Have you ever seen a wrestling match in person? Now, I’m not talking about professional wrestling - although, I'll be honest, I’ve seen a few of those matches. I’m talking about real wrestling. Where you have two men (or women) in close - really close - proximity to each other. Using grappling-style techniques like clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, pins and other holds to gain points. It’s a combat sport where there is little to separate you from your opponent. One of the oldest forms of combat - there are drawings from 15,000 years ago that portray wrestling matches.
I first really became aware of wrestling in 1988. That was the year of the Olympics in Seoul, Korea. It just so happened that there were two sets of twins wrestling that year - two sets of twins from South Dakota. (That’s was a big chunk of SD’s population then! haha) One of the sets of twins - Jim and Bill Scherr - was from Mobridge, the town where I went to high school. So, naturally, my interest was really piqued and I followed them throughout the competition.
It takes incredible strength to be a wrestler. Strength, flexibility, and just overall scrappiness to be a good wrestler. But, it’s not just about the physical. Wrestling is really a mind game. Developing strategies, psyching out your opponent, pacing oneself. Being a wrestler and participating in a wrestling match is a full mind and body contact sport.
It's this sport - wrestling - that is central to our story today. A wrestling match between Jacob and God. Between Jacob and, well maybe, God.
A lot has happened since last week’s story. Who remembers who we were talking about last week? Yes, Sarah and Abraham. And, near the end of the story, we met Isaac, the son born to them at ages 90 and 100, respectively. The beginning of their family. The beginning of God’s family, of God’s special people.
Since then to today, we’ve jumped 10-12 chapters in Genesis. In the time between, we’ve seen Isaac married. To Rebekah. Rebekah, like Sarah, was painfully barren until her later years, when God blessed her and Isaac with a child. Well, actually, two children. Sons. Twins. Esau, the first born. And Jacob, second born. They came out of her womb with Jacob holding onto Esau’s heel. It’s why Jacob was named Jacob. His name means “heel.”
Jacob was a heel. A trickster. A deceiver. Stealing Esau’s inheritance, something that Esau would have been entitled to as the oldest. Yet, tricked out of it by his younger brother. Then, in chapter 27, Esau is tricked once again. This time, Jacob, with his mother’s help, deceives Isaac into giving him his spiritual blessing. This deception was the last straw for Esau. He swore to kill Jacob. It was only with Rebekah’s help that Jacob was able to flee - to run away to the east to stay with his uncle, Laban. It is here where the trickster is himself deceived. In this new land, Jacob meets Rachel, falls in love, and is tricked by her father, Jacob’s uncle Laban, into marrying her older sister, Leah, before he can marry the woman of his dreams. The trickster tricks the trickster.
As the years pass, Jacob’s household grows and grows. God has continued to bless him with children and with wealth. By the time our story opens today, Jacob is a rich man and has 66 children. Sixty-six! He has convinced Leah and Rachel that it is time to return to Jacob’s homeland. Which they do.
But, the closer they get, the more anxious Jacob becomes. He knows that, when he left, his relationship with Esau was completely broken. He is fearful that time hasn’t healed the wounds between them. That, if he returns, Esau will kill him. Jacob is worried. In the verses before our reading today, we learn that Jacob has sent messengers to go Esau, to tell him that Jacob has been staying with Laban and that he is now returning with much wealth. It is this wealth that Jacob hopes will impress Esau, erase the hard feelings, and buy his good favor. Because Jacob is convinced that Esau is bent on revenge. Jacob’s fear is real and reasonable.
It is here where our reading today begins. With a prayer. Spoken by Jacob in his fear and anxiety.
Jacob said, “Lord, God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I’ll make sure things go well for you,’ I don’t deserve how loyal and truthful you’ve been to your servant. I went away across the Jordan with just my staff, but now I’ve become two camps. Save me from my brother Esau! I’m afraid he will come and kill me, the mothers, and their children. You were the one who told me, ‘I will make sure things go well for you, and I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, so many you won’t be able to count them.’”
Jacob spent that night there. From what he had acquired, he set aside a gift for his brother Esau. --Genesis 32:9-13 (CEB)
Have you ever prayed a prayer like this? Where you’ve done what God has told you to do or gone where God has directed you to go and you are terrified about what will happen. And you pray to God. And you say, “Remember, God? You were the one who told me to do this. You were the one who said it would go well for me. But, it doesn’t feel like that - that everything will be okay. In truth, it feels like everything will fall apart. And that, in some way, I will be badly hurt by this, by following where you have led me.”
Have you ever prayed like this? Afraid. Fearful of being badly hurt.
Jacob got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go because the dawn is breaking.”
But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you bless me.”
He said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and with men and won.”
Jacob also asked and said, “Tell me your name.”
But he said, “Why do you ask for my name?” and he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel, “because I’ve seen God face-to-face, and my life has been saved.” --Genesis 32:22-30 (CEB)
As Jacob is all alone on the other side of the river, the wrestling match begins. His opponent know his tenacity. His ability to trick and to deceive. This Jacob the Heel. As the dawn approaches, Jacob’s opponent becomes concerned. Is it that he doesn’t want Jacob to see his face? Remember the words from Exodus 33 - “No one who has seen God face to face has lived?” Jacob’s opponent wants his freedom. But Jacob holds on and will not let him go. Demanding that his wrestling opponent bless him. Maybe if he can just hold on long enough, he can get it. That blessing.
Finally, Jacob’s opponent declares that he will now have a new name. Israel. Meaning “one who struggles with God.” And, although this mysterious stranger refuses to tell Jacob his name, he blesses him. It is then that Jacob names this place, Peniel. Which means “face of God.” And we now know who this wrestler is. God. Jacob has been wrestling God. The God of his ancestors.
Do you wrestle with God? With the God of Jacob’s ancestors? With the God of our ancestors? It is not easy - this life in God’s kingdom. Just as Jacob wrestled with God, we do, too. Perhaps it is with fear, like Jacob’s, that you wrestle with God. Seeking - no, demanding - God’s blessing. God’s assurance that everything will be okay. That everything will go well. Or perhaps it is with stubbornness. That you struggle with God's will for you or your will for yourself. Or perhaps it is with doubt, that you wrestle with God. Seeking that small blessing of faith that seems to elude us at times.
Do you wrestle with God?
Jacob was forever changed that night as he wrestled with God. It wasn’t only his name that changed. He, himself, was changed. Wounded in the struggle. Walking from that point on with a limp. Perhaps it was that wound that was a reminder for him of God’s presence. Of God’s blessing. Of God’s love and faithfulness that night. Just as the wounds on the hands and feet of Christ are a reminder for us of God’s presence. Of God’s blessing. Of God’s love.
We are all walking wounded. Whether it is because of messes we have created, relationships we have fractured. Or wounds that have been inflicted upon us. We, like Jacob, all walk wounded. Yet, may we remember that as we, in our tenacity and in our faith, continue to cling to and, yes, to wrestle with God, we, too, like Jacob, have received God’s blessing. We, too, like Jacob, live. Wounded, but alive in Christ. And we, too, like Jacob, will see God face to face.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
Preached Sunday, September 22, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran, Goshen, KY.
Pentecost 15
Readings: Genesis 32:9-13, 22-30; Mark 14:32-36
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayer. Show all posts
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Friday, March 15, 2019
Learning to Follow: Life in Relationship
“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“When 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. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matt. 6:1-20 NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator; Jesus, our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer. Amen.
Good morning! Welcome to week 2 in our sermon series on “Learning to Follow.” We’re spending 3 weeks in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, a series of teachings called the Sermon on the Mount.
Last week, we focused on chapter 5, in which we saw the great reversal that is God’s kingdom. That, unlike the world, which values “winners,” God values the losers. The broken, who are among us and out in our world. Those on the margins.
We also learned that, as God’s forgiven and called people, our lives are also to be lives of great reversals. Lives where our focus is on God. And, then, lives in the world as salt and light. Salt meaning catalyst. Light meaning illumination. So, to be people who get things going and then who lead the way in the world.
So, how do we do this? It’s easy for me to stand up here and tell you to be salt and light. To get things going and to lead the way. But, if you’re at all the practical person that I am, I wonder how we become people like this. What are the steps? What’s the step-by-step instruction to transform us into God’s salt and light? How do we learn to follow?
These are the questions Jesus focuses on in today’s lesson. Now, if you were listening carefully, you heard three steps. Three practices that Jesus lays out in this teaching. What are they?
In the verse 2, Jesus talks about almsgiving. What is almsgiving? Yes, it is giving money to the poor. Practice number one.
Then, near the end of our reading, in verse 16, Jesus gives instruction on fasting. Practice number two.
Finally, in the heart of today’s reading and, interestingly, in the exact center of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about prayer. Practice number 3. And, given its location in the middle of Jesus’ teaching, it is the focal point. The most important of the three. Prayer.
So, who of you would like to open our time of study today with a prayer? Exactly as I thought. None of you are chomping at the bit to pray, particularly, to pray out loud. I know exactly how you feel. Because I was once in your place. Thinking that praying out loud was for the professionals, right? That’s why we train up pastors to lead our worship, to prepare the prayers for us to be used in worship. Because they’re the professionals!
I have to share with you that earlier this week, I was in a gathering of pastors from our conference - all Lutherans, all experienced pastors, all who have been doing this for awhile. And, when, our conference dean invited one of us to say the opening prayer, we were all just like you. Completely silent. So much for being the “professionals!”
Why are so many of us so afraid of prayer? Perhaps we think that the words we pray aren’t good enough, aren’t sophisticated enough. Or perhaps we think that our simple, 2-3 sentence prayer is not long enough. After all, if we pray to God, to a deity who we profess to be all powerful, all knowing, and all present - doesn’t God deserve some long, flowery prayer from us? (I remember once being at a rally for workers and a local pastor was invited to open the rally with a prayer. It went on and on and on. To the point that I began to pray to God, “Please God, let this prayer end!”)
So, I found it really interesting this week, as I studied this text, that things weren’t much different in Jesus’ day. In verse 7 of today’s reading, Jesus begins his remarks on prayer with this sentence, “When you pray, don’t pile up a jumbled heap of words! That’s what the Gentiles do. They reckon that the more they say, the more they are likely to be heard.”
That was the practice of Jesus’ day in the non-Jewish world. We know from many writings of that time that many non-Jews used a particular formula in their prayers. That they would use long, complicated magic words that they would repeat over and over and over again. They did this because they believed that this would eventually tire out their gods and goddesses to the point that they would eventually relent and give what was asked. They also believed that, unless what one was praying for was given in the greatest possible detail, it was a very real possibility that the wrong favor would be granted. It’s like a child who was not just asking for an animated stuffed animal this past Christmas, but, a child asking, specifically, for Bella, a Fingerlings Hugs - the Advanced Interactive Plush Baby Monkey Pet by WowWee. Just to ensure that she would get what she wanted.
So, Jesus teaches a very different prayer practice. Because Jesus teaches about a very different kind of God. One who already knows what we need even before we ask. One who doesn’t need to be worn down, but who is ready to provide. And one who seeks to be in a relationship with us that is the same as that of a father or a mother to a child. And, so, Jesus gives the crowd - his many followers - a framework for prayer.
Notice I said a framework. Because as Jesus introduces this prayer that we know by heart, he doesn’t necessarily say to use this prayer, but to “pray, then, in this way.” Like this. Not word for word, necessarily. But, using this framework. A simple four part framework that, by the way, Jesus gives in Aramaic. The language of the people. Instead of Hebrew, the language of the synagogue. Which, in itself, is a signal to us that God doesn’t want us to use some magic formula, but to talk to God - the creator of the universe - using our own words and our own language.
First step in the framework. Jesus locates God above all. “Our Father in heaven.” This doesn’t mean a god who exists in some remote place or afterlife. Or a man-made idol. In Jesus’ day, this title for God took the Jewish people back to God’s acts in the Exodus. Acts of deliverance and rescue. Acts by a God who is over all things. Who loved them. And who loves us. Like a parent.
Second step. Jesus acknowledges God’s name as holy. In Israel, after the Babylonian exile, the divine name was regarded as too sacred to be said aloud. It was replaced with the Hebrew word Adonai (My Lord) and, then, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, with Kyrios, meaning Lord. When Jesus acknowledges the holiness of God’s name, he wants it to be as holy to us as it was to Israel. And that God’s name and the holiness of God name might be spread throughout the world. And spoken with reverence, not as some afterthought.
Third step. Jesus gives privilege to God’s kingdom and God’s will. “Your will be done. Your kingdom come.” In this step, Jesus sets God’s kingdom and God’s will as the priority. God’s kingdom, or God’s reign, brings deliverance and salvation, presence, restorative justice, peace, healing, joy, repentance, and return to God. These are the seven characteristics of God’s reign in Isaiah. We are to pray for it. That it might be accomplished. Not in heaven, where it already exists, but, here. On earth. Now.
Fourth step. Jesus invites us to pray for what we need. But, before we move further into this step, did you notice the focus of three of the four steps? The focal point of 75% of the prayer? Yep. It’s God. Why? Because God and God’s will are to be the priority. And, because God already knows what we need. So, while prayers for gifts of daily bread and material things we need in our lives, plus prayers for mercy - that we might forgive others to the extent that God has forgiven us - as well as, prayers that God might deliver us from trial and temptation and from the wicked...while all of these might be important for us mostly to calm our anxiety and our own lack of faith, for God these prayers for our needs are nearly superfluous. Because God is so attuned to us and our needs that we need not even ask for them.
There you have it. A four-point plan for prayer. A methodology for you and I to reach out to our God. Because that’s really what this is about, isn’t it? It’s about our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. A relationship initiated and implemented by God through Jesus Christ. A relationship modeled by Jesus. A communal relationship. Because, did you notice that all of the pronouns other than those that refer to God are in the first person plural? Give us our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us. Not me.
Jesus is very practical. He knows that the more we engage in prayer, in talking to God, and in deepening our relationship with God, the more we will turn to God and seek to be among God’s people. To deepen our relationships together, which then lead to the other spiritual practices. Practices that lead us to action. To serve those on the margins - who are the priority in God’s kingdom. To give to the poor. To fast, so that we might fully understand what it feels like to be hungry.
Through prayer God changes us, turning us from our own greed and our own priorities to God’s priorities in God’s kingdom. Today. Now. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” May God make it so. Amen.
Preached February 3, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Epiphany 4.
Readings: Matthew 6:1-20; Psalm 20:7.
“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“When 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. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“Pray then in this way:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matt. 6:1-20 NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator; Jesus, our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer. Amen.
Good morning! Welcome to week 2 in our sermon series on “Learning to Follow.” We’re spending 3 weeks in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, a series of teachings called the Sermon on the Mount.
Last week, we focused on chapter 5, in which we saw the great reversal that is God’s kingdom. That, unlike the world, which values “winners,” God values the losers. The broken, who are among us and out in our world. Those on the margins.
We also learned that, as God’s forgiven and called people, our lives are also to be lives of great reversals. Lives where our focus is on God. And, then, lives in the world as salt and light. Salt meaning catalyst. Light meaning illumination. So, to be people who get things going and then who lead the way in the world.
So, how do we do this? It’s easy for me to stand up here and tell you to be salt and light. To get things going and to lead the way. But, if you’re at all the practical person that I am, I wonder how we become people like this. What are the steps? What’s the step-by-step instruction to transform us into God’s salt and light? How do we learn to follow?
These are the questions Jesus focuses on in today’s lesson. Now, if you were listening carefully, you heard three steps. Three practices that Jesus lays out in this teaching. What are they?
In the verse 2, Jesus talks about almsgiving. What is almsgiving? Yes, it is giving money to the poor. Practice number one.
Then, near the end of our reading, in verse 16, Jesus gives instruction on fasting. Practice number two.
Finally, in the heart of today’s reading and, interestingly, in the exact center of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about prayer. Practice number 3. And, given its location in the middle of Jesus’ teaching, it is the focal point. The most important of the three. Prayer.
So, who of you would like to open our time of study today with a prayer? Exactly as I thought. None of you are chomping at the bit to pray, particularly, to pray out loud. I know exactly how you feel. Because I was once in your place. Thinking that praying out loud was for the professionals, right? That’s why we train up pastors to lead our worship, to prepare the prayers for us to be used in worship. Because they’re the professionals!
I have to share with you that earlier this week, I was in a gathering of pastors from our conference - all Lutherans, all experienced pastors, all who have been doing this for awhile. And, when, our conference dean invited one of us to say the opening prayer, we were all just like you. Completely silent. So much for being the “professionals!”
Why are so many of us so afraid of prayer? Perhaps we think that the words we pray aren’t good enough, aren’t sophisticated enough. Or perhaps we think that our simple, 2-3 sentence prayer is not long enough. After all, if we pray to God, to a deity who we profess to be all powerful, all knowing, and all present - doesn’t God deserve some long, flowery prayer from us? (I remember once being at a rally for workers and a local pastor was invited to open the rally with a prayer. It went on and on and on. To the point that I began to pray to God, “Please God, let this prayer end!”)
So, I found it really interesting this week, as I studied this text, that things weren’t much different in Jesus’ day. In verse 7 of today’s reading, Jesus begins his remarks on prayer with this sentence, “When you pray, don’t pile up a jumbled heap of words! That’s what the Gentiles do. They reckon that the more they say, the more they are likely to be heard.”
That was the practice of Jesus’ day in the non-Jewish world. We know from many writings of that time that many non-Jews used a particular formula in their prayers. That they would use long, complicated magic words that they would repeat over and over and over again. They did this because they believed that this would eventually tire out their gods and goddesses to the point that they would eventually relent and give what was asked. They also believed that, unless what one was praying for was given in the greatest possible detail, it was a very real possibility that the wrong favor would be granted. It’s like a child who was not just asking for an animated stuffed animal this past Christmas, but, a child asking, specifically, for Bella, a Fingerlings Hugs - the Advanced Interactive Plush Baby Monkey Pet by WowWee. Just to ensure that she would get what she wanted.
So, Jesus teaches a very different prayer practice. Because Jesus teaches about a very different kind of God. One who already knows what we need even before we ask. One who doesn’t need to be worn down, but who is ready to provide. And one who seeks to be in a relationship with us that is the same as that of a father or a mother to a child. And, so, Jesus gives the crowd - his many followers - a framework for prayer.
Notice I said a framework. Because as Jesus introduces this prayer that we know by heart, he doesn’t necessarily say to use this prayer, but to “pray, then, in this way.” Like this. Not word for word, necessarily. But, using this framework. A simple four part framework that, by the way, Jesus gives in Aramaic. The language of the people. Instead of Hebrew, the language of the synagogue. Which, in itself, is a signal to us that God doesn’t want us to use some magic formula, but to talk to God - the creator of the universe - using our own words and our own language.
First step in the framework. Jesus locates God above all. “Our Father in heaven.” This doesn’t mean a god who exists in some remote place or afterlife. Or a man-made idol. In Jesus’ day, this title for God took the Jewish people back to God’s acts in the Exodus. Acts of deliverance and rescue. Acts by a God who is over all things. Who loved them. And who loves us. Like a parent.
Second step. Jesus acknowledges God’s name as holy. In Israel, after the Babylonian exile, the divine name was regarded as too sacred to be said aloud. It was replaced with the Hebrew word Adonai (My Lord) and, then, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, with Kyrios, meaning Lord. When Jesus acknowledges the holiness of God’s name, he wants it to be as holy to us as it was to Israel. And that God’s name and the holiness of God name might be spread throughout the world. And spoken with reverence, not as some afterthought.
Third step. Jesus gives privilege to God’s kingdom and God’s will. “Your will be done. Your kingdom come.” In this step, Jesus sets God’s kingdom and God’s will as the priority. God’s kingdom, or God’s reign, brings deliverance and salvation, presence, restorative justice, peace, healing, joy, repentance, and return to God. These are the seven characteristics of God’s reign in Isaiah. We are to pray for it. That it might be accomplished. Not in heaven, where it already exists, but, here. On earth. Now.
Fourth step. Jesus invites us to pray for what we need. But, before we move further into this step, did you notice the focus of three of the four steps? The focal point of 75% of the prayer? Yep. It’s God. Why? Because God and God’s will are to be the priority. And, because God already knows what we need. So, while prayers for gifts of daily bread and material things we need in our lives, plus prayers for mercy - that we might forgive others to the extent that God has forgiven us - as well as, prayers that God might deliver us from trial and temptation and from the wicked...while all of these might be important for us mostly to calm our anxiety and our own lack of faith, for God these prayers for our needs are nearly superfluous. Because God is so attuned to us and our needs that we need not even ask for them.
There you have it. A four-point plan for prayer. A methodology for you and I to reach out to our God. Because that’s really what this is about, isn’t it? It’s about our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. A relationship initiated and implemented by God through Jesus Christ. A relationship modeled by Jesus. A communal relationship. Because, did you notice that all of the pronouns other than those that refer to God are in the first person plural? Give us our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us. Not me.
Jesus is very practical. He knows that the more we engage in prayer, in talking to God, and in deepening our relationship with God, the more we will turn to God and seek to be among God’s people. To deepen our relationships together, which then lead to the other spiritual practices. Practices that lead us to action. To serve those on the margins - who are the priority in God’s kingdom. To give to the poor. To fast, so that we might fully understand what it feels like to be hungry.
Through prayer God changes us, turning us from our own greed and our own priorities to God’s priorities in God’s kingdom. Today. Now. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” May God make it so. Amen.
Preached February 3, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Epiphany 4.
Readings: Matthew 6:1-20; Psalm 20:7.
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Not the Same Anymore: The Liminal Places
So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. Acts 1:6-14 (NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Over these weeks of Easter, I’ve spent each Sunday preaching on our readings from the book of Acts--which we often call the second half of Luke’s Gospel. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the activity of the early church and, particularly, of God’s activity in the early church as narrated in Acts. It is activity that shows us just how intrusive God is. After the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus ascends to heaven, returning to sit at the right hand of God and to retain the same power and authority as the Father--it is after all of this has happened, that we have seen how, over and over, God continues to intrude into the world and to disrupt it by spreading the Good News.
We have also seen how the people we’ve met in Acts have found themselves challenged by simply trying to keep pace with God. That sometimes--often--it is only in hindsight that the early Christians can even begin to make sense of the work God is doing. That only by looking backwards can they begin to see God at work building God’s kingdom on earth.
We saw, as we walked with the church, in its early days, that everything was held in common. No want, no need, no one considered an “other.” We also saw, as we continued that journey with the early church, that things began to fall apart. That, particularly, things seemed to come crumbling down with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The first of many.
We’ve travelled far with the early church. With our intrusive God. With the disruptive Gospel. But today, we are moving backwards in time. We are stepping back in time to the point before the ascension. Back to the days after Jesus’ resurrection.
As our Acts story begins today, Jesus has been with the disciples for forty days since he rose from the dead. In the verses that precede our text, we read ithat, after his suffering, Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples by many convincing proofs and appeared to them during that 40-day period, speaking to them about the coming kingdom of God and directing them to remain in Jerusalem until they would be showered with the Holy Spirit.
It is here that our story today begins. And it just continues to amuse (and, yes, frustrate) me that, even after all the disciples have witnessed, after all of the things that Jesus has taught them, after everything they have been through, they still just don’t quite get it. After all of it, they still ask, “Is it now, Lord? Now will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” Still looking for that all-powerful Messiah to restore Israel and to restore their earthly power. They just don’t get it.
Jesus’ response is simply that it is not their place to know. That it is God, and not them, who is the one here with power and authority. That it is God who is the one who sets the times or periods of history, not them. Not as much as they would like to.
Then, shortly after saying this, Jesus is gone from them. Ascended up into heaven. Leaving them, seemingly, alone. And on their own.
This past week, I think most of you know that I was attending a conference in San Antonio, Texas. It was a Festival of Homiletics. (Homiletics is just a fancy word for preaching.) The festival consisted of five glorious days of preaching! (I can see how excited that makes all of you!) Five days spent with nearly 2,000 preachers from across the U.S. and Canada, listening to about 3 sermons and 2 lectures each day from some of the biggest and best preachers across the United States. For me, at least, it really was glorious.
Yet, one of the oddest lectures I listened to was that presented by Jennifer Lord, who is a professor of preaching and liturgical studies at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary. The title of her lecture was “Way In and a Way Out: Preaching and Liminality in a Culture of Change.” Sound scintillating? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. But, since I was already in that particular venue and since it was hot outside and the other venue was about 10 blocks away, I decided to stay.
It was a pretty theoretical lecture. It felt a little over my head and, to be honest, I couldn’t really get the relevance of the topic she was presenting to preaching. So, after about 30 minutes of listening to her lecture on liminality and liminal places, I left. And I moved to the other venue to catch the second half of another, more dynamic, speaker.
Since then, though, the concept of liminality has popped up in several places--in readings and in a couple of programs I’ve watched over the past few days. In fact, it has kind of been in my face. Have you ever had something like that happen--when you dismiss a possibility and it just keeps coming back, again and again?
So, I decided to do a little more research on liminality. I found out that the concept of liminality was first developed in the early 20th century. It was first used in anthropology in the area of ritual studies. More recently, usage of the term has been expanded to include political and cultural places.
Liminality, or liminal places, are those places in-between, places of transition. They are places in which those involved are standing at the threshold of something new. That place where there’s no going back, but you can’t go forward, at least not yet. Liminal places are those places where the old places begin to be dissolved and transformed into something new.
Many of us experience such liminal places in our lives. When something dramatic happens to in one’s life to change things, but the transition to a new place takes time. Such as the time in between the loss of a loved one and the new life that eventually comes forth. Or the time in between the diagnosis of a serious illness and the eventual result--either positive or negative--of such a diagnosis.
The disciples were in such a liminal place. Jesus had ascended and left them. But not before he directed them to remain in Jerusalem until his promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon them would be fulfilled. There was no going back. And, yet, there was no going forward. The women and men who had dedicated months and years of their lives were in transition, waiting for God’s next move. Waiting for God to intrude. And, as they waited together at this point of liminality, they devoted themselves to prayer.
I wonder if we would do the same. How often is it that we like to believe that we understand the grand pattern of history. That we are in control. That we know how God is at work in our world, how God is moving God’s kingdom forward.
When we play this game, it is a dangerous one. It is nothing other than self-serving. There are no end of empires, theologies, churches or governments who claim that history is on their side. It is way too common in our own political discourse here in the United States, as we flip back and forth between the hope in some kind of messianic leader who will save our country or our panic from some kind of perceived armageddon.
Claiming to know the pattern of history, to know how God is moving the world forward throughout history, doesn’t reflect faith in God, but faith in oneself and solely in one’s wholly inadequate knowledge of the pattern of history.
In Jesus’ parting words, there are absolutely no hints about the course of history--whether for the disciples or for us. Yet, the disciples, in their liminal place, in their place of transition, knowing they can never return to where they were, yet, not yet fully knowing the way forward, are driven back to a familiar place, to simply pray, to be together, and to wait. To wait for their intrusive God to break in and to move forward. And, then to hold on as the Spirit would push them forward out of their liminal space into new experiences, into new places, into new lives.
We, too, here at Grace and Glory are in our own liminal place. Trying to figure out where we go next, to understand what God intends for us, or how God intends to take us there. Just what it is God has in store for Grace and Glory Lutheran Church.
So, just like the early disciples, we wait and pray. We pray for the Holy Spirit and we wait for God to push us forward into those new places, into those new experiences, and into the new lives where we will never be the same anymore.
It will happen. Just as it happened for the disciples, it will happen for us. In God’s time. Not ours. And that is simply enough.
May God grant it in God’s time. Amen.
Preached May 28, 2017, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers. Acts 1:6-14 (NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Over these weeks of Easter, I’ve spent each Sunday preaching on our readings from the book of Acts--which we often call the second half of Luke’s Gospel. I’ve spent a lot of time talking about the activity of the early church and, particularly, of God’s activity in the early church as narrated in Acts. It is activity that shows us just how intrusive God is. After the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Jesus ascends to heaven, returning to sit at the right hand of God and to retain the same power and authority as the Father--it is after all of this has happened, that we have seen how, over and over, God continues to intrude into the world and to disrupt it by spreading the Good News.
We have also seen how the people we’ve met in Acts have found themselves challenged by simply trying to keep pace with God. That sometimes--often--it is only in hindsight that the early Christians can even begin to make sense of the work God is doing. That only by looking backwards can they begin to see God at work building God’s kingdom on earth.
We saw, as we walked with the church, in its early days, that everything was held in common. No want, no need, no one considered an “other.” We also saw, as we continued that journey with the early church, that things began to fall apart. That, particularly, things seemed to come crumbling down with the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The first of many.
We’ve travelled far with the early church. With our intrusive God. With the disruptive Gospel. But today, we are moving backwards in time. We are stepping back in time to the point before the ascension. Back to the days after Jesus’ resurrection.
As our Acts story begins today, Jesus has been with the disciples for forty days since he rose from the dead. In the verses that precede our text, we read ithat, after his suffering, Jesus presented himself alive to the disciples by many convincing proofs and appeared to them during that 40-day period, speaking to them about the coming kingdom of God and directing them to remain in Jerusalem until they would be showered with the Holy Spirit.
It is here that our story today begins. And it just continues to amuse (and, yes, frustrate) me that, even after all the disciples have witnessed, after all of the things that Jesus has taught them, after everything they have been through, they still just don’t quite get it. After all of it, they still ask, “Is it now, Lord? Now will you restore the kingdom to Israel?” Still looking for that all-powerful Messiah to restore Israel and to restore their earthly power. They just don’t get it.
Jesus’ response is simply that it is not their place to know. That it is God, and not them, who is the one here with power and authority. That it is God who is the one who sets the times or periods of history, not them. Not as much as they would like to.
Then, shortly after saying this, Jesus is gone from them. Ascended up into heaven. Leaving them, seemingly, alone. And on their own.
This past week, I think most of you know that I was attending a conference in San Antonio, Texas. It was a Festival of Homiletics. (Homiletics is just a fancy word for preaching.) The festival consisted of five glorious days of preaching! (I can see how excited that makes all of you!) Five days spent with nearly 2,000 preachers from across the U.S. and Canada, listening to about 3 sermons and 2 lectures each day from some of the biggest and best preachers across the United States. For me, at least, it really was glorious.
Yet, one of the oddest lectures I listened to was that presented by Jennifer Lord, who is a professor of preaching and liturgical studies at the Austin Presbyterian Seminary. The title of her lecture was “Way In and a Way Out: Preaching and Liminality in a Culture of Change.” Sound scintillating? Yeah, I didn’t think so either. But, since I was already in that particular venue and since it was hot outside and the other venue was about 10 blocks away, I decided to stay.
It was a pretty theoretical lecture. It felt a little over my head and, to be honest, I couldn’t really get the relevance of the topic she was presenting to preaching. So, after about 30 minutes of listening to her lecture on liminality and liminal places, I left. And I moved to the other venue to catch the second half of another, more dynamic, speaker.
Since then, though, the concept of liminality has popped up in several places--in readings and in a couple of programs I’ve watched over the past few days. In fact, it has kind of been in my face. Have you ever had something like that happen--when you dismiss a possibility and it just keeps coming back, again and again?
So, I decided to do a little more research on liminality. I found out that the concept of liminality was first developed in the early 20th century. It was first used in anthropology in the area of ritual studies. More recently, usage of the term has been expanded to include political and cultural places.
Liminality, or liminal places, are those places in-between, places of transition. They are places in which those involved are standing at the threshold of something new. That place where there’s no going back, but you can’t go forward, at least not yet. Liminal places are those places where the old places begin to be dissolved and transformed into something new.
Many of us experience such liminal places in our lives. When something dramatic happens to in one’s life to change things, but the transition to a new place takes time. Such as the time in between the loss of a loved one and the new life that eventually comes forth. Or the time in between the diagnosis of a serious illness and the eventual result--either positive or negative--of such a diagnosis.
The disciples were in such a liminal place. Jesus had ascended and left them. But not before he directed them to remain in Jerusalem until his promise of the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon them would be fulfilled. There was no going back. And, yet, there was no going forward. The women and men who had dedicated months and years of their lives were in transition, waiting for God’s next move. Waiting for God to intrude. And, as they waited together at this point of liminality, they devoted themselves to prayer.
I wonder if we would do the same. How often is it that we like to believe that we understand the grand pattern of history. That we are in control. That we know how God is at work in our world, how God is moving God’s kingdom forward.
When we play this game, it is a dangerous one. It is nothing other than self-serving. There are no end of empires, theologies, churches or governments who claim that history is on their side. It is way too common in our own political discourse here in the United States, as we flip back and forth between the hope in some kind of messianic leader who will save our country or our panic from some kind of perceived armageddon.
Claiming to know the pattern of history, to know how God is moving the world forward throughout history, doesn’t reflect faith in God, but faith in oneself and solely in one’s wholly inadequate knowledge of the pattern of history.
In Jesus’ parting words, there are absolutely no hints about the course of history--whether for the disciples or for us. Yet, the disciples, in their liminal place, in their place of transition, knowing they can never return to where they were, yet, not yet fully knowing the way forward, are driven back to a familiar place, to simply pray, to be together, and to wait. To wait for their intrusive God to break in and to move forward. And, then to hold on as the Spirit would push them forward out of their liminal space into new experiences, into new places, into new lives.
We, too, here at Grace and Glory are in our own liminal place. Trying to figure out where we go next, to understand what God intends for us, or how God intends to take us there. Just what it is God has in store for Grace and Glory Lutheran Church.
So, just like the early disciples, we wait and pray. We pray for the Holy Spirit and we wait for God to push us forward into those new places, into those new experiences, and into the new lives where we will never be the same anymore.
It will happen. Just as it happened for the disciples, it will happen for us. In God’s time. Not ours. And that is simply enough.
May God grant it in God’s time. Amen.
Preached May 28, 2017, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Readings: Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Praying From the Heart
Prayer. That’s what we’re talking about tonight. Prayer.
How’s your prayer life?
For a very long time, I thought I was a pretty bad pray-er. In the mornings, when I usually read my Bible or a devotion of some kind, I’ve always tried to come up with my own prayer to close. You know the kind. The ones that sound so grand and glorious, that have a lot of pretty language, that follow the ACTS pattern. Have you ever heard of it--the ACTS pattern? It’s a prayer pattern that starts with A (for adoration), continues with C (for confession) and with T (for thanksgiving) and finishing with S (for supplication). That was one pattern I learned and would try to follow, along with a few other prayer patterns.
But the problem I had was that nearly every time I tried to come up with such a pretty-sounding prayer, a prayer with a nice pattern, a prayer that sounded like someone with many years of ministry might pray, well, they always sounded a little stupid. They sounded a little like the one prayed by Ben Stiller who plays Greg in “Meet the Parents.”
Yes, I was a lot like Greg was. I was a pretty bad pray-er.
Then, I took a class on Luther. Specifically, on Luther as a Pastor. This isn’t a role that we often hear very much about for Luther. We think of him much more as a theologian. But, when you read some of his writings, especially those directed to friends and other acquaintances, you really begin to see a pastoral side to him. You see how much of a pastor, a shepherd, he really was for his parishioners.
One of his writings was directed to a friend who was nearing death. In it, Luther shared some of his thoughts on prayer, including one that especially stuck with me. One way to think about prayer that I’d never really thought of before. Luther talked about prayer as communication.
He wrote that one should consider what it is like to be in a relationship with another person. That our relationship with God is no different. He suggests that, just as a relationship with a spouse or significant other, or with a child or a parent requires constant communication, our relationship with God is no different. Yes, God commands us to pray. But, God deeply desires us to pray. Because God deeply desires to be in full relationship with us.
A full, a good relationship, requires communication. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we’re angry at another person. Or even when we’re angry with God. As Luther writes in his preface to the Lord’s Prayer, “[God] wishes rather to draw us to himself so that we may humble ourselves before him, lament our misery and plight, and pray for grace and help.”
This is the rich relationship God desires with us. It is a relationship where we might pour out everything that is on our hearts. It is a relationship where some of the things we say to God might not be pretty. They might not be nice. They might not be “Christian.”
God wants to know us in the deepest part of our hearts. God wants us to know God in the deepest part of God’s heart. It is okay to cry out to God in pain or grief. It is okay to cry out to God in anger or when you feel life has just been so crummy or unfair. It is okay to even express hatred to God--the hatred we might feel for another. God simply wants realness and honesty in our prayer. Realness and honesty in our heart. Realness and honesty in our relationship. However good or bad that realness and honesty may seem to us, God wants it in our prayer.
The movie, “Bruce Almighty,” is about Bruce Nolan, a television field reporter in Buffalo, NY, who is discontented with almost everything in his life despite his popularity and the love of his girlfriend, Grace. At the end of the worst day of his life--a day when he gets passed over for a promotion to the news anchor spot and also loses his job--Bruce angrily ridicules and rages against God. And God responds. God appears in human form and, giving Bruce divine powers, challenges Bruce to take on the big job to see if he can do it any better.
In this scene, which is a monumental moment in the film, Bruce decides to finally surrender to God. The problem is that he performs this action in the middle of an interstate highway with a 40 foot truck bearing down on him. When Bruce opens his eyes, he’s in heaven face to face with the One to whom he has just sworn to trust with his life and his future.
Let’s watch.
God doesn’t want our flowery language. God doesn’t want us to pray in a specific pattern. God just wants us to talk deeply from our hearts. To share how we are feeling. To express our deepest desires. To do this with words or even, as Paul writes in Romans, with “sighs too deep for words.”
God promises to answer our prayers. As Luther wrote, we have a “God who is able to give more than we understand or ask for. Even though we do not know what we should ask for and how, nevertheless the Spirit of God, who dwells in the hearts of the godly, sighs and groans for us within us with inexpressible groanings and also procures inexpressible and incomprehensible things.”
All through prayer.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
How’s your prayer life?
For a very long time, I thought I was a pretty bad pray-er. In the mornings, when I usually read my Bible or a devotion of some kind, I’ve always tried to come up with my own prayer to close. You know the kind. The ones that sound so grand and glorious, that have a lot of pretty language, that follow the ACTS pattern. Have you ever heard of it--the ACTS pattern? It’s a prayer pattern that starts with A (for adoration), continues with C (for confession) and with T (for thanksgiving) and finishing with S (for supplication). That was one pattern I learned and would try to follow, along with a few other prayer patterns.
But the problem I had was that nearly every time I tried to come up with such a pretty-sounding prayer, a prayer with a nice pattern, a prayer that sounded like someone with many years of ministry might pray, well, they always sounded a little stupid. They sounded a little like the one prayed by Ben Stiller who plays Greg in “Meet the Parents.”
Yes, I was a lot like Greg was. I was a pretty bad pray-er.
Then, I took a class on Luther. Specifically, on Luther as a Pastor. This isn’t a role that we often hear very much about for Luther. We think of him much more as a theologian. But, when you read some of his writings, especially those directed to friends and other acquaintances, you really begin to see a pastoral side to him. You see how much of a pastor, a shepherd, he really was for his parishioners.
One of his writings was directed to a friend who was nearing death. In it, Luther shared some of his thoughts on prayer, including one that especially stuck with me. One way to think about prayer that I’d never really thought of before. Luther talked about prayer as communication.
He wrote that one should consider what it is like to be in a relationship with another person. That our relationship with God is no different. He suggests that, just as a relationship with a spouse or significant other, or with a child or a parent requires constant communication, our relationship with God is no different. Yes, God commands us to pray. But, God deeply desires us to pray. Because God deeply desires to be in full relationship with us.
A full, a good relationship, requires communication. Even when we don’t want to. Even when we’re angry at another person. Or even when we’re angry with God. As Luther writes in his preface to the Lord’s Prayer, “[God] wishes rather to draw us to himself so that we may humble ourselves before him, lament our misery and plight, and pray for grace and help.”
This is the rich relationship God desires with us. It is a relationship where we might pour out everything that is on our hearts. It is a relationship where some of the things we say to God might not be pretty. They might not be nice. They might not be “Christian.”
God wants to know us in the deepest part of our hearts. God wants us to know God in the deepest part of God’s heart. It is okay to cry out to God in pain or grief. It is okay to cry out to God in anger or when you feel life has just been so crummy or unfair. It is okay to even express hatred to God--the hatred we might feel for another. God simply wants realness and honesty in our prayer. Realness and honesty in our heart. Realness and honesty in our relationship. However good or bad that realness and honesty may seem to us, God wants it in our prayer.
The movie, “Bruce Almighty,” is about Bruce Nolan, a television field reporter in Buffalo, NY, who is discontented with almost everything in his life despite his popularity and the love of his girlfriend, Grace. At the end of the worst day of his life--a day when he gets passed over for a promotion to the news anchor spot and also loses his job--Bruce angrily ridicules and rages against God. And God responds. God appears in human form and, giving Bruce divine powers, challenges Bruce to take on the big job to see if he can do it any better.
In this scene, which is a monumental moment in the film, Bruce decides to finally surrender to God. The problem is that he performs this action in the middle of an interstate highway with a 40 foot truck bearing down on him. When Bruce opens his eyes, he’s in heaven face to face with the One to whom he has just sworn to trust with his life and his future.
Let’s watch.
God doesn’t want our flowery language. God doesn’t want us to pray in a specific pattern. God just wants us to talk deeply from our hearts. To share how we are feeling. To express our deepest desires. To do this with words or even, as Paul writes in Romans, with “sighs too deep for words.”
God promises to answer our prayers. As Luther wrote, we have a “God who is able to give more than we understand or ask for. Even though we do not know what we should ask for and how, nevertheless the Spirit of God, who dwells in the hearts of the godly, sighs and groans for us within us with inexpressible groanings and also procures inexpressible and incomprehensible things.”
All through prayer.
Thanks be to God!
Amen.
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