Sermon - July 28, 2013

10^th  Sunday after Pentecost – Year C(Lectionary 17)

Genesis 18:20-32 Luke 11:1-13

                                                                      Teach Us to Pray 

"Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 

Here is the first thing I want you to notice in this one-line request from the disciples:  they are pointing out to Jesus something that he OUGHT to do, after having seen it being done effectively by someone else.  Imagine the gumption of saying to Jesus, “Here is something that you seem not to have thought about doing, but we really think you should try.”  “Teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”   

IF the Jesus story is THE STORY which defines our lives then from this sliver of the Jesus story we ought to gain the insight that nothing sacred is ever upset or annoyed with the suggestion that maybe we could do things a bit differently or in a way that might be a bit more helpful.

            I pull this out for consideration, not merely for interesting conversation, but as a way of expressing how deeply concerned I am for the future of the Church, and to begin to share with you that I am moving more and more into the camp that thinks that unless we change the way we do things, the trend of fewer folks being involved in Church, and the average age of those who are involved getting higher and higher, is going to continue till we just simply all die out.

And one of the things that seems to be working, though you would at times get the impression that we hadn’t thought of it, yet, is to spend less time on Sunday morning talking about what Jesus thought and more time learning to live as Jesus lived. 

There is no way that I have something interesting enough or smart enough or powerful enough to make weekly attendance worth your while.  What might bring the change to your life that you seek is for this hour to help you practice being the person Jesus calls us to be.   

"Teach us …, as (others have been) taught." 

So here is where we are going to start this morning.  I want you to take out a pen or pencil or snag the one from the pew book thing, and on the edges of your bulletin write down the place or places, the person or persons, who have in the past helped you to learn how to pray.  Seriously – do some writing.   

I am going to talk while you write, but I don’t want to see you looking at me, I want you to be looking at that piece of paper in front of you. 

Prayer is very important.  Prayer is at the heart of one’s self-expression of the relationship with God.  Prayer reveals, as well as informs, the way we perceive God and the ways in which we expect our relationship to God to affect our lives. 

So who taught you to pray? Where did you learn to pray? 

Write it on that blank bulletin before you. 

If you learn to pray as a result of attending Sunday morning worship and listening to the pastor or the worship assistant, then your prayers are probably pretty formal.  I wonder if you tend to pray for things in the same, generic/non –offensive way we say Sunday prayers. 

If you learned to pray at a summer camp, I would imagine your prayers tend to encourage you to return to that mountain top experience.   They may tend to want to remove you from the gritty events of life back home. 

I learned to pray, or at least my most formable formation with regard to prayer – came in the midst of social activism – the same sort of action that seems to have formed the attitudes of Pope Francis.  (That probably doesn’t surprise you.)  So my prayers are as much actions as they are words flowing from my mouth.  

Who taught you to pray?  Where did you learn to pray? 

Was it kneeling at the side of your bed with a parent or grandparent kneeling beside you?  Did you learn to pray later in life?  Perhaps even in the midst of a terrible and horrible experience?  

Or, is your piece of paper blank because you don’t know when you learned?  Or if you even want to say that you have learned? 

Truth be told – I was actually hoping for a few blank sheets.  I was hoping we might have the courage to admit to one another that we are unsure how to pray.  I was wondering how many of us were as courageous as the first twelve of Jesus’ disciples, willing to stand before this altar and confess:  "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples." 

How do we begin, as a community of faith, to learn to pray?  How do we develop the knack and the ability and the courage to speak to God and of God?   

Let me make my own confession:  way too early in the lives of my children I stopped the practice associated with every TV children’s drama.  I didn’t go into my children’s room at the end of the day, get down on my knees with them, and say a prayer.  I wonder, if Kat-Smith-Caleb were here this morning, if they would have written my name down on the cover of their bulletin?   

So how do we develop this skill?  This art?  This avenue for strengthening our relationship with God?

One starting point might be longer periods of silence, during the Prayer of the Day, to see if anyone (in addition to Martin Schneider) will offer a prayer petition from the congregation.  Why do so few such petitions get offered?

One of my favorite experiences is the opening of Congregational Council Meetings, when a member of the Council (not a pastor) offers a reflection – AND A PRAYER. 

Want to hear one of my pet peeves?  NEVER – EVER – when you find yourself to be the one who MUST offer a prayer for the group or event – include in the call to prayer the words, “Okay, let’s have  quick prayer.”  A “quick” prayer?  Do we have something more important to do?  Some business to attend to that is more important than speaking to God?  I was hoping for some laughs – I don’t mean to shame anyone.  I know that those words are spoken because the person who finds themself pressured into praying for the group hasn’t had sufficient support to feel as if they are ready for the moment or equal to the challenge.  That is OUR fault (your pastors), and the thing that we need to change about what we do when we are together. 

We may need to begin with gaining knowledge about the differing types of prayer.  I made reference to the formal, generic prayers offered in Sunday morning worship.  That is one type of prayer. 

Another type is the style offered by the bedside of one who is gravely ill.  There, prayer is a bit more intense and purposeful. 

There is a prayer style which we would call “meditation,” or “reflection.”  And sometimes prayer is an affirmation of what it is that the prayer believes.  The book in the bible we call “Psalms,” is a collection of hymns – but most of those hymns take on a format that could be called a prayer. 

The opening reading for today is an interesting prayer.  If all conversation with God is prayer, then Abraham’s prayer serves the purpose of protest.  He will not accept that God will kill the righteous with the unrighteous.   Interesting in that exchange – does God not already know how many righteous there are in the cities?  Is Abraham insisting that God take a head count (something God had not yet done)?  Or does God know there aren’t even ten so he can play along with Abraham’s game? 

I had asked you to review Luther’s Small Catechism on The Lord’s Prayer.  Did you realize they printed the Small Catechism in the ELW?  Turn to page 1163.  During the time of distribution of communion, read over this.  Read it to your children.   

“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

Jesus hadn’t thought of everything – at least not yet.  The courageous disciples, while remaining grateful for all that Jesus had done, stepped forward to identify what they needed and to seek that which would sustain them in the long haul.   

What they needed – and what we need – is to learn to make our relationship with God a living relationship.  We can’t form relationships unless we interact.  Interaction with God involved doing God’s will in the world (Petition 3), it involves being clear about who God is and how God views us (Petition 1), and it involves the confidence that we are in God’s heart and that God is in ours (Conclusion.) 

“Lord, give us the courage and the strength to learn to pray.” 

Amen.

Sermon - July 7, 2013

7^th  Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20  

                                                                   The Kingdom of God

There are many reasons why Jesus sent those seventy out in pairs.  He wanted them to have someone else with them for company, for sure.  He wanted them to have a friend and someone who could reinforce what they had been told to tell others.  He wanted them to have a prayer partner, someone who could share their burdens.  But he also wanted them to have someone who would watch their backs.  His commission to them is only one verse long.  His warning to them about how they are likely to be treated extends for eleven verses. 

We tend not to focus on this part of the reading.  We are inclined to skip over the concern Jesus expresses that they are not to expect a warm and cordial greeting as they share this “Good News” with the towns and places he himself intends to visit.  But a warm reception is not in each of their futures. 

I have had so many experiences in the weeks (months) that I have been away.  Among them was a return trip to Turkey – this time with the chief ecumenical officers of the various denominations in South Carolina.  The group I pulled together included Lutheran Pastors, Roman Catholic Priests, an Episcopal Rector, a Rabbinical trained Jew, and an Orthodox Priest.  The Orthodox Priest proved the most interesting.  He continued to wear his cassock throughout the trip.  You are not allowed to do that, if you are a resident in Turkey.  Priests cannot wear their clerical shirts in public.  Nuns cannot wear their Habits.   

The overall reaction of the general population was positive.  Groups of children would gather around Father Thomas and ask to have their pictures taken with him. 

The response he got, as we were touring the Museum of the Sultan’s Palace was a different experience.  Four hefty looking men in dark suits, wearing sunglasses that completely hid their eyes stopped our group.  They asked the tour guide if we were from Greece.  His reply was courteous and seemingly apologetic.  Our in-country Muslim partner showed concern on his face, interceded to make sure the men in dark suits knew we were guests of the Foundation – making a cross-cultural pilgrimage.

There are many other positive stories – and I regret that this is the first I have opportunity to share with you.  I share it as a way of illustrating that the presence of those who speak of Jesus is not always a welcome event.  Jesus tells the seventy this, as they are about to depart on their journey.  When we read these words today, in this setting, it is important that we ask whether his warning to them is something of historical significance only – or if his warning is something we too need to hear.  Is there any danger, in our world(s), in our context, to speaking the name of Jesus or sharing the message Jesus intends to bring to the world? 

Has the world changed so completely that the cutting edge of Jesus’ words no longer divides us?  I guess that is possible.  There are a lot of folks running around with pretty golden crosses dangling around their necks or tattooed on their forearms.  It is possible that this country has so significantly changed that the words and instructions of Jesus are part of our universal code. 

Possible.  But not all that probable.  In my opinion anyway.  Jesus tells us that his messengers are to share what they have with the poor.  (Don’t try to counter with the comment Jesus makes about “you will always have the poor” unless you are prepared to discuss the source of Jesus’ quote.  Deuteronomy 15:11 from which the line comes is a call to action on behalf of the poor, not permission to ignore them.)  Jesus tells us how we are to respond to those who choose violence.  It does not involve making sure we have a bigger gun than they do.  Jesus tells us that visiting those in prison is an indication of having grasped his call to discipleship.  When was the last time you surrendered your belt and shoelaces and heard the clink of iron gates behind you? 

I think the reason why we no longer suffer ill effects from our telling of the Good News is that we have toned down Jesus’ words, turned into polite conversation.  We have made Jesus so acceptable to those around us that no one is likely to be offended when we tell them about our faith and the way in which sharing this faith might change their lives. 

Toning down the message of Jesus might make it easier for folks to envision crossing the threshold and coming inside.  Toning down the message certainly makes it less imperative that one remain inside.  If all we are going to do is preach and teach a code of morality, they folks can get that from any number of values clarification workshops. 

Another event that occupied me in the weeks since I was with you was the campus ministry conference in Chicago.  The speaker was Diana Butler Bass.  I encourage you to read her books – very insightful.  The way she helped us to see the innocent and not so innocent presentation of Jesus’ words was to talk about our attempts to gather – for the conference where she was the speaker.

Hardly any of us in attendance go there when we were supposed to.  Weather delays at the Chicago airport backed us up for hours.  The weather is something we call all discuss; it is something on which we can have our own opinions and clearly express them.  In polite conversation, you can always talk about the weather.  Even if you have strong convictions about the weather, those convictions are not likely to upset your conversation partner. 

When we talk about the weather, we are talking about what we see when we look out the window.  We are talking about the clouds and sun and the anticipated immediate ramifications of such.  It is immediate and close at hand. 

Those with a bit more invested (meteorologist) might speak of the weather differently.  They would continue to describe the clouds and the winds and the moisture likely to fall.  But somewhere in their conversation they are likely to get on the subject of climate.  Climate is the larger framework within which weather develops.  It is climate changes which lie behind alterations in the weather.  Talking about the weather is a short-sighted view of the changing of the climate.

Initially I was going to trick you into this, asking you to have a brief conversation about the weather with the folks sitting around you.  Then ask you if your brief conversation included any talk about the wildfires out west or the strength of Hurricane Sandy.  Those events – to some – are indications that we are in climate change.  And, climate change has become a hot topic in political circles.  That means that while weather remains an acceptable topic for polite conversation, you have to be careful not to venture too far into it in order to avoid the sensitive topics of Greenhouse gases, and the EPA, and the taxation of those insisting on driving their cars everywhere.

We know that the words of Jesus call us to live lives which are very different from the lives we were living before.  Jesus dies on a cross, not because his contemporaries misunderstood his message, but because they would not tolerate the total commitment to God of which he spoke.

Jesus’ disciples were met with hostility and frustration and told not to come to “our town” because they spoke of a demand too great for the population to bear.

We have toned down the message of Jesus: made it more acceptable; ensured that no one would be offended when we speak his name; re-crafted his message into some simple lessons on being nice to one another. 

I know that we don’t all agree on global warming.  Neither is there unanimity of opinion among us with regard to same-sex marriage or immigration policy.  Dare I be so impolite as to even mention the Affordable Health Care Act?  But these are topics which must be informed by our confessions of faith.  Unless our opinions and discussions and actions grow out of our commitment to Christ, then our commitment to Christ is little more than a hobby or a side-show.

I wanted to pull aside those guys in the dark suits in Turkey and tell them they had nothing to fear from me or from the other members of our group.  I wanted to, at first.  But then I realized they did have something to fear from me.  The God who resides at the center of my existence calls everything in their world into question.   

The God who resides at the center of my existence calls everything in every world into question.  It is high time we start listening to those questions, with regard to our carefully crafted worlds. 

Know this: The kingdom of God has come near. 

Ask yourselves this:  Am I prepared to enter that kingdom?

 

Amen.