Tuesday, July 27, 2010
July 21 & 25, 2010 - Pentecost + 9
“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples”
The disciples want to learn how to pray.
There was a Jewish custom of learning set prayers for prayer in AM & PM & meals,
Prayers they learned by heart;
John the Baptizer may have taught his followers such a prayer or prayers.
Disciples have watched Jesus praying & want what he has.
They want, perhaps, for Jesus to give them a set prayer,
which of course is how we have come to view & use the Lord's prayer.
Maybe they were looking for the magic words,
the “Open Sesame” that would open the way into God's presence.
They want to know how prayer works; how to make prayer work.
We too may want to learn how to pray,
to know how it works; how to make it work -
to feel like our prayers are effective, that they get God's attention.
We want the magic formula that will convince God to help us.
Lord's prayer gives us a model – but I wish Jesus would have stopped there
Verses 5-13 give us some problems.
They make me wrestle with Jesus.
They maybe give us some wrong ideas about what prayer is all about.
1st Story
the 2 neighbors – 1 in need of bread (us) & 1 in bed who doesn't want to get up
But even if the 1 in bed won't get up b/c of the friendship, will finally get up & give the other neighbor what he needs b/c he is persistent.
(The most persistent neighbor I know is Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory, who knocks on the door until his neighbor Penny lets him in, because she knows he won't go away otherwise.)
2nd part – Ask, search, knock = receive, find, open door
“for everyone who asks...,” Jesus says.
But that's not always how it works.
We don't always get what we ask for,
and I'm not just talking about the “frivolous” stuff – lottery or team winning,
but the deeper, more important, serious stuff of life – healing, safety, reconciliation
And yet people die too young, or remain in abusive situations; Evil-doers don't always get caught and stopped...
And we either wonder if God is not to be trusted, if God is not reliable; or we blame ourselves – questioning if we didn't pray persistently enough or ask loudly enough or have enough faith or seek in the right places, etc. - as if God only answers prayers when nagged long enough.
But we need to look deeper, explore a bit more.
Because even more important than the “how” of prayer
is understanding the “who” of prayer
– understanding who it is we are praying to;
and that's really what Jesus teaches here.
Lord's prayer aren't magic words.
They aren't the secret formula to getting to God's heart.
They're a good model.
They give us words when we don't have any.
But this prayer goes beyond that to tell us about who we are praying to:
FATHER, the word that tells us about relationship,
which makes all the other words possible,
not just in the Lord's Prayer, but in every prayer.
Jesus prayed, "Abba" - a word that means something more like Daddy or Papa -
that close, trusting relationship of a little child and their loving parent.
Jesus wants us to understand that when we pray,
we are not making requests of a distant diplomat or an impersonal judge
– but someone who loves us, who cares for us,
who watches out for us & wants what's best for us
and not just b/c we nag...
We misunderstand the story.
We think it's about the persistence of the one asking,
as if the result depends on the asker, not the one being asked.
In the culture of the time, hospitality was a matter of honor.
It was unthinkable that 1st friend wouldn't provide for surprise guest,
but even more unthinkable that friend 2 wouldn't get up and help him
because he would lose honor, lose status, lose reputation.
Just as unthinkable that God wouldn't help us – and this isn't a 1:1 thing.
Jesus isn't saying that God is like the neighbor doing things out of obligation or pride.
He's saying, "Imagine! If a neighbor would do it just for pride, how much more would God do it – out of love & concern for our needs..."
Just like a father who knows how to give good gifts
– God isn't trying to trick us when we ask for the things that we need
– if we ask for a fish, God won't pull the rug out from under us & give us a snake,
or a scorpion in place of an egg
If human parents, with all of their faults and failings,
do the best they can to do right by their children,
God is even more so!
This is what Jesus is trying to help the disciples & us understand
– that God is more reliable than a next door neighbor helping out of obligation;
God is more loving than the most loving human parent you can imagine.
That's who we pray to...
Part of prayer will always be a mystery.
Lots of our deepest, most earnest prayers won't be answered
the way we think they should, the way we desperately want them to,
And we won't always know why.
But this we do know:
God wants us to pray (Jesus says, "Ask!")
& God listens when we do.
So we pray with confidence,
not because we have the magic words,
not because we understand how prayer works
but because we trust the One we pray to,
who loves us more than we can ever imagine.
Amen.
July 14, 2010 - Pentecost + 8
I was away on Sunday, July 18, but here for our worship on Wednesday, 7/14. Rather than preach a traditional sermon, we had a discussion about the gospel, about the many distractions that we encounter when we try to spend intentional time focused on our relationship with God/Jesus/Holy Spirit.
So here are some thoughts & questions to encourage you to join the discussion...
Read the story (Luke 10:38-42, linked above)
Spend a few minutes in silence to listen to what stands out about the story, what God is saying to you through it
What is it like to sit and listen
How often do we do this in our lives (daily or weekly)?
What kind of distractions do we have?
(Internal - our own thoughts, concerns, to-do lists, etc.
External - Outside distractions - TV, radio, Internet, other people)
Experiences when someone hasn't given you their full attention
Times when we have done this to others
The difference when we are fully present – what happens for us, for the other, for the relationship?
Balance between doing & being
Need to be able to get things done
But need to take time
– intentionally, deliberately –
to be with God
– to read, pray, worship, listen;
to be attended to & give our attention
When have we been able to do this?
What circumstances make it easier to take/make this time?
Gospel as an invitation to a mini-sabbath;
a chance to rest, to just be, to enjoy Jesus' company
Jesus wants to spend time with us
So take some of that time now in silence and see what he has to say...
July 11, 2010 - Pentecost + 7
Neighbor:
State Farm (Like a good neighbor...)
Sesame Street (who are the people in your neighborhood?)
Mr. Rogers - invited everyone, every day to be his neighbor
– “I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you; I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you... Would you be mine? Could you be mine? Won't you be my neighbor?”
So welcoming & accepting; no requirements to be his neighbor, just accept the invitation.
Such a contrast to the lawyer in the gospel,
who comes to Jesus asking, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
student of the Law, God's law written down in the Hebrew Scriptures – so Jesus asks him – what does the Law say about it? How do you understand it?
Lawyer knows his stuff; comes back /w the right answer: Love the Lord your God... & your neighbor as yourself.
But the lawyer is not like Mr. Rogers; he's not accepting all comers
– he wants to know “Who is my neighbor?”
Loving neighbor is hard work; you have to be selective
hoping for a clear, finite, definitive answer – perhaps geographical (the people next door) or based on religion; the people who look, act, dress, believe the same as you
We can understand this question
I love Mr. Rogers, but he lived in TV land, after all,
kind of a little fairy tale, Land of Make Believe world.
And taking everybody as your neighbor, loving everyone as yourself is a lot to ask, a big responsibility.
So we try to narrow down the playing field a little bit
because we have enough to do w/ work & family & home
& we want to have some time for fun, hobbies, etc.
and if we start seeing everyone as our neighbor, we won't ever have time to do anything else...
Parable reminds us of what we should do.
We know that priest & Levite should know what to do.
They of all people should know what it means to love God & your neighbor,
& yet they just walk right on by.
And we know we are guilty of the same thing.
We know that there are times we see someone in need and just pass by on the other side, look the other way at the intersection where the person looking for food or work is standing right next to us.
And we feel guilty about it – sometimes anyway.
This parable forces us to confront the fact that most of the time, most of us aren't very good neighbors to people in need
.
But perhaps that's the twist in this parable that Jesus tells.
Parables always have something surprising, shocking about them.
Lawyer not supposed to identify w/ priest or Levite or Samaritan – but w/ the man who fell into the hands of robbers...
to see himself as the one who is in need,
the one who has to accept help from the last person he ever would have wanted or expected to receive help from –
a Samaritan, someone different, someone “other”,
but someone who is like Mr. Rogers – and just doesn't care about any of that stuff
– someone who just sees another person in need and is willing to go out of his way to help.
Maybe we too, are supposed to put ourselves in the place of the one who is hurt,
who is wounded, who is desperate for help
because at one time or another, in one way or another, we have all been there
– or we will be;
those times we feel like the world has chewed us up & spit us out,
when life has beaten us down and left us lying there with no one who cares.
But there is someone who cares!
Jesus is our neighbor, who sees us & is moved w/ pity,
who comes to us & bandages our wounds,
and takes us to a place of rest and healing,
commits to take care of us, who takes responsibility for our well-being,
who offers us mercy whether we deserve it or not.
This parable isn't so much about guilting us into loving our neighbor as it is about seeing how we have already received that love.
And it is then that Jesus says to us, “Go and do likewise.”
May we give as we have received.
Amen.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
July 4, 2010 - Pentecost + 6
Jesus Sends to Good News Straight to Your Door
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Pentecost + 6, June 30 & July 4, 2010
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
Pentecost + 6, June 30 & July 4, 2010
Door-to-door sales experience?
Wouldn't want to do it –
Knocking on strangers' doors
trying to sell something they don't want or need
Politely/not-so-politely turned down
Just doesn't appeal to me
Sounds like what Jesus is telling his followers to do
Appoints 70 to go 2x2 into various towns & places
Everywhere he planned to go himself
And basically to go door-to-door; cold calls
No bag, no sandals, no lolly-gagging or chit-chatting along the way
Just Go, go to the town & knock on someone's door
& enter wherever they'll have you come in
and declare peace
and then stay there!
Eat their food, drink their drink
Cure their sick
& tell them the kingdom has come near
Except it won't always happen that way
not everyone will welcome them, not everyone will be happy to see them
So not to stick their foot in the door to gain entrance
but to move on
but still – remind them that God's kingdom has come near.
Not a job I'd sign up for
not knowing what kind of reception you'll get
Yet Jesus calls all of his followers to do something like that
appoints all of us to go share the good news
to tell others of what God has done in Jesus
How Jesus came to heal, to teach, to preach;
to show us God's love for us; to live it;
to die for it; for us
But not too many of us really feel up to the task
We feel inadequate, nervous, unprepared
Unsure of ourselves, afraid of the risk
afraid of rejection
B/c we all know how people feel about door-to-door salesman
or Jehovah's Witnesses
or Mormons
or the random preacher on the street
We don't want to be lumped in that same group
We don't want to intrude on others lives
Except that's not what all door-to-door salesmen are like
When I was a kid
back when people did sell stuff door-to-door
there were some who came (Raleigh guy, Schwann's man)
it was a highlight of my day
they brought new & interesting things
they brought things we needed
things we wanted (ice cream!) right to our door
sometimes even before we knew we needed it!
How cool is that?!
To get to bring something people need,
that brings pleasure & joy,
right to their front door?!
Kind of what I see going on in gospel
B/c Jesus sends his followers out to bring something the world needs,
something that will bring them joy
– right to their front door, before they even know that they need it!
Sends them out to make a difference
To bring peace into conflict (& all peace means)
To offer healing in the midst of pain
To bring hope of new life
& it doesn't just happen by them showing up at the front door
It happens when they go inside & stay a while
When they eat and drink together
When they listen and talk
and build relationships
Bringing w/ them the Kingdom of God
Where people are valued and welcomed and
invited to become a part of something bigger than themselves
It's what Jesus is calling us to do
Not necessarily to go door-to-door, making cold calls & trying to sell people something
But to be a part of peoples' lives
to build relationships
To speak God's peace to people and families and situations in turmoil
To bring the promise of God's healing
To offer the light of hope in a dark world
that needs to know
that God's kingdom has come near
That there is a place for everyone in God's family
That there is good news waiting – and it's as close as their front door.
May we find joy in the telling.
Amen.
June 27, 2010 - Pentecost + 5
The Gospel story today is about making a commitment
Not always easy for me to do
Started young – piano lessons (too much practice); Brownies (need for familiar face); dance classes (didn't fit my schedule)
Making a commitment hard for lots of us
diet & exercise?
Overscheduled, overworked, too many other commitments
Come to this story in Luke & it overwhelms us when we realize how deep a commitment Jesus is asking of us
Jesus wants everything
Would be followers in this story have a hard time making a commitment too
1.I will follow you wherever you go... Do you know what you are getting into? No promise of security, no consistency of routine, etc.
2.J: “Follow me” - 1st let me bury my dad – but no; you have other work to do; family/religious/social expectations can't take priority over following me
(and we are knocked back by that! What about Honor your father & mother? What about family values?)
3.“I will follow, but let me go say goodbye 1st”; J says no to that too – you can't follow me into my future while you are holding on to the past; you can't follow my path if you're not willing to let go of the old familiar, comfortable;
Jesus asking for total commitment
*Following Jesus is not a hobby, not a part-time job, not something you can squeeze in around other activities when you have time
*Jesus asks for everything – and it's a hard story to swallow; hard to live up to, in fact, it's downright impossible
When I got a little older, I learned something else about commitment;
I did improve! I grew up.
Softball - 4th - 9th grade;
Band - 7th-12th grade
Relationships, common goals, joy made it worth the time commitment, the physical challenges (heat, cold, etc.), the sacrificing of other activities...
I got more out of it than it asked back...
Committing to following Jesus is like that
– you get back more than you are asked to give
– not necessarily what you might think you want & need –
not necessarily financial security or social status or the familiar & comfortable,
But you get Jesus! 100% of Jesus – He commits everything to us...
“His face was set toward Jerusalem”
- you know what happens in Jerusalem... the cross, death – the place where he lays it all on the line, holds nothing back, gives himself totally to save us
Even though we don't give him 100%, it doesn't stop him from giving everything for us
Someone like that is worth following & giving it everything we've got, don't you think?
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