Sermon for August 23rd, 2015

Luke 11:1-4

1He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 2He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4And forgive us our sins,for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Matthew 6:7-13

7When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.

Teach Us To Pray: Our Father In Heaven

There's an old story about a World War II military airplane that hat been hit by enemy fire, and was going down in flames. The captain turned to his flight crew and said, "Gentlemen, do any of you believe in the power of prayer?" One of the men, a devout churchgoer, said "I do, sir." To which the captain responded, "Good, because we're short one parachute. You pray, and the rest of us will put on a chute."

A recent USA Today/Gallup Poll indicated that 83% of Americans believe God answers prayer. A poll by Fox News found that 77% of Americans believe that prayer has the ability to help people heal from illness or injury. And yet, our belief in prayer is somewhat relative. I suspect that given a choice between a prayer or a parachute, about 99.9% of Americans would choose the parachute.

In the New Testament, Jesus tells us to pray for our enemies, and the Apostle Paul tells us to pray for people in authority. And yet, another recent survey by Lifeway research indicates that Americans are more likely to pray for a parking spot, a winning lottery ticket, or a sports team than for either of these two things. An even higher percentage of Americans have prayed that something bad they did would not be discovered.

Clearly, we are a little bit confused when it comes to prayer. What is it for? Who is it for? How does it work? Is it like a heavenly vending machine? If you insert just the right words (like the right change) make your selection known to God with the push of a button, your desired product will appear every time! Or is it more like a heavenly slot machine? You put in your quarter and pull the lever, sending your prayer to heaven, but only hit the divine jackpot of answered prayer if all your stars line up right.

Or maybe it's none of the above.

In Jesus' time, his own disciples were a bit confused about the nature of prayer, too. In Luke 9, James and John ask Jesus if they can pray for fire to come down out of heaven and devour some Samaritans who rejected them. In today's scripture passage, their request, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples" seems like it has more to do with John's disciples--and competition--than a genuine desire to understand.

Still, Jesus answers their request. He teaches them to pray, and gives them an example, a model prayer, that has lasted down through the centuries to the present day. We call it "The Lord's Prayer" but it is clearly also--more than any other--the prayer of the church, the one prayer that has united Christians of every time, place, language, culture, and denomination. It's one of the few things we all pretty much agree on.

And yet, even this prayer has changed through time--Luke's version is different than Matthew's; the earliest recorded versions used by ancient Christian churches are different from both of those, and the version we recite on Sunday mornings is even more different still!

As if that weren't confusing enough, the Lord's Prayer has been interpreted in different ways by different people throughout church history. It's been divided in different sections, and used to support different ideologies and agendas. I have said many times that how we understand the scriptures has consequences for how we live out our faith and our lives, for how we treat others, and how we relate to God. This is especially true with the Lord's Prayer.

And so, for the next five weeks, we're going to take a fresh look at this prayer we all know, and yet do not know. My hope is that doing this will accomplish three things: 1) To give each of us a better framework upon which to develop our individual prayers and meditation. 2) To help us better understand what's going on in our corporate prayers, in worship as a family and church community. 3) To reclaim the Lord's prayer as a radical call to action.

That last goal is important, because I believe that this one simple prayer, more than anything in our scriptures, our doctrines, our programs, has the power to change us, and to change the world. But too often it's just something we mindlessly recite on Sunday mornings, without really thinking about what we're saying, without really hearing or heeding what it's calling us to be and do.

So. Five weeks. Five Sermons. You have five fingers on each of your hands, and there are five aspects, five phases of prayer that I want us to learn and remember. We can remember them using the acronymn FRESH. I did say we were going to take a "fresh look" at the Lord's Prayer, right?

So today, we'll start with the letter "F" and the first part of the Lord's Prayer, which in Matthew, reads "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name." Luke's version is shorter, and simply says "Father, hallowed be your name." So what do you think the F in our FRESH acronym stands for?

If you're thinking F is for Father, you're not 100% wrong, but you're not quite right, either. There's been a lot of debate in the past 50 years about using gender-specific titles for God. It's true that the vast majority of references to God in the Bible are masculine, but that's not too surprising, given the fact that Israel was a very patriarcal society. What's more suprising is that there are several places in the Bible where God is described using feminine imagery and pronouns, and at least two of those come from Jesus himself.

Most of us realize, if we think of it, that God is neither male nor female, but rather embodies all aspects of both. Genesis teaches that humans were created in God's image, male and female God made them. For that reason, it doesn't make a single bit of theological difference whether one addresses God as Father, or as Mother. Jesus did what was most natural in his context, and we are free to do what seems most natural in our own.

What's significant about the Lord's Prayer (both versions) is that Jesus addresses God first with the most familiar, intimate title possible--that of a beloved parent. Only after this does he follow it up with a more formal expression of reverence: "Hallowed be your name." And even more important than this, is the fact that Jesus begins his prayer by putting God first within it.

So the "F" in our FRESH acronym stands not for "Father" but for "First things First." In your prayers, put God first. That may sound obvious, but in reality, how often do we begin our prayers with a quick, detached, "O God" or at the most "Dear God" before jumping right into "me, me, me?"

The "me, me, me" part will come soon enough. Even in Jesus' model prayer, the majority of the prayer focuses on our needs and wants. But knowing this, Jesus takes the time to begin his prayer in a personal, intimate way.