INTRO
“one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” [Luke 11:1]
Martin Luther, the 16th Century reformer, was once asked much time he spent in prayer. “An hour a day” he said. “But what about if you are really busy?” “If I am really busy I have to spend at least two hours that day in prayer.”
How do you react to that quote?
I have heard it quoted in numerous sermons, so I presumably numerous priests and pastors find it inspiring. Perhaps their congregations do to. Me - I find it terrifying. Have I ever prayed for an hour a day? Perhaps when I’ve been away on retreat for a week in a monastery, I may have prayed for that long and longer. But on an ordinary day? Never! And I’m a professional - I’m a priest. Does that make me a terrible failure?
What about you? Do you find this quote inspiring? Is praying for an hour every morning part of your regular morning cycle? On busy days do you pray two? Or do you struggle? Do you just about manage to squeeze in a few minutes each day? Does a quotation like that make you too feel a failure?
Then one day at the Greenbelt Christian festival I heard a speaker called Mike Yaconelli. Mike was a self confessed “failure”. His message was simple:
Sometimes I pray for one minute a day? How does God react? Is he going “That’s it! That’s terrible! Mike only prayed for one minute a day. Just wait till he feels my wrath...” No! God’s going “What? Wow! Mike prayed for a minute. Millions of people around the world don’t pray at all and Mike prayed for a whole minute.” And if I manage to pray for two minutes, is God “That’s terrible - still only two minutes!”. No, God’s going “Wow, Mike doubled how long he prayed for. So many people who don’t pray at all and Mike has doubled how long he prayed for.” It is the Devil who says to us - “What you only prayed for one minute? That’s not worth it, is it. Think of all those proper Christians praying for two hours each day. You call one minute praying? You might as well not bother praying at all, you are no proper Christian, give up now!”. The devil tries to make us feel bad so we don’t bother trying. God celebrates every little step we make towards him. When my son was a little boy learning to walk, did I say “What you only managed two steps,and then you fell? You are a failure, you’ll never walk, give up now!” No. I say “Wow. You managed two whole steps. That is wonderful. Keep it up.” And that is how God is with us when we pray. [1]
“one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples””
In our Gospel reading – one of the disciples comes up to Jesus asking how to pray. – Which I think many of us can relate to for two reasons!
1) I think most of us want to be better at praying – People come to church for many reasons. Maybe you see yourself as a seeker, maybe you see yourself as a fully signed up Christian – maybe like me when I started going to Christian Union – you are just here for the coffee! But I think most of us like the idea of prayer even if we struggle with doing it. We would like to be better at it
2) The very fact the disciple had to ask the question shows he too struggles with it!
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PART ONE
So the first of three questions you on your tables -
Where do you pray? Do you have a particular place where you pray? A particular room in the house or do you go out into the garden or do you pray on the tube? Where do you pray?
[after we come back together]
"Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples" [Luke 11:1]
We know that Jesus did go to the Synagogue on the sabbath and pray there – but we also see him going away to pray on his own –
Mark 1:35 "Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
Luke 6:12-13 "One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles"
Luke 5:15-16 "The news about Jesus spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed."
And that’s not forgetting before the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry where he goes into the wilderness for 40 days to pray [Matthew 4:1-11] – or the very end of his ministry (Luke 22:39-44) where he spend the night before he dies in the garden of Gethsemane
[Now take answers from the congregation about where they pray]
Having a particular place where you pray can help – because your subconscious says “ah I am in my prayer place” – and as you do it regularly you start to find it easier to pray.
I often pray on tube journeys – to the extent that when I get on a train sometimes I will be planning to do something else – but my brain will be saying – no you should be praying now – and I get my prayer app out on my phone and start praying.
Really posh people used to have chapels in their houses – but with London property prices I doubt many of us have the space for that – so I like the story of Susannah Wesley. Susannah Wesley was the mother of the famous 18th century preacher. But she wasn’t just that – she was a vicar’s wife and was the mother of 19 children! As you can imagine it was pretty busy in her house. But she always prayed. Every day – she would sit in a particular chair – and put a tea towel over her head - and her children knew that if the towel was over her head – she was not to be bothered because she was busy praying.
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PART TWO – How do you pray?
"Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial.’" [Luke 11:1-4]
So my second question to you on your tables? Do you have a particular way you pray? A particular pattern you use?
[after we come back together:]
Is there a right tune? Imagine you pick up your favourite instrument - be it a saxophone or an oboe, a guitar or a concert piano (you don’t literally have to pick up the grand piano). You start to play a tune. Is there a right tune you should be playing? Of course there isn’t. On your guitar, should you be playing Led Zeppelin or Lady Gaga? On your piano should you be playing Bach or Beethoven? And which piece should you be playing? “Is there a right tune?” - the question is a nonsense. Or is it?
From the time he was about two, my son has loved to clunk his fingers on the piano, convinced he was playing just like his older sister. Yet sweet though he looked, clunking your fingers down on random piano keys does not create a tune. In Henry’s defense, my piano playing does not get any better than his. Yet put his older sister on the piano, and we can recognise the tune she is playing.
Is there a right tune? of course not. There are an infinite possible number of tunes. Yet not every clunking of keys is a tune. And by taking lessons or reading sheet music, we can learn to play tunes.
Is there a right way to pray? of course not. Just like with tunes, there are an infinite number of possible right ways to pray. And just like with tunes, there are things that superficially may have some resemblances to Christian prayer (like toddler Henry’s clunking of the piano keys) but actually we can learn to do something more powerful than that.
We have just heard what appears to be the first draft of the Lord’s prayer (Jesus like all preachers honed his teaching over the many times he gave it – but what we have here in Luke 11:1-4 appears to be a shorter form, a first draft of the Lord’s prayer which we see in full in Matthew 6:9-13. But at the heart of this prayer is that it begins with the word “Father”
See also Exodus 33:11 says Moses talked with God “as with a friend”. Christian prayer takes many forms - and at the heart of all those forms is talking to God “as with a friend”. Talking to God as a Father.
There is a wonderful passage by the American pastor Rick Warren in which he writes -
“You were planned for God’s pleasure. The moment you were born into this world God was there as an unseen witness, smiling at you birth. God wanted you alive and your birth brought him great pleasure. God did not need to create you but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment…. If you are that important to God and he considers you valuable enough to keep with him for all eternity, what greater significance could you have? You are a child of God and you bring pleasure to him like nothing else he has ever created.” [2]
All our prayer begins from the place of intimacy with God
So now – when you were talking about it on your tables – what patterns of prayer do you use?
[At this point I have a number of patterns I could talk about – but it depends on how much comes from the them. The things I may add in include:
1) For those who like something quite structured - The Church of England Daily Prayer App
2) For those of you who prefer something more informal - ACTS – Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving Supplication
3) Or perhaps the hand prayer [3]
Use each of the fingers of your hand to remind you of different things to pray for:
The thumb - this is the strongest digit on your hand. Give thanks for all the strong things in your life, like home and family, relationships that support and sustain you.
The index finger - this is the pointing finger. Pray for all those people and things in your life who guide and help you. Friends, teachers, doctors, nurses, emergency services and so on.
The middle finger - this is the tallest finger. Pray for all the important people who have power in the world, like world leaders and their governments, members of parliament and local councillors, the Royal Family, other world leaders and their governments.
The ring finger - this is the weakest finger on your hand. It can not do much by itself. Remember the poor, the weak, the helpless, the hungry, the sick, the ill and the bereaved.
The little finger - this is the smallest and the last finger on your hand. Pray for yourself.
4) Pray the Our Father slowly – “Our Father in Hanwell, Your kingdom come in Hanwell, Your will be done in Hanwell…..”
5) The Examen – at the end of each day reflect with a set of simple questions - What am I grateful for today? When did I experience joy? When did I experience sadness or struggle? How did God show up in those moments? Where did I mess up and need forgiveness? What can I learn from today, and how can I grow closer to God in the future?
I may or may not speak on all of these depending on how much comes from the congregation]
If after hearing all this any of you are worried and thinking “how on earth am I meant to know what patter to use?” – well let me end this middle sections from a teenage nun called Therese of Lisieux.
“I do not have the courage to force myself to search out beautiful prayers in books. There are so many of them it really gives me a headache! and each prayer is more beautiful than the others. I cannot recite them all and not knowing which to choose, I do like children who do not know how to read, I say very simply to God what I wish to say, without composing beautiful sentences, and He always understands me. For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally, it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus.” [4]
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PART THREE
"And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. [Luke 11:5-9]
My third question to be answered on your tables – when or how have you experienced a prayer being answered?
[when we come back together:]
When I was 21 I was an intern at a church in Islington and I joined a homegroup led by an amazing American woman called Jean Snedegar. At the end of each home group session she would get a book out. She would ask us what our prayer requests were and right them down, Then she would read through all the previous prayer requests in the book. If the prayer had been answered she would tick it off. If it had not we would keep praying for it. Sometimes those requests were answered the next week. Sometimes it would be months before the request could finally be ticked off. But over the year that I was part of that group – almost every one of those requests was ticked off.
5 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.” 7And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.” 8I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
So what experiences have you had or prayer being answered? [take feedback from the tables]
Mary, a little toddler became seriously ill – she was taken to hospital – where the doctors told her parents to prepare for the worst. But the new curate refused to accept this. Every day he went to the hospital and prayed outside the little girls room.
How do I know this? Because sixty years later I met Mary – perfectly healthy – the sacristan of the first church I became vicar of. That curate had prayed and prayed and not given up until the prayers were answered. Mary is in her eighties today and still perfectly healthy.
My friend Cheryl told me a similar story about her cousin’s little baby Adanama. Less than one year old Baby Adanama developed meningitus. Her parents told most likely the baby was going to die and that even if she recovered there was no hope the baby would ever have any hearing again and would never learn to speak properly. But her parents refused to give up. They got lots of churches praying. They prayed and prayed and Adanama made a miraculous recovery. She lives, has to wear a hearing aid in one ear but other ear is totally fine and she speaks normally.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. “
“when I pray coincidences happen and when I don’t, they don’t.”
But…
I heard that story about Baby Adanama from my friend Cheryl – Ten years later Cheryl developed cancer. And we prayed and prayed. And prayed and prayed. But Cheryl did not get better – and aged only in her early fifties Cheryl died.
Why is that Adanama was miraculously healed but Cheryl was not?
When its about why God doesn’t answer my prayer to be given a private jet, there are perfectly good answers - “Someone might refuse your request for the crisps and Mars bars so as to increase your hunger for the really succulent meal that is coming along” [5]
But its harder when we are talking about a case like Cheryl dying only in her early fifties.
In the book of Acts Chapter 12 – James is arrested by King Herod. The disciples pray and pray – yet James is executed. Then Peter is arrested – and the disciples pray and pray and Peter is miraculously rescued by an angel – the locks fall off the doors and Peter walks straight out. [Acts 12:1-19] Why were one set of prayers answered and the other set not? I bet the disciples wrestled over that one?
What I do know is that if I don’t pray – I don’t see these answers – and if I do pray – well I don’t every time see every thing I was asking for BUT I do see dramatic answers.
“There was a pious and God-fearing town in the Deep South of the United States, where everyone went to church and was good. And then one day a man arrived and opened a bar which became the focus for all sorts of wild behaviour: drinking and dancing and who knows, maybe even sex. All the good Christians prayed that the bar would be closed. They besieged heaven and, sure enough, six months later the bar burnt down. The bar owner demanded compensation from the Christians. They denied they were responsible. What had they done. He replied, “Am I the only person here who believes in the power of prayer”? [6]
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1) Pastor Rick Warren, the purpose driven life, p.69
2) the hand prayer from cof E website -http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/learnpray.aspx
3) Timothy Radcliffe OP, Why go to church?, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s lent book 2009, Continuum, London 2008, p.95]
4) Therese of Lisieux L'Histoire d'une Âme (the story of a Soul) Chapter 10
5) Timothy Radcliffe OP, Why go to church?, The Archbishop of Canterbury’s lent book 2009, Continuum, London 2008, p.92]
6) Mike Yaconelli’s talk paraphrased from memory rather than quoted word for word.
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