greek islands during the summers.   Coincidentally, this was also my first year of seminary.  Needless to say, upon receiving my sister's call, I jumped at her invitation!

I flew to Athens and we visited the sites; the Acropolis, the Temples, Plato's Academy.... and then we flew out to the island where they stayed.

On the islands of Greece we visited, I noticed that many houses had their own little chapels in their backyards.  Little tiny prayer chapels…they were everywhere, and each little chapel had its own charm, painted white with Mediterranean blue trim.  Each one was about the size of a large garden shed, and could possibly hold up to about 6 or 8 people inside it.

I was intrigued and asked one of the the locals about the tiny chapels in people’s backyards.  She was a little old Greek lady, with just a hint of a bit of a mustache.  She responded to me in English with her heavy Greek accent, “Well, one has to have a place to pray!”

Do you have a favorite place to pray? 

Notice in Luke’s gospel, it says, ‘Jesus was praying in a certain place’.  In fact, Jesus is always praying.  The scriptures describe him going to the desert, to places away from the crowds, to be alone, and pray.   

Garden of Gethsemane

We do not know exactly where he was praying at this certain instance, but it was known that the Garden of Gethsemane was one of his favorite places to pray.  The Garden of Gethsemane is actually a grove of olive trees at the base of the Mount of Olives, just east of Jerusalem.  It is a very peaceful place. 

I am sure for many of you have found that a quiet, beautiful place in nature is a wonderful place to pray and feel the presence of God.

Prayer… it is central to all spiritualties and religions.  There probably have been more books written about prayer than any other topic.  Needless to say, there are many different ways and styles of prayer!

Prayer is a communication with God, it can be both a thought and an act. Prayer can be a solemn request, or an expression of gratitude.  Prayer can be done individually, or communally.  It can be done as a ritual, as in worship.    

Notice too when we say, Let us pray, many pray with hands folded, heads bowed, or downward.  But in Jesus' day, people prayed with hands raised upwards, and looking upward.

Prayer can be verbal or silent.  Prayer can be listening…such as in a contemplative meditation.  Prayer can be done sitting, kneeling or standing.  We can pray as we work, pray as we drive down the road, pray while doing chores, pray working in the yard, and pray as we take a walk!

Prayer can really be done just about anywhere!

Prayer can be danced and prayer can be a sung!   The book of Psalms is actually an ancient prayer-song book.   “Psalm” means “song” in Hebrew.  So when we say or sing the Psalms, we are singing / saying prayers and songs that were sung and chanted 3,000 years ago! We could say, these song-prayers are ‘time tested’!  As St. Augustine once said about music and prayer, “One who sings, prays twice!”

So when the disciples ask Jesus to teach them to pray, Jesus teaches them what becomes, as we know, the most well known and prayed prayer in all of Christianity, the “Lord’s Prayer”.

We all know it well.  Notice the prayer as we say it today begins with the words, “Our Father”.  In Luke’s gospel it starts out with “Father, hallowed be your name…” .  It also is in the gospel of Matthew, and begins, “Our Father in heaven…”   

Have you ever heard the Lord’s Prayer in other languages?  “Our Father”, is “Padre Nuestro” in Spanish.  In Aramaic, “Abwoon”.  In German, “Vater Unser”.  Greek, “Pater Hemon”.  In Swahili, “Baba Yatu”.  And on it goes!

In either version, or whatever the language, Jesus teaches us to pray by at first focusing on God. 

In many ways, the Lord’s Prayer is similar to the Jewish prayer hymn, the the Kaddish that praises God, “hallowed be thy name”. ‘Kaddish’, by the way, means ‘holy’ in Aramaic.   

In fact, the Lord’s Prayer has many similarities to Jewish prayer.   “Lead us not into sin (temptation)” is in the morning blessings of Jewish prayer.  And there are many other parallels.

And go figure!  Jesus was Jewish!   So, it would probably help to better understand Jewish prayer to go deeper with the Lord’s Prayer.  Let’s take a look…

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, author of many books on Jewish Spirituality, says of Jewish prayer….that a person is like a shofar, (the ram’s horn, blown on Jewish New Year as a ritual of awakening).  A shofar sounds only when breath is blown thru it.  When we pray, God moves thru us!   God’s essence or energy needs hands and mouths to give prayers voice and melody.  People are the instruments that transform prayers into music and words and movement.   We become God’s instrument!

Prayer connects us to God and joins us all to creation.  And that, says Rabbi Kushner, is the essence of Jewish prayer, to become closer to God…to awaken, to see the Holy everywhere…

I think this is what Jesus was always trying to teach his disciples…and us.

Another thing Jesus teaches is about persistence in prayer.  To ask, to search and to knock…and to persist.

Does this mean that Jesus telling us to ask over and over until we get what we have asked for?  To search until we find what we are looking for?  And to knock until a door has been opened?

Authentic prayer is not about getting everything we ask for.  Rather, persistence in prayer is perseverance in prayer.  To pray without ceasing.  In other words, to just pray! 

Remember, prayer is not only words and us talking.  In fact Jesus teaches against long, wordy verbose prayers.  Prayer is listening too.  Listening for God, giving time to feel God’s presence. 'Be still and know that I am God’, as Psalm 46 says.

Yes, we can ask, we can search and we can knock….and yes it is wonderful when our prayers are answered.  Many times though as we know, our prayers are answered very differently than what we had envisioned.

There is an old saying….God answers our prayers in three different ways.  One answer is, “Yes!”.  Another answer is, “Yes, but not now.”  And a third, “No, because I have something much better planned for you!”

Thus prayer is not so much about us receiving what we ask for.   Rather, it is more about relationship with the Holy, being open to what God may be trying to offer or teach us.

Prayer is powerful....and prayer goes beyond the boundaries of religion or denominations.... 

As a chaplain in the Air Force and Air National Guard, over the years I have prayed with people of just about every denomination of Christianity.  I have prayed with Jewish people.  I have prayed with Muslims.  I have prayed and meditated with Buddhists.  I have prayed with people of many religions, even those with no religious preference!

Prayer heals, prayer teaches, and prayer transforms! 

Lord, teach us to pray! 

Amen!