What is Faithful Prayer?
Isaiah 6:1-8
October 21, 2007
This is the second sermon in the series for our annual stewardship emphasis. Just to remind you of what I said last week, and what I have been saying ever since becoming your pastor, stewardship is so much more than money. If we think only of money, then we are missing the point of being a member of the family of God, an heir of heaven, and a caretaker of God’s gifts.
Last week, we talked about the river of grace that flows from the throne of God; about the living water that pours out from God’s heart and flows through us giving us life. Perhaps we are wondering how we can come to stand under that river of grace to be washed, cleansed, and nourished. And once we jump in the water, then what? What does that mean for our stewardship? What does that mean for our prayers, our presence, our gifts, and our service? The pump has been primed. Now what? What do we do to begin to draw on that water that promises eternal life?
I believe that it begins with prayer. To be honest with you, I struggled with prayer for a long time – for years. I have read the great spiritual masters and spiritual giants of history, and have tried to learn from them. Two of the modern voices that I appreciate are Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton. Nouwen was a Roman Catholic priest and one of the greatest twentieth century voices of the spiritual life. Merton was a Trappist monk who had incredible insights into the individual’s life in the presence of God. They have both taught me much about the need to be silent and still in order to open myself up to listen to God.
I have tried to emulate both of these men because I so much appreciate their insights and their own authentic faith and prayer life. The problem is that I can’t sit still long enough to follow their lead. I have trouble with solitude. My mind races and I can’t focus. My attention span is about ninety seconds. Prayer had become almost impossible for me.
Some years ago, I decided that I needed some help to sort all of that out, so I started working with a spiritual director. In the course of that work, he suggested that I spend a couple of sessions with a psychologist to help me understand myself a little better. So I actually saw a psychiatrist for a little while. In the course of that relationship, he put me on some medication for Adult Attention Deficit Disorder.
No too long after that, I took a class on Spirituality and the Local Congregation over at the Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminaries in Elkhart. At the beginning of the first class, the professor had us spend twenty minutes of silence. When the time ended, he asked us what went on with us. I told him that the silence screamed at me and I couldn’t pray at all.
He asked me some more questions and I told him about my ADD diagnosis. He said, “Well, of course you have trouble praying. You need to find a better way.” After class, we sat over a cup of coffee and explored different methods of prayer. With his help, I discovered that I need to find more active ways to pray.
He led me to the writings of a sixteenth century French monk named Brother Lawrence, who learned to “practice the presence of God” all during the day. He was intent to see God working in each minute of his day, even in the most mundane tasks and experiences. He never really spent long silent periods in prayer, but his whole day was filled with prayer as he saw God’s presence in all that he did. So I have tried to emulate Brother Lawrence. It has helped.
Prayer has to be the center of whom and what we are. I want to show you a very short film clip. This is from the movie “Shenandoah” starring Jimmy Stewart. He is the father of a rather large clan and has an interesting way of offering table grace.
(Show clip here)
Most importantly, I believe, prayer is not about telling God what to do. Prayer is not about telling God how good we are. Prayer is not about placing ourselves at the center of the universe. Prayer is about listening to God and pushing our wills to line up with God’s will.
Our stewardship theme this year is focused on becoming more Christ-like. We are going to be concerned about how we can give all of ourselves to God and to God’s work in the world. God’s living water is available to us all. How do we receive it? It seems to me that it begins with prayer.
Let me say that there are as many different ways of praying as there are people who pray. One of the mistakes we make when we read about prayer is that we think that we have to pray the way others pray. We tend to think that if we don’t pray like the spiritual giants, then we aren’t doing it right.
The fact is that the manner in which we pray is dependent upon our personalities, our interests, our lifestyles, and a whole host of other factors. I believe that the issue before us is not the manner in which we pray, but rather the fact that we do pray.
Still, I believe that there are certain elements in authentic prayer that make it a richer and fuller experience. The call narrative of the prophet Isaiah might seem like a strange place to look for a pattern of prayer, but it is there. The other day, I dug out the Bible that I used throughout my seminary years. It is pretty beat up and the cover is held on with the handy man’s friend, duct tape. The sixth chapter of Isaiah in that Bible is covered with underlines, observations, and class notes. I still remember the day when my Old Testament professor outlined the prayer pattern he found there.
We don’t know a whole lot about the prophet Isaiah although we assume that he was a priest. The first thirty nine chapters of his message were proclaimed during the eighth century BCE to Judah and Jerusalem as opposed to the northern kingdom. Isaiah, like so many of the prophets, can be very difficult to interpret. Martin Luther once said, “The prophets have a queer way ot talking, like people who, instead of proceeding in an orderly manner, ramble off from one thing to the next, so that you cannot make head or tail of them or see what they are getting at.”
Chapter six is his call narrative; the report of the day when God called him to be a prophet. Not all scholars agree with that, yet the pattern of prayer is still visible.
First of all, prayer begins with adoration. Isaiah was in the Temple when he had his vision. In his vision, he saw the Lord sitting on his throne attended by the angels who were calling to one another, praising God. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
During the summer, I led a Sunday School class on the book, “The Gospel According to Starbucks.” The writer told us to remember that, above all else, Jesus is our friend. In the gospel of John, Jesus says to his disciples, “I do not call you servants any longer… but I have called you friends…” (John 15:15). There is something comforting in that verse. It is good to be able to call Jesus our friend because that means that he is always available, always ready to listen, always open with us, and always ready to love us regardless of what we have done.
It is indeed comforting to imagine Jesus as our best friend, and helpful at times. I have imagined myself walking with Jesus for a friendly chat from time to time. There is something very comforting in that. He is indeed our friend, and a friend to all sinners. I don’t want to destroy the sense of intimacy we have with him.
Yet I am always a little cautious about this sort of friendship language, because in my opinion, it offers a risk that we forget about God’s majesty, power, and greatness. I think that it is possible to get too friendly with God. If God becomes our buddy, then he no longer can be our Savior. The writer of the eighth psalm wrote, “How majestic is your name in all the earth.” Isaiah saw the Lord “high and lifted up” being attended by angels who were proclaiming his greatness. I never want to lose that sense of God’s awesome power, and I think it is fitting that prayer begin with that sort of recognition of how much greater God is than are we. Adoration is the beginning point of prayer as we worship God on God’s throne.
From there, prayer moves on to confession. Isaiah says, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips…” From THE MESSAGE we read, “Doom! It’s Doomsday! I’m as good as dead! Every word I’ve ever spoken is tainted – blasphemous even! And the people I live with talk the same way, using words that corrupt and desecrate.”
Confession puts us on a right footing with God because it is recognition of the fact of our sinfulness. It is recognition that we have no right to stand before the holiness of God. The first verse of the hymn, “Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed” goes like this. “Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die? Would he devote that sacred head for sinners such as I?” The most popular and favorite hymn of American Christianity is Amazing Grace. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Confession of our sins gives us the ability to be able to approach God openly and honestly.
The next step in prayer is affirmation or a statement from God that you have been forgiven. One of the angels touched Isaiah lips with a hot coal from the altar fire and declared that his sins were forgiven. “Look. This coal has touched your lips. Gone your guilt, your sins wiped out.” Isaiah was affirmed as a forgiven child of God. He was released from his burden, from the bondage of sin, from the oppressiveness of feeling unworthy.
This is a word we all need to hear. We all need to listen to God in order to hear God affirm our forgiveness following our heartfelt confession of sin. We need to listen to God and hear that he has set us free; that we no longer have to be worried about being stuck in our sins and our broken relationship with God.
And finally, the prayer cycle is complete when we accept our commission. God wanted to know who would go out for him and spread the news. God wanted to know who could be counted on to go out to the people with the message of judgment and salvation. Who, wondered God, had enough courage and wisdom to go? Isaiah said, “I’ll go. Send me.” The final step of prayer is the action part; putting one’s feet into one’s prayers. We commit ourselves to be an active follower of God as a response to God’s greatness and to his willingness to entrust us with his message.
However you are led to pray, Isaiah offers us a pattern. Some of us spend long, solitary periods on our knees in the presence of God. Others of us pray in short snatches throughout the day. Many of us count on the Holy Spirit to help us pray when the words don’t come. However we pray, the pattern is set in adoration, confession, affirmation, and commission or dedication.
The most important thing in prayer, regardless of the method or manner in which we pray, is to pray in compliance with the will of God for our lives. We don’t give instructions to God. We wait for God’s instructions to come to us. We pray, not with the intention of bending God’s will to ours, but in order to bend our will to God’s.
We have been so blessed by God. As we move through our fall stewardship emphasis, I hope we can come face-to-face with the incredible ways God has provided for us. Flowing steams of grace emerge from the throne of God. I hope that God may speak to us in our prayers and lead us to be more grateful and effective servants. I hope that we will rely on God to help us draw on the eternal and living water. Through our prayers, I hope we come more fully into God’s presence.
