The Essence Of Prayer Transcript

Good morning again. I mentioned last week that Kevin has been doing a sermon series based on taking portions of a worship service and breaking it down so that each of them has meaning. Last week we talked about what I'm doing now, the meaning of the message and imparting a message. Today we're talking about, I use the word supposed to be, we're supposed to be talking about pastoral prayer and the prayers of the people. The problem is I didn't know that. All I had was scripture. I had the four pieces of scripture and that's what I based everything I did on. And it wasn't until recently that I reread something Kevin sent me and he says, I don't know how your sermon title, Echoes of Anger, is going to work into prayers of the people. And I went, oh, was I supposed to be talking about that? So this is going to be one of my Frankenstein sermons. A little piece from here and a little piece from there, all sewn together to try to make sense and to have a little life in it. So let's see where we wind up. Prayer. Now, Carol didn't read the very end of that piece of scripture, which

The king was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And he said, oh, my son, Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom, would I have died instead of you? Oh, Absalom, my son, my son. That sounds a little bit like a prayer, but it also sounds like it's got some undertones of anger to it. David really turned over the overleadership of the country of Israel because he wouldn't take action against a son who had committed a sin against God. In the Hebrew way of looking at things, when Absalom took over, there was a cause and effect there. David, in his prayer, was expressing anger and regret. Well, then we also have one of the pieces of scripture from 1 Kings. It talked about Elijah on his journey and how he went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die. Is it enough now, O Lord? Take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors. Sounds a little bit like a prayer to me, but his is a prayer of desolation. He is basically giving up. And, of course, we know the story. The angel comes and says, here, eat this and drink this. Otherwise, you won't have the strength to go on your journey. Anger towards probably self and probably towards God. This one is a prayer of desolation. At least, that's how it could be interpreted. And then we have one of the prayers that is often used in funeral services. Psalm 130. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive, the voice of my supplication. If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with you, so that you may be revered. I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word I hope. Now, that sounds a little bit more uplifting.

Then we wind up with, to me, the ultimate prayer. Let me read. How many were in the military? You know what as you were means? It means get back to where you was before you got to where you is. I stepped in too soon. There is a prayer that Jesus lifted up that has been interpreted for years and decades and centuries. As a prayer of forlornness. In the garden of Gethsemane, prayed, my God, or actually he was on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? How many of you remember that in your scripture? Does that sound like a prayer of uplifting? Or does it sound like a, why am I here? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? So, what is it really? It is a prayer, but it is not a prayer of feeling forgotten, of feeling abandoned. I think it was Livingston who said, the most surprised person on the cross was Jesus of Nazareth, because he did When he was on the cross, he knew he was alone. And he said, why hast thou forsaken me? And in doing that, Stanley shows he didn't understand his scripture. Because those words, anybody know where those words come from? My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Do you know where they come from? If I was to give you time, you could open your Bibles to Psalm number 22. And I quote, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me from the words of my groaning? Oh my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer. And by night, but find no rest. Jesus was praying because if you go further, into the psalm, yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our ancestors trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were saved. In you they trusted and were not put to shame. What he was saying is, at this point, people may look at me and think that God has abandoned me. But Father, I know you are faithful to all generations. Jesus is praising God, even in this time where we perceived it as a time of feeling abandoned. Actually, I suggest you all go back and read it. But Jesus is actually saying, I know you're with me, Lord. And that's the essence of prayer. Prayer is you and I taking the time to pray. To acknowledge that God is present in our lives. What do you think you're going to say in your prayer that God doesn't already know? What do you think has happened in your life that God doesn't already, that God isn't fully aware of? So what are we doing when we pray? We're reminding ourselves that we have an omnipresent God. An omnipotent God. A God who is fully aware of everything. There's always that joke that, you know, and God knows the number of hairs on your head. And with me, he's given them names. You liked that one, didn't you? Prayer should be a time of communication where we open ourselves up to the message of the Almighty. We open ourselves up to, communicating and saying, you are my Lord. My Lord and my God. And I am here. Show me. And lead me. That's the essence of prayer. Now, that being said, I have a real problem with prayer in worship. I've been doing, I mean, I'm a retired pastor, folks. I think I've led prayer in worship once or twice. But I have a lot of trouble with it. Because, especially when I was sitting where you're now sitting before I became a minister. When I was sitting where you're sitting after I stopped being a minister. And when I was sitting in any congregation where anyone else was leading a prayer. Any prayer.

Because I don't like Do you? Do you really talk like that? Oh, God of the Almighty heavens, thou comest. Nope. That's not the way I talk to God. And that's not the way God talks to me. I was born and raised Catholic. Right? Any of you ever raised Catholic? Your hands are to be put together, fingers straight, pointing towards heaven. If you're lazy and you let your hands lapse, you're praying to hell. Oh, I'm not kidding, folks. This is what they used to teach. I have a problem with that. Back in the days of Martin Luther, one of the problems they had was the idea that you could buy or pray your deceased loved ones into heaven. You knew about that, right? Next time the bishop floated through town, you invited him to dinner and say, well, my uncle Charles died a couple of months ago and I'm not real sure where Charles was in his faith journey. So how about I give you 300 ducats and you offer up three masses for Charles, to get Charles into heaven. Well, my son, that sounds like an admirable idea. And that's how it went. Well, Martin Luther said, no, no, it don't work that way, folks. That was one of the things he nailed on the door. Because I can't pray you into heaven. I can pray me into the presence of God. I can open myself up in prayer to the presence of God. When I listen to the ivory tower scholars, those people with tomes recorded prayer, I think to myself, who talks like that? And when they start, and it's happened in regular ministers, I've listened to district superintendents, I've listened to bishops. When I was Catholic, I listened to archbishops, I listened to monsignors, cardinals. When I listen to them pray, about halfway through their oratory, I start thinking, I need milk and raisins, and I probably should get some cinnamon rolls. Has that ever happened to you? I mean, I'm being serious here, folks. You get me lost in those kinds of prayers, and that's where I stay. I stay lost because I don't talk like that. When I pray, it's, could have used you today, because when X happened, boy did I get mad. And I was a heartbeat away from just screaming at the top of my lungs. But at the last minute, you calmed me down. And so I'm saying thanks, because that would not have progressed the situation at all. So, I'm going to have to deal with so and so tomorrow. Keep me in the palm of your hand. Keep your arm around my shoulder, your hand across my mouth. Be with me. As I know you always are. And I thank you for your loving grace that has got me through this day and will get me through tomorrow. And until that day of salvation, when I stand beside you, be with me always. See you tomorrow. That's how I pray. Because it's honest to me. No ivory tower. No $25 words. Just a heartfelt opening of my heart to God and the request that God continues to infuse me with the grace needed to live my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Help me follow in His footsteps. I was looking through... It's up here. Come on, work with me. I was looking through this opening call to worship. It would have changed it. I would never have written this the way it is. I would have put the word as immediately after the word leader. So it would say as we gather today. That's the way I would have worded it. As we gather today and then at the end I would have put let's begin with prayer. Or just begin with prayer. But when we start getting repetitious, our work of peace begins with prayer. Our work of love begins with prayer. Our work of hope begins with prayer. The boredom I'm feeling now is beginning with prayer. Because that's me. And I'm not here to tell you how to pray. I grew up in a system of regulated prayer. I was raised Roman Catholic. Anybody here ever pray the rosary? I see one hand in the back. You know what the rosary is, right? On our Father followed by ten Hail Marys. Followed by an Our Father. Followed by ten Hail Marys. Fifty Hail Marys. Alright? I don't need to tell you about the Our Father. But the Hail Mary goes like this. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Okay? Fifty times. That was the first time. You know what the fiftieth one sounds like? Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

I only gave you the first half, by the way, the first time. But that's what it's like on the fiftieth time. Because you can't say the same prayer fifty times. Mean it. At least I can't. And if I'm going to spend my time in prayer, I want it to have meaning to me. I want it to open me up to God. John Wesley used to talk about he'd spend three hours in prayer and when he was asked how did he find the time and he would say, and I'm paraphrasing, he'd say, my day is busy, I don't have time to not spend that in prayer. He was busy, he didn't have time to not spend three hours in prayer. Now, when I go into prayer, do I think I'm going to spend the next twenty, twenty-five, thirty minutes in my own head? No.

I have my Bible. I'll open it up. I'll read a passage from Psalms and I'll pray about it as to what I interpret it to mean for me. And when it reminds me of something, I'll pray about it. And I'll remember that, oh, my sister Diane is sick. And I'll pray for her. And, of course, you know my wife is not doing well and I pray for her. And my local church is suffering a little bit with membership and so I'll pray for it. None of it's structured. I let the Holy Spirit guide me where I need to go in my prayer life so that it continues to have meaning for me. And that's what I try to do when I do prayer during worship. It's to stimulate the hearer and the joint prayer-er prayer-er-er. That's weird. But to stimulate each of us into something else that brings us closer to God. Oftentimes when I am in a worship service that I am not leading, I will sit there with a pencil or a pen so that when something strikes me, a word, a phrase, I'll tick mark. Because I don't want to get caught up on it. Because when somebody uses a word that is this long or they put a phrase together that is kind of off, if I hang up right there I've missed the next 20 seconds of whatever's going on. Have you ever done that? Where were we? So I just repeat it. I don't necessarily know exactly what I'm saying. But if it is interesting enough to trigger something, I make a mark so that when I go home, which I always take my bulletin home, when I go home I go back through the service and where was I when I wrote down about this our work of hope begins with prayer. Why did I mark that? Because everything we do should be bathed in prayer. Okay. That works for me. I can remember that. Everything we do is bathed in prayer. It doesn't just begin with prayer. That's why I have trouble with that phrase. Begins with prayer. No. It is bathed in prayer. From the beginning through the middle to the end everything we do should be bathed in prayer. That's what I try to do when I try to lead worship. When I lift up my pastoral prayer I try to keep it simple so that people don't get hung up on words. I try to let it flow. I try not to repeat myself because in repeating myself people get lost. I try to let it be meaningful. Hopefully it's meaningful to you. But first off it has to be meaningful to me. Now, we pray in public. Is it just us? Or are we hoping that when other people see us it stimulates something in them to turn their lives towards the message of Jesus Christ and His love. I said earlier that your prayer no matter how much you pray you can't change me. But when you say Jim we've been praying for you that gives me pause. That helps me think okay you know I love music one of my favorite Randy Travis songs is When Mama Prays. You know it? When mama prays things happen. When mama prays lives are changed not much more than five foot tall but mountains big and small crumble all the way when mama prays. That's a son who is living a rough and rowdy life with carousing and drinking and the message of the song is one day he comes home he sees mama kneeling in the living room lifting up words to Jesus. He says I knew my life was changed. It was her faith in prayer that stimulated him to change. And it's going to be our faith in prayer that may have the lasting effect on our children and our grandchildren and our neighbors.

If we do everything we do is bathed in prayer and everyone knows it then everything we do can be an avenue of grace to both ourselves and those people around us. Quick story my last six years in the army I was at Fort Bliss William Beaumont Army Medical Center and I was working in the respiratory therapy department. I had 20 years of experience the guy who ran the department had two years but he was in charge because he was promoted before I was. He'd been in E6 longer than me. Well if you're going to go to someone when you have a question about respiratory therapy are you going to go to the guy who just came out of school or are you going to go to the guy who's been doing it for 20 years? Well boss didn't like the fact that I was the one they were going to. The best thing I can say is he tried to stab me in the back to get me thrown out of the army I wound up actually doing well where I wound up I prospered I give all thanks to God for that but an opportunity came a year and a half later for me to do dirt on Ray Rodriguez who had done dirt to me and I had to pray I really did I said Lord lift the anger from me give me your grace let me treat him as you would treat him so when the opportunity came I didn't take the shot I could take and people who knew it was available they said Jim you had your shot I said no not a shot worth taking I said Jesus would have forgiven and so did I. I literally the time in prayer calmed my spirit the time in prayer led me forward when it came time to enter into ministry I spent a lot of time in prayer and I eventually the question came into my mind am I denying God by not going or am I stroking my ego by going and I decided I was denying God by not going that was 24 25 years ago prayer is an opening to us opening us up to the message to the grace to the guidance of God but sometimes we have to wait for it I've always loved the joke dear God give me patience now too often that's how we approach it Paul I'm sure prayed for the thorn in his side but eventually he said Lord I give you thanks for the thorn because it kept me focused on you so use your prayer time whether it be in worship or be at home use your prayer time as an avenue of opening up when the pastor lifts up a time of prayer don't get caught up in the particular words be caught up in the time of communication of opening yourselves up to a message from God something that I always used to put at the top of my bulletins when I was making bulletins before service talk to God be in prayer during the service let God talk to you hear the scripture after the service talk to your friends I never added it in but that I usually wanted to follow hear the gossip but first open yourselves up to God in prayer then let God speak to you through worship then talk to your friends after the service is over prayer is an avenue of communication too often we use it as a wall to divide or to separate ourselves from what's actually going on I've seen people hide behind prayer because they're saying all the right words but by the way they say them they don't have to actually be engaged with them if you can't get engaged with the prayer that you're offering up shut up if the prayer doesn't mean anything don't say it I have been in some worships I was talking to liberal progressive conservative and she says well we're probably a little more on the progressive side and I went okay I'm very much on the conservative side well I have been in worship services that were so progressive almost got up to leave but that would have been disrespectful so what I did is I shut it and I entered into my prayer time because I was there to worship God I wasn't there to worship the church I wasn't there to be part of whatever was going on there

I was there to worship God so if you wind up in a situation where you can't participate in what's being said don't say it go in your own place and communicate with God and be sure you always a little bit of time or more than a little bit of time for God to talk I was talking to the organist earlier and about the Lord listen to your children praying we're actually going to do this in just a minute we're going to do it twice I'm going to do it the first time I invite you because I I love it and I that's just the way I've always done it the pastor always does it the first time the congregation joins in the second I was telling the liturgist that in when I was putting together bulletins this is the piece of music that led into every prayer service I ever did once I found this piece of music because it Lord listen to children reminds me that I'm not here for me I'm opening myself up to God hearing me would you pray with me listen to your children praying send your spirit in this place listen to your children pray send us love send us power send us grace