Sermon 6th January 2008
Today our Vicar, Cameron Barker, gives a sermon based on the reading from Matthew 6:5-15
Have you heard the one about a Vicar's five year-old daughter – and it wasn't my own, I promise! She noticed that her father always paused briefly, lowered his head, and closed his eyes before he preached. One day she asked him why he did it. Clearly proud of her powers of observation, he explained gently: “I'm asking God to help me to preach a good sermon”. After a brief pause of her own she asked, “Well how come God doesn't do it, then?”
Despite the obvious inherent dangers, I do want to pray before I go any further. It's a prayer by Eddie Askew, from his book called A silence and a shouting, in which he prays:
“Lord, teach me to pray.
It sounds so exciting, put like that.
It sounds real.
An exploration.
A chance to do more than catalogue
And list the things I want
To an eternal Father Christmas.
The chance of meeting you,
Of drawing closer to the love that made me,
And keeps me and knows me.
And, Lord, it’s only just begun.
There is so much more of you,
Of love, the limitless expanse of knowing you.
I could be frightened, Lord, in this wide county.
It could be lonely, but you are here, with me.
The chance of learning about myself,
Of facing up to what I am.
Admitting my resentments,
Bringing my anger to you, my disappointments,
my frustration.
And finding that when I do,
When I stop struggling and shouting
And let go
You are still there.
Still loving.
Sometimes, Lord, often –
I don’t know what to say to you.
But I still come, in quiet
For the comfort of two friends
Sitting in silence.
And it’s then, Lord, that I learn most from you.
When my mind slows down,
And my heart stops racing.
When I let go and wait in the quiet,
Realising that all the things I was going to ask for
You know already.
Then, Lord, without words,
In the stillness
You are there …
And I love you.
Lord, teach me to pray!”
I wonder if that's a prayer that you can say 'Amen' to – as in: is it one that you want to pray yourself? Would you like God to teach you to pray like that? Of course I hope that you do, because we're starting this new year by studying prayer! More than that, over the next four weeks we're asking God to teach us to how to pray. And I'm sure that no matter how many years any of us have been praying for, we all feel the need to do it better. I've never come across anyone who'd claim to be an expert in prayer, with nothing more to learn about it. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've only ever talked to people who feel like beginners at prayer. All Christians know that we need to pray, to communicate with God; but most of us don't think that we do it very well!
We're in good company, it must be said. In Luke's gospel Jesus taught this prayer that we're going to be looking at in response to his disciples asking him to teach them how to pray! That's why it's called The Lord's Prayer, of course – because Jesus himself taught it. And isn't it amazing that these words have stood the test of all that time? How great that this prayer is still as relevant and helpful today as it was nearly 2 000 years ago! It has so much to teach us about how to pray today, as we'll be learning over the next four weeks. But it's important to see and know it for what it is – and for what it isn't. So my task today is to introduce all that, as well as to talk about the first two lines of the prayer itself.
Now I know that we pray this prayer in church every week. But it's not meant to be used 'just' in that way. What Jesus was doing – as is particularly clear in Matthew's account – was giving his disciples a framework for their praying. The Lord's Prayer is in itself a way, or a pattern, for prayer. It could and should help us to avoid alling into some of the most common pitfalls of prayer. And, of course Jesus was talking to his disciples about precisely those pitfalls when he taught them how to pray like this in Matthew. We'll get to those pitfalls shortly; but first let’s also note where in Matthew Jesus taught this prayer, because that's also really crucial.
Chapter 6 is right in the middle of what's known as the Sermon on the Mount. This was Jesus teaching his disciples what it meant to be his disciples. It was about teaching them – and us, of course – how to be distinctive: in how we speak; in how we act; in how we relate to material possessions; in how we relate to one another; and, above all, in how we relate to God. Prayer is, of course – or should be – primarily about how we relate to God. It’s part of our worship of him too. And so it’s a key part of us being mission-shaped as well. But it has also been said – very accurately, I think – that what we truly believe about God shows most clearly in how, in what, and even in where we pray.
And that was at least partly the point that Jesus made when he pointed out the pitfalls of praying here in chapter 6. He warned his disciples not to follow the examples they saw around them, from fellow Jews, and from people of other religions. Yes, prayer was, and is, vital for relating to God. So think carefully about how you do it, Jesus said. Don't do it ostentatiously in full public view with many, big, long, or repeated words. This is about relating to God; so go and do it in private, where it is for and with him. Go and do it knowing that God knows not just what you need, but, as the Psalmist wrote, what you're going to say even before you speak! So, go and do it like this, Jesus said ...
We've almost got to the prayer itself; but there are still a few more things to be said before we do. The main thing to say is that this is hardly the definitive sermon on prayer – and nor could it ever be! So many people have got so much to say about prayer. A Google search (that took all of 0.15 seconds) came up with – wait for it! – 99 200 000 links on the subject! Yes, there’s much that has been said and written about prayer. And you could certainly do worse than to read Gill’s very helpful sermon on prayer from last November. She covered ground that I can’t now, though, like her, I'll also recommend Philip Yancey's very good book called Prayer, does it make any difference?
I’ll also recommend any Eddie Askew book, as a resource to use to help you to pray. We all need help with prayer, in different ways at different times. That’s precisely why Jesus taught us this pattern of prayer, of course. And so we come to the first 2 lines of it now – briefly, obviously, but still crucially. The opening of the Lord’s Prayer, like any beginning, is crucial. It’s crucial, because it sets the pattern for the rest of it – and so for our praying itself. The absolutely vital point to note, even though it is stating the obvious, is that prayer begins – as it must end – with God!
That’s so important, I’ll say it again: prayer begins, and ends with God. It’s so very easy when praying to jump straight to what we want to say. But, if we use this framework that Jesus gave us, then we’ll start with God instead – which is a far better place to begin our praying!It’s better because it reminds us who we’re speaking with. It also gives us the right perspective on the issues on our minds, because it puts them into context. Starting prayer with God instead of us reminds us too that we are coming to our loving heavenly Father. He is always more ready to listen than we to pray. He’s far from indifferent, to us, or to our prayers. And, because he is God, in heaven, he has the power to answer our prayers in the way that is best, for us and for him.
The other thing not to miss about the start of the Lord’s Prayer is that we’re speaking to ‘our’ Father. Yes, Jesus did say to go and pray in private – and that is where we are to do most of our praying. But this is a prayer that he taught us to pray together too. There is both power and encouragement to be had from praying together – as long as we don’t turn it into a hypocritical show, of course! The Lord’s Prayer is for both public and private use. That's reflected in the differences in the versions that we find in Matthew and Luke. Luke’s version is probably earlier, but it’s less user-friendly. The words that we read in Matthew in the NIV are pretty much as we say them today. They had likely been adapted for public, corporate use, even by this early stage of the church's life.
So, what is it that Jesus said we’re to start off praying for, whether on our own, or together? Jesus said that we’re to pray first for our heavenly Father’s name to be ‘hallowed’. The GNB does us the favour of explaining what that means in its translation of verse 9: ‘may your holy name be honoured’. That’s what it means for God’s name to be ‘hallowed’: that God is honoured in the way that he should be. And all the commentators agree that 5th line, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ apply to all the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, by the way. So we start by praying to our heavenly Father. And we pray first for his name – which sums up all of who and what he is – to be respected and honoured and valued. We pray for that to happen as much on earth as it does in heaven. And that’s a pretty big prayer in itself, if you stop and think about it!
Not surprisingly, there are plenty more big things to come yet in this prayer. But we’re going to have to wait for those, as they’ll be spread out between now and the start of Lent. These are more enough to be getting on with for now, though. So I have no hesitation in challenging us to spend the next week thinking about and praying to God as our Father. What does it mean that we can come to the God who made the world as our Father? What impact does it have, on us and on his world, that he is in heaven? What does that say about who he is, and what he’s capable of? What does it tell us about what he wants if we focus on him? And what does it mean for his name to be honoured here on earth as it is in heaven? And, if you finish all those, then try asking him how you can be the answer to your own prayer in making that happen this week!
The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful tool, that we can use to help us to pray. As this year begins I invite us all to use it then, as God intended – to pray. And let's be ready to be amazed by what God can, and will, do. So let’s pray …
Have you heard the one about a Vicar's five year-old daughter – and it wasn't my own, I promise! She noticed that her father always paused briefly, lowered his head, and closed his eyes before he preached. One day she asked him why he did it. Clearly proud of her powers of observation, he explained gently: “I'm asking God to help me to preach a good sermon”. After a brief pause of her own she asked, “Well how come God doesn't do it, then?”
Despite the obvious inherent dangers, I do want to pray before I go any further. It's a prayer by Eddie Askew, from his book called A silence and a shouting, in which he prays:
“Lord, teach me to pray.
It sounds so exciting, put like that.
It sounds real.
An exploration.
A chance to do more than catalogue
And list the things I want
To an eternal Father Christmas.
The chance of meeting you,
Of drawing closer to the love that made me,
And keeps me and knows me.
And, Lord, it’s only just begun.
There is so much more of you,
Of love, the limitless expanse of knowing you.
I could be frightened, Lord, in this wide county.
It could be lonely, but you are here, with me.
The chance of learning about myself,
Of facing up to what I am.
Admitting my resentments,
Bringing my anger to you, my disappointments,
my frustration.
And finding that when I do,
When I stop struggling and shouting
And let go
You are still there.
Still loving.
Sometimes, Lord, often –
I don’t know what to say to you.
But I still come, in quiet
For the comfort of two friends
Sitting in silence.
And it’s then, Lord, that I learn most from you.
When my mind slows down,
And my heart stops racing.
When I let go and wait in the quiet,
Realising that all the things I was going to ask for
You know already.
Then, Lord, without words,
In the stillness
You are there …
And I love you.
Lord, teach me to pray!”
I wonder if that's a prayer that you can say 'Amen' to – as in: is it one that you want to pray yourself? Would you like God to teach you to pray like that? Of course I hope that you do, because we're starting this new year by studying prayer! More than that, over the next four weeks we're asking God to teach us to how to pray. And I'm sure that no matter how many years any of us have been praying for, we all feel the need to do it better. I've never come across anyone who'd claim to be an expert in prayer, with nothing more to learn about it. Quite the opposite, in fact. I've only ever talked to people who feel like beginners at prayer. All Christians know that we need to pray, to communicate with God; but most of us don't think that we do it very well!
We're in good company, it must be said. In Luke's gospel Jesus taught this prayer that we're going to be looking at in response to his disciples asking him to teach them how to pray! That's why it's called The Lord's Prayer, of course – because Jesus himself taught it. And isn't it amazing that these words have stood the test of all that time? How great that this prayer is still as relevant and helpful today as it was nearly 2 000 years ago! It has so much to teach us about how to pray today, as we'll be learning over the next four weeks. But it's important to see and know it for what it is – and for what it isn't. So my task today is to introduce all that, as well as to talk about the first two lines of the prayer itself.
Now I know that we pray this prayer in church every week. But it's not meant to be used 'just' in that way. What Jesus was doing – as is particularly clear in Matthew's account – was giving his disciples a framework for their praying. The Lord's Prayer is in itself a way, or a pattern, for prayer. It could and should help us to avoid alling into some of the most common pitfalls of prayer. And, of course Jesus was talking to his disciples about precisely those pitfalls when he taught them how to pray like this in Matthew. We'll get to those pitfalls shortly; but first let’s also note where in Matthew Jesus taught this prayer, because that's also really crucial.
Chapter 6 is right in the middle of what's known as the Sermon on the Mount. This was Jesus teaching his disciples what it meant to be his disciples. It was about teaching them – and us, of course – how to be distinctive: in how we speak; in how we act; in how we relate to material possessions; in how we relate to one another; and, above all, in how we relate to God. Prayer is, of course – or should be – primarily about how we relate to God. It’s part of our worship of him too. And so it’s a key part of us being mission-shaped as well. But it has also been said – very accurately, I think – that what we truly believe about God shows most clearly in how, in what, and even in where we pray.
And that was at least partly the point that Jesus made when he pointed out the pitfalls of praying here in chapter 6. He warned his disciples not to follow the examples they saw around them, from fellow Jews, and from people of other religions. Yes, prayer was, and is, vital for relating to God. So think carefully about how you do it, Jesus said. Don't do it ostentatiously in full public view with many, big, long, or repeated words. This is about relating to God; so go and do it in private, where it is for and with him. Go and do it knowing that God knows not just what you need, but, as the Psalmist wrote, what you're going to say even before you speak! So, go and do it like this, Jesus said ...
We've almost got to the prayer itself; but there are still a few more things to be said before we do. The main thing to say is that this is hardly the definitive sermon on prayer – and nor could it ever be! So many people have got so much to say about prayer. A Google search (that took all of 0.15 seconds) came up with – wait for it! – 99 200 000 links on the subject! Yes, there’s much that has been said and written about prayer. And you could certainly do worse than to read Gill’s very helpful sermon on prayer from last November. She covered ground that I can’t now, though, like her, I'll also recommend Philip Yancey's very good book called Prayer, does it make any difference?
I’ll also recommend any Eddie Askew book, as a resource to use to help you to pray. We all need help with prayer, in different ways at different times. That’s precisely why Jesus taught us this pattern of prayer, of course. And so we come to the first 2 lines of it now – briefly, obviously, but still crucially. The opening of the Lord’s Prayer, like any beginning, is crucial. It’s crucial, because it sets the pattern for the rest of it – and so for our praying itself. The absolutely vital point to note, even though it is stating the obvious, is that prayer begins – as it must end – with God!
That’s so important, I’ll say it again: prayer begins, and ends with God. It’s so very easy when praying to jump straight to what we want to say. But, if we use this framework that Jesus gave us, then we’ll start with God instead – which is a far better place to begin our praying!It’s better because it reminds us who we’re speaking with. It also gives us the right perspective on the issues on our minds, because it puts them into context. Starting prayer with God instead of us reminds us too that we are coming to our loving heavenly Father. He is always more ready to listen than we to pray. He’s far from indifferent, to us, or to our prayers. And, because he is God, in heaven, he has the power to answer our prayers in the way that is best, for us and for him.
The other thing not to miss about the start of the Lord’s Prayer is that we’re speaking to ‘our’ Father. Yes, Jesus did say to go and pray in private – and that is where we are to do most of our praying. But this is a prayer that he taught us to pray together too. There is both power and encouragement to be had from praying together – as long as we don’t turn it into a hypocritical show, of course! The Lord’s Prayer is for both public and private use. That's reflected in the differences in the versions that we find in Matthew and Luke. Luke’s version is probably earlier, but it’s less user-friendly. The words that we read in Matthew in the NIV are pretty much as we say them today. They had likely been adapted for public, corporate use, even by this early stage of the church's life.
So, what is it that Jesus said we’re to start off praying for, whether on our own, or together? Jesus said that we’re to pray first for our heavenly Father’s name to be ‘hallowed’. The GNB does us the favour of explaining what that means in its translation of verse 9: ‘may your holy name be honoured’. That’s what it means for God’s name to be ‘hallowed’: that God is honoured in the way that he should be. And all the commentators agree that 5th line, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ apply to all the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, by the way. So we start by praying to our heavenly Father. And we pray first for his name – which sums up all of who and what he is – to be respected and honoured and valued. We pray for that to happen as much on earth as it does in heaven. And that’s a pretty big prayer in itself, if you stop and think about it!
Not surprisingly, there are plenty more big things to come yet in this prayer. But we’re going to have to wait for those, as they’ll be spread out between now and the start of Lent. These are more enough to be getting on with for now, though. So I have no hesitation in challenging us to spend the next week thinking about and praying to God as our Father. What does it mean that we can come to the God who made the world as our Father? What impact does it have, on us and on his world, that he is in heaven? What does that say about who he is, and what he’s capable of? What does it tell us about what he wants if we focus on him? And what does it mean for his name to be honoured here on earth as it is in heaven? And, if you finish all those, then try asking him how you can be the answer to your own prayer in making that happen this week!
The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful tool, that we can use to help us to pray. As this year begins I invite us all to use it then, as God intended – to pray. And let's be ready to be amazed by what God can, and will, do. So let’s pray …
posted by Parish Administrator at 1:45 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home