LET US PRAY
Matthew 6:5-6
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Pastor Londia

          Today’s sermon is a simple yet profound challenge for all of us to pray -- communicate -- more often with God than we are currently doing. The challenge is biblically based, initiated by God.

In the Old Testament, the chosen people were given a mandate to pray three times a day. The Torah or Pentateuch (Greek) for Teachings are from the Five Books of Moses: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers & Deuteronomy. They specifically told the Israelites which direction to face and which posture to assume. No matter what you’re doing, God instructed, stop three times a day, kneel in a position of humility, face Jerusalem and talk to your God. By ritualizing and instituting prayer, God taught the importance of communicating with Him. Righteous Jews were faithful. Some, like Daniel, risked their lives in a lion’s den rather than disobey, Daniel 6:10.

During Jesus’ time on earth, ritual prayer continued. But some devout Jews practiced the letter instead of the spirit of the law. Today’s scripture explains it like this: in crowded, public places, those who wanted attention would interrupt religious classes or market shopping to pray. Everyone got to see how diligent they were. This spectacle among temple leaders bothered Jesus so much, he called them hypocrites. He knew their hearts and motives. God had ritualized prayer to give his people spiritual discipline, to make talking and listening to Him as regular and natural as eating and sleeping. So Jesus said, “I’m not going to allow you to abuse my father’s method of drawing you close any longer. Let’s turn the ritual upside down. Instead of praying on street corners, pray in private. Go into your room and talk to God. No one will see or hear you. No one will know how often you pray. There will be no spotlight. Your reward will come from the One to whom you pray. The One who listens and responds through scripture, spiritual gifts, dreams, visions, experiences, and so on. ”

          Our Call to Worship/Call & Response includes the challenge to pray more often than we are praying: for others, for ourselves, for our church, for the world. The season of Lent, our annual focus on repentance and reconciliation, begins this week with Ash Wednesday worship at 7 pm. Come. We will pray. When we feel like it, let’s pray. When we don’t feel like it, let’s pray. When we have time, let’s pray. When we don’t have time, let’s pray. Luke 5:15-16 says as Jesus’ popularity grew, more came for his preaching and healing, “but he often slipped away to be alone so he could pray.” A colleague of mine recently taught that when we say our schedule is too full to pray we’re saying that what we do is more important than Jesus’ sermons and miracles among those in need. He slipped away to pray, we must follow his lead.

          Every week the church’s Prayer List is lifted up and we are asked to include the names in our daily prayers. Do we? or has it been so ritualized, that we pray in the sanctuary and that’s it until the next time we decide to come to worship? We have an e-mail Prayer List. With over 400 members and more than 100 constituents, we only have 24 people who have made a commitment to pray when someone requests immediate, intercessory prayer. We have Tuesday Chapel prayer at 10 am that averages 5-6 people. But Devotional Life in the Wesleyan Tradition by Steve Harper says “the absence of prayer was seen by (Methodist founder John) Wesley to be the most common cause of spiritual dryness” (Harper, p19). Are you spiritually dry? How’s your prayer life?

          For those among us who need help with strengthening our prayer lives, here are four highly recommended resources:

(1) Phillip Yancey has an excellent book titled, quite simply, Prayer. It’s written for people who have genuine, practical reasons for not praying regularly: the baby threw up, your favorite teacher at school got sick, you got laid off your job, etc. Yancey, who also wrote the best seller What’s So Amazing About Grace, has practical solutions for you.

          (2) The second recommendation is My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. First published in 1927, it remains relevant because of its many editions. At Annual Conference Bishop Schnase asked all 2500 of us to recommend this title for those who need a companion piece for their daily devotional materials. Talk to Sue Kirkle or Laura Milner about its solid scriptural foundation if you’re thinking about buying it.

          (3) The third recommendation is Too Busy Not to Pray: Slowing Down to be with God written and revised by Bill Hybels. A member of this church gave it to me but I don’t remember whom. You give me so many books and I appreciate them all. This one reminds us that Jesus taught “WHEN you pray, say Our Father,” not IF you pray (Hybels, p46).

          (4) And last, but not least, our fourth recommendation is the #1 bestseller of all time. We all need this one — those who pray frequently, occasionally or not at all: The Holy Bible, authored by many under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. A few of its points: Always pray and not give up, Luke 18:1. Pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Pray instead of worrying, Philippians 4:6. Pray for healing, James 5:14-16. When things happen at home, at school, at work, and at church that we don’t understand or disagree with, do we gossip or pray? This book urges followers of Jesus to pray for those who hurt us, even our enemies, Luke 6:28.

We close today’s sermon with an anonymous essay on The Lord’s Prayer, taken from The Power of Prayer edited by Dale Salwak (pp 56-57).