2022 07 24 Sermon

Prayer: God Wants To Hear From You

House of Prayer 50^th Anniversary Celebration

Pentecost 7 C

Rev. Karl-John N. Stone

Luke 11:1-13; Isaiah 56:1-8

Martin Luther described his morning routine. Every morning he would wake up and spend one hour in prayer—except if he had a really busy day ahead of him. Then he would spend two hours in prayer! That’s because he needed God’s help and strength to get through it all. Luther’s example may not seem realistic for most of us. What, with the need to make breakfast, take a shower, feed the dogs, walks the dogs, coordinate your family’s to-do lists, get the kids ready, drop the kids off, run an errand, go to a doctor’s appointment, and then drive to work. Unless you are a very early riser—which some of you are—making time for an hour or two of prayer in the morning might be difficult.

Our daily schedules and routines may have changed since Luther’s day 500 years ago, and even more so since Bible times 2000 years ago—but human nature has not changed. Maybe the Bible has so many stories and sayings about prayer because people have not only found prayer to be powerful, but also because they’ve found it to be challenging, and have needed encouragement in their own prayer life.

This was the case with Jesus’ own disciples. They had observed Jesus praying many times, and saw that usually he withdrew to a quiet spot and prayed in silence. They could see the connection Jesus maintained with God through prayer, but wanted to learn how to do this themselves. So they asked, “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.”

They asked, and Jesus answered. And this is the first thing to observe about prayer: it is a conversation, a give-and-take between us and God. You can lift up to God anything that is on your heart or mind, at any time of the day, for as long or as short as it takes, because (as Luther reminds us in his Large Catechism), “God want to hear from us. Even though the human heart is always in flight from God, even imagining that God does not care about our prayer. But God wants to draw us to himself, so that we may receive mercy and help.”

As a conversation with God, prayer doesn’t have to be limited to just one part of the day. You can pick up and put down this conversation many times all throughout the day. Also, as a conversation, you have to be intentional about listening. I think for many, the “listening for God” part of prayer is the hardest, because we need to listen not only with our ears, but with all our senses; with our whole heart, and mind, and soul. And this takes practice; practice letting go of the busyness in our minds (if only for a few minutes or even a few seconds at a time) and allowing enough stillness in our souls to become aware of God’s presence. Don’t expect to become a master of listening for God right away; it takes a lifetime. But do be confident that God’s loving presence is right there beside you, whenever you open yourself to God through prayer.

God wants to hear from you. And that’s why Jesus taught the disciples what we know as “The Lord’s Prayer”. When you look at the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, you’ll see that they cover everything we truly need. So if you are struggling to pray, use the Lord’s Prayer as an example and as a jumping-off point. Ask God how you can put each petition in your own words. Like: I can’t live for myself alone—I need to reach out beyond myself to experience love and grace in my life. So we pray to honor God’s name as holy, as the One who provides these good gifts.

I see that I am not able to fix the world’s problems. So we pray for God’s kingdom to come, so that light may shine in the darkness; love may grow even from where hatred has been sown; that in the midst of suffering, we find healing; where there is despair, hope may persist; and new life may rise up even from death.

Everything I want is not necessarily something I need. But still, we need many things to get through each day; so we pray for daily bread—not only that my own needs be met, but that each person on this earth receives what they need for today, out of the abundance God has already provided.

I feel a need to be forgiven for things I regret; things I’ve done wrong. So we ask God to forgive our sins, recognizing that if God can forgive me, then with God’s help I can forgive someone who has harmed me, too. Each of us also goes through times of real struggle in life, that we can get through only with God’s help. So we pray “save us from the time of trial” and I ask the crucified Jesus to find me when I’m down in the pit and to walk with me with his support until he raises me up again.

God wants to hear from you. This is why, in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus calls God his “Father”. This is another key point about prayer: it is a relationship. And the particular kind of relationship we develop through prayer is with a God who is generous and loving towards all. We hear about this characteristic of God in the prophet Isaiah, as well; when the Lord says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” God is the creator of everyone in the whole human family, therefore God wants to hear from everyone. And the “house of prayer” that God builds is not limited to one place, whether that be the holy mountain of Jerusalem or 3900 West Ryan Road in Franklin. God builds his house of prayer anywhere, at any time, whenever people open their souls to God’s presence.

Every relationship requires persistence—you’ve got to stick with it for the relationship to grow. So after the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus tells a parable to make this point: “You go to your friend’s house at midnight because you need some food for a houseguest who has just arrived. Your friend doesn’t respond the way you’d like, but eventually comes through with what you need—because you were persistent, and this is your friend.” Every relationship has its ups and downs, but with persistence you can be there for each other when you really need it. And this is what prayer helps us develop in our relationship with God.

It’s not always easy to be persistent, just like it’s not always easy to pray. But even the desire to want to pray is in itself a form of prayer. So if you are finding it difficult to pray, keep asking the Lord to teach you, just like he taught his disciples. God wants to hear from you, and this is what Jesus promises about prayer: “Ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you…. The heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!” When you pray, you may or may not get what you want. But you will be given the Holy Spirit, who through faith will open you up to a whole different way of being and seeing. Amen.