Lord, Hear Our Prayers

 

I cried before this service. Not hard and not for long. Just a few tears because my heart has been breaking. 

It's breaking for the country. For those who are being swept up in raids, or taken randomly off the streets for the crime of being Latino or Latina. For those who are getting harassed or detained just because. For those who have been sent to CECOT in El Salvador where they are being beaten and abused and forced to perform oral sex on guards. 

It's breaking for our military, for people who joined to serve the country, and who are being used to be an extra guard for the extrajudicial police force assembled to terrorize cities with large immigrant populations. That's not why these people signed up and some are grumbling that they don't want to do this.

I am sad about Gaza, the starvation and famine because of the Israeli government. For those families in Israel who were traumatized by Hamas and their brutal attack on October 7, 2023, and the hostages who probably are all dead by now that are still in Hamas custody. 

I am upset about the Supreme Court which, like our Congress, has surrendered its role as a check to the other two branches of government and is ruling in ways that clearly have nothing to do with law and everything to do with making sure to achieve a particular political goal.

I am deeply hurt and saddened that with all that has been happening in the country, that our Justice Department has thought it more important to protect child predators...which very likely includes the current president and other rich white wealthy men...rather than children and women. 

And I cried because all of this was in my head and I needed to lead a worship service...and I knew I would be addressing some of these ills in my sermon...but I didn't know if it would make any difference. 

And so I prayed. For strength. For God's wisdom and love to move through me. 

Here's what I had to say.

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Texts: Luke 11:1-13, Col. 2: 6-19

“Lord, teach us to pray…”

I remember one of the first times…years ago…when a woman I knew called me up and asked me to pray for her.

I was a little flummoxed at first. I had grown up in the Episcopal Church and the prayers I knew were in books.

And now here I was in my kitchen on the phone with someone who wanted me to just pray off the top of my head for them.

I did it…pulling together the phrases I could think of…praising and describing the goodness of God…petitioning for her particular circumstance…seeking a good and just resolution…and finishing it with the blessing of the Holy Trinity.

And her response to my prayer was…

”That’s it?!”

She had grown up in the world of megachurch…where spontaneous prayers could last the length of a praise song…and my prayer had lasted less than a minute.

My prayer wasn’t answering her need.

But I got better with practice.

When I was doing my chaplain internship for Clinical Pastoral Education…I found that I had to learn many ways of praying…both with the residents of Hebrew Home in Rockville, Maryland…and with their families and guardians.

Sometimes the prayers were songs.

Sometimes they invoked the name of Jesus.

With Jewish residents…I would invoke Adonai for the Name…or HaShem.

And with others…simply using the prayer that Jesus is teaching in our Gospel this morning was the easiest way to connect with another Christian.

However the prayer came out…whatever words or songs were shared…I always found that prayer helped.

It gave a sense of calm and stability both for me as the chaplain…and for the person who requested the prayer.

Our text says that one of the disciples sought out Jesus’ advice about how to pray.

I think this is one of the most basic and yet important requests that anyone can make.

And while we have taken these words of Jesus and turned them into the Lord’s Prayer—probably the most recognized prayer among Christians—I see this as Jesus giving a blueprint…or an outline…for the way our prayers should go.

First…we address God.

We do it in a way that shows an intimate and familial relationship…”Father”…or parent…and then we praise God for who God is… that familiar and loving parent.

Next…we look for the way of God…God’s kingdom come…that mission of building up people…freeing people from the burdens that keep them from knowing and experiencing God’s liberating and life-giving love.

We ask that prayer for ourselves as well.

Feed us…God…both in body and soul…and guide our feet along this path with you.

Forgive us as we forgive others….we’re all human and we make mistakes.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.

In our rendition of this prayer…we have added a conclusion which basically circles back to acknowledging God as the ultimate power of goodness in the universe.

But I think it’s worth thinking about this line:

“Do not bring us to the time of trial.”

Because Jesus is acknowledging what was the reality on the ground as he and his followers kept on this march toward Jerusalem. 

He’s preparing them with this prayer for the real tests that are before them as disciples.

They’re going to struggle against earthly powers…facing  opposition from those in charge of things in the Empire.

There will be those for whom the systems are working just fine—thank you very much—and they have no desire to change.

And there are those who fear that any change will mean a loss of control.

Behind all of it is a greater challenge that pursues both the opponents and supporters of Jesus.

There are the unseen powers at work.

Those forces that will get his disciples jockeying for a seat at his right hand or his left.

They’ll be tempted to seek to be served…rather than to serve.

To be the greatest.

It’s that spiritual element that Jesus knows threatens to destroy the goodness that is inherent in God’s creation: Greed.

Greed has an insatiable appetite…a craving to have more than anyone else…and to have power over…rather than to share in power with people.

It makes sense then… that in this form of prayer that Jesus is teaching the disciple… he ends with that petition to the loving fatherly figure of God to steer them clear from this confrontation with greed.

Because Greed is a formidable opponent to love.

Greed doesn’t believe in sharing…or caring.

It never gives.

It only takes.

And once it takes…it will hold on to whatever power it has and will jealously guard it like a dog with a bone.

That was true then and it’s true now.

Greed preys upon girls and boys.

Greed takes away health care from seniors and children.

And those who are greedy want control over what we read…what we see…and what we think.

And so that innocent question of the disciple…”Lord, teach us to pray…” is the perfect request of our perfect Lord.

Because Jesus knows that in order to face the challenges…both earthly and spiritual…that plague us…prayer is foundational because it’s what will ground us in the real reality.

The reality that God is Love…and Love is the formidable opposite of Greed and its self-centeredness.

I meet usually about six or seven times a year with the women who are mostly members of Daughters of the King to write the Prayers of the People that we use in our worship services.

There is a formula for the prayers that we write…specific groupings that the Book of Common Prayer outlines as the required ideas that must be covered in the prayers.

The language we use is drawn from some of the Scripture passages as well as other prayer sources members of the group have on hand.

Often times…there is a lot of energy when the topic becomes writing prayers for “the Nation and all in authority.”

What is it that we seek in our prayers for those who are the political leaders of our communities and the world?

What we seek is found in our reading from the Letter to the Colossians:

That they follow the example of Christ…”who is the head of every ruler and authority.” (Col.2:10b)

The Christ who is the embodiment of Love….who was filled with the Spirit that fueled the prophet Isaiah:

“To bring good news to the poor… to proclaim release to the captives…recovery of sight to the blind…to let the oppressed go free…and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18).

Bringing good news to the poor…not cages in the Florida swamps.

Or penalizing the penniless.

Or shifting funds meant for recovery after a hurricane or a flood and giving it to private companies to build prisons.

Our nation…and all its institutions…needs prayers.

We need to pray for those who are the justice seekers…the truth tellers…and the peace makers.

And we need to pray for ourselves.

For the quiet confidence and the courage to live into the fullness of life…and turn away from hardness of heart.

What is it that you need today to keep the flame of Love burning inside of you?

Ask for it. Seek it out. Knock loudly.

God’s Spirit of Love is waiting to hear our prayers.

In the Name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.