Prayers are Windows

Sermon John 17:1-11 May 28, 2017 7^th Sunday of Easter/Ascension-Memorial Day Weekend

Prayers are Windows

God of power and mercy,
you destroy war and put down earthly pride.
Banish violence from our midst and wipe away our tears,
that we may all deserve to be called your sons
      and daughters.
Keep in your mercy those men and women
who have died in the cause of freedom
and bring them safely
into your kingdom of justice and peace.
We ask this though Jesus Christ our Lord.
R/. Amen

When I was a little girl I loved the Disney animated movie of Cinderella. I dreamed of having a fairy godmother that could take all my troubles away. I dreamed of a fairy godmother that could make all my dreams come true and give me more than I ever could have imagined. Beautiful fancy dresses and dancing, and a prince charming all swirled in my head as the wonders to be had.

So, when my life entered into a life of prayer as a teenager, the image of the Cinderella fairy godmother first came to mind. I wanted God to take all my troubles away and I wanted God to grant me a life where all my dreams would come true.

But, as I grew-from teenager to adult-I learned a lot more about prayer-and a lot more about God.

There are so many things that we learn from our eavesdropping on the prayer of Jesus. We learn about eternal life, we learn about relationship, we learn about unity, and we learn about love.

Jesus offers us a window, an inside look, at how he prays. As we listen to his words we get to see what kind of person he is.

The words we hear from Jesus as he prays in John 17 are windows into who Jesus is, who we are, and how we are all one and called to life of unity.

Prayers are windows to God

John Calvin writes a lot about prayer he says, “Words fail to explain how necessary prayer is, and in how many ways the exercise of prayer is profitable. It is therefore by the benefit of prayer that we reach those riches which are laid up for us with the heavenly Father.”

Prayers according to Calvin bring us into the riches of the Heavenly Father. We experience that as we enter into the words Jesus uses in this prayer for his disciples. Jesus appears to be fully present with God. As he prays, it is as if God is sitting in the chair next to him having a cup of tea while they talk.

Jesus, puts God first in his prayer and seeks for God to accomplish God’s glory not only in him but by him for his disciples. In this prayer, we learn about how God and Jesus are one with each other. We learn that God has given Jesus authority over humanity. We learn that Jesus has given eternal life to those who he claims are his.

As we pray to God what assumptions about God do we bring to the table of our prayer? Is God a fairy godmother who answers our requests and whisks away our troubles?

Or is God perhaps the one in whom we witness glory and wonder?

Perhaps, God is the One who sits at table with us and brings us comfort and confidence as we lift up our words in prayer.

Prayers are windows into knowing God.

The more we enter into words of prayer the more we have the experience of the presence of God.

Prayers are windows to life

St Augustine said: ‘'O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.'

Jesus is not restless with God as he prays for his disciples. He is openly talking about the relationship he has with God. They are together-one with another. Jesus’ desire is for the disciples to be one with God.

And in this oneness, is eternal life. Perhaps the rest Augustine talks about is this oneness-this unity with God.

He offers this window to eternal life. 

Jesus assumes God is with him in love and unity.

He believes God will, through the power of presence, bring the fullness of life.

Eternal life is not a future context but a here and now experience of the glory of God within us and around us.

And if we believe this about life, then we can believe we are not alone in anything we do. If we believe we have the riches of God with us now, then we have the courage to go about being God’s disciples for the glory of God and for the power of the Kingdom. That means we go out and heal the sick, bind the wounds of the broken hearted, lift up those who have fallen prey to predators, we do all the things we witnessed Jesus doing. We pray like he did and we do what he did and we believe in this eternal life that he speaks of in his prayer.

Prayers are windows to ourselves

When we pray with the confidence that Jesus models for us, we see the window into ourselves. We begin to discover who we are through what we pray and how we pray. We discover the burdens that weigh us down, we can see the worries we carry for others, we notice the love we have for neighbors.

The more me offer ourselves to God in prayer our soul’s window opens more and more. We pay attention to our prayers, and we become transformed by them. The presence of God cannot be denied as we enter more and more into the way of prayer.

We will never give up saying all those complaints to God. Because, as I said, we get to see who we are when we pray.

“Why are we still fighting, and when is the hate going to stop?”

If we listen to ourselves we find out what our priorities are. God comfort the lady at the drugstore who just told me her husband left her. God find me a job so I can pay my electric bill. God fix my sister, she’s driving me crazy. Ok, God get with the program and bring us world peace.  

Prayer changes us.

Our words double back on us and they motivate us into action.

Prayer shows us exactly who we are.

It lifts us up out of our despair and carries us into discovering new ways.

We discover a power within ourselves that we did not know we had. It is the power of confidence, assurance, and courage.

In this continued discipline of prayer, not to air, but to the person of God through Christ, the nature of God’s presence becomes stronger. In prayer, we discover a relationship that builds stronger with each prayer we make.

Prayers are a window into the World.

Jesus prays for his disciples who are to remain there on earth after he has returned to God the Father and Christ is concerned for them. ‘Keep them safe’ he implores, for they have an ongoing task to do – they are to bear witness to his life, to his death, to his resurrection – to the message that God in Christ brings love, forgiveness, healing, peace and hope to all humanity. (Church of Scotland-Sc011353)

And this is when prayer becomes even more real than ever. Because we are swung or slung full force out there to show what we believe without any hesitation or recoil. According to Jesus in his prayer humanity will continue to suffer and the disciples will need every ounce of strength and hope, and full presence of God to bring in the Kingdom of peace.

We have a job to do and it starts with prayer. Amen.

Resources: Working Preacher Karoline Lewis; (Church of Scotland-Sc011353)

More Salt, Please

Sermon Matthew 5:13-20 February 5, 2017 Ordinary Time-communion at NMPC

More Salt, Please

As you heard in the children’s sermon, salt does a lot more than make our French fries taste great.

Salt makes colors pop, softens hide to make leather and is an essential ingredient in the production of plastics.

Now I’m sure when Jesus was sitting on the hillside sharing his thoughts with the crowd the idea of plastic toys and products was nowhere in his imagination.

But, truly salt is an essential component of life.

In the times before refrigeration salt preserved meats and lengthened the shelf life of many products.

Salt was so valuable that some people were even paid with it.

But, today, who cares about salt and light and the Law anyway?

Perhaps what’s most intriguing is that Jesus isn’t just having a nice conversation with the people on the hill to make them feel good.

His words are quite provocative.

His words were more than words of instruction;

                                                                they were and still are today a challenge, a call!

Dare we get up today and take God’s Law seriously enough that we will enact it in our every breath?

For Jesus says, “whoever does the Law and teaches others to do the same, they will be called great in heaven.”

So, then do we even know the Law to teach it?

Perhaps some of us still remember the ten commandments which we were taught in grade school Sunday school. Hmmm…let’s see if we can recite a few?

Oh yes,

1) I am the Lord thy god, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

2) Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

3) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

4) Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

5) Honor thy father and thy mother.

6) Thou shalt not murder.

7) Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8) Thou shalt not steal.

9) Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10) Thou shalt not covet anything that belongs to thy neighbor.

These were the first ten of 613 laws of Judaism. But Jesus also said this about the commandments: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. — Matthew 22:35-40.

The easy way to remember this commandment from Jesus is to think of the cross. The cross has a vertical bar and a horizontal bar. The vertical bar relates to our relationship with God. It our understanding that we are to love God with our heart, soul and mind. The horizontal bar reminds us of our relationship with others and the world. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. SO, if we can’t remember the ten, we can easily remember the two.

In order to fulfill the fullness of the Law it appears, according to Jesus, that we have to begin with loving God and end with loving our neighbor.

That shouldn’t be too hard, should it?

Well, if only I knew your neighbor, you might be thinking.

Especially today being the Super Bowl you might have a split household on which team you will be rooting for-this could be a great challenge in living out the love your neighbor rule…

And isn’t it a gift to know that we can share the couch with friends of different teams and at the end of the game have our friendships intact. We can certainly be the same in our differences in many more things.

The greatest challenge I see with this call of Jesus in today’s terms,

is

how do I live a life that has the powerful, penetrating, preserving, and particular flavor of God’s kingdom’s good news?

Since salt is a penetrating, preserving, and has a particular flavor-how is God calling us to live our salty lives?

It makes me question what living like that looks like for me.

Does it mean marching in the streets,

or does it mean being at home knitting prayer shawls,

does it mean sending cards to soldiers overseas,

does it mean going to town council meetings,

does it mean volunteering in the schools?

I believe that God has a unique call on each of us.

God know who and how we are

and in that context God gives a job to do for the kingdom.

God might be asking us to just be present with someone who needs love.

And that is quite a heavenly task,

to join hands with someone and give them all your love.

Yes, God has something for each us in the midst of what we are already doing to bring a ‘pop’ of color to it and a ray of light.

Perhaps, all of these begins with a basic knowledge of what Jesus teaches us in the Bible. I would like to suggest that the good news that Jesus preaches is the news we should take some time to learn in the form of Bible study and reading of Scripture.

Old and New Testament.

In doing so we can get the flavor of God’s Word into our system and then shine forth with the light of the God we worship.

A second way that we can become the zesty salty folks (no not salty dogs-although some of you may prefer that), is to open our hearts to the practice of prayer. 

The more read and learn about Jesus,

the more we realize he was in communication with God as often as possible.

If we could begin our day and end it in prayer that would be a good start.

One of the joys of being around the elders of this church is their ability to pray without fear. They have provide an example of simple words spoken from the heart to God.

In choir we ask that someone say a prayer before we leave.

In the moment we hear such things as, “Lord thank you for getting us to hit the right notes in practice and help us do the same on Sunday.”

 Practice praying at mealtime if you don’t already do so.

Being grateful for the food before us helps us to then carry a grateful attitude toward other areas of our life.

As we pray for our meals we set an example for those who join us at the table of our home. This act is a simple way to share the good news of the kingdom.

Finally becoming salt and light and living the fullness of the Law in this day and time means answering the call of God for each of us.

The challenge is not for each us to be alike.

The challenge and the call is to be aware of God’s claim on us as God’s own and to live as God’s has uniquely called each of us.

Listen to your heart, for God is speaking to you there.

Listen to your neighbor for God is calling you to serve there.

Listen to your world for God is calling you to shine bright in it.

We are Christ’s body, his call to us is to be nourished by his Word,

to be strengthened by his love in prayer,

and to be made strong by his truth in service.

SO, in my prayer to Jesus, I’m asking him for more salt please.

Amen.

Stubborn Prayer

Sermon Luke 18: 1-8 October 16, 2016 Parable Series

Stubborn Prayer

We can no longer sit silent.

This text from Luke is a pivot point for us. It reveals the Word of God powerful, strong, and unrelenting.

The widow can no longer be dismissed.

She can no longer be pushed aside.

Work for the Kingdom of God is challenging, confusing, frustrating and ongoing. We find ourselves at a place where we can no longer sit at the feet of Jesus and pray prayers with flowery platitudes.

We stand shaking our fist and we scream and we yell and we demand, “When are you coming to straighten out this mess?”

“How long do we have to wait for you Jesus, to return to us with your justice, love and reconcile the world to yourself?”

We plead with feeble voices, “Where are you?”

There are times we are angry, we are bitter, we are hurt in many ways by words, by feelings of those who think and act differently from us.

We have lost loved ones, we have lost parts of our own selves.

In the midst of crisis around the world we watch and wonder, “where is God?”

In helpless voices we ask, “Where do we step in and stop being afraid and where do we stand before those who block the way of doing what is right?”

There are many reasons why believers have lost hope and trust.

There are many reasons among believers (and those who don’t believe for that matter) where faith feels dismantled.

Can you name where your faith seems dismantled? For those around you, Do you where faith has disintegrated?

For places in your heart where has faith been disrupted?

Is there something burning to burst forth from your heart that must be spoken?

Each of us has a widow voice within us.

We come before God with persistent cries for the young woman who has lost yet another child and has empty arms and an empty womb.

We are angered at yet another death in the streets of police officers and unarmed men. We are bitter at another factory closing and people without work.

We are hurt by the public officials who fling words as if they are immune to retribution. We hide behind social media and witness accusations hurled across invisible wires by those who refuse to come face to face.

We are infuriated at rebels who take the lives of children and have no remorse.

We find ourselves banging on the door of God’s Kingdom begging and begging for action on the part of God. (1) Our prayers, like the widow’s, are persistent and stubborn-do something God! Show up for Pete’s sake God-we are here! We beat ourselves against the gates of heaven to get God’s attention.

~~~

This week we hosted a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for the Coalition Against domestic violence. We seek to be light to the women of abuse to find a way to leave the life that holds them hostage. We seek to speak out so they can find their voice to speak out against their abuser. We have made a choice to reconsider our silence (2) and as a church speak openly in the community that words matter and that violence against women is NOT ok.

The world seems out of our control and so the widow voice is all we have.

We come as she does before God-vulnerable, alone, without a crowd to support us. The Old Testament and during the times of Jesus the faith community was responsible for the care of widows and orphans. They had a mandate from God to provide widows with all that they needed. And so here we read about a widow before a judge, an unjust one to boot, who comes alone-no faith community is present with her-no one has taken responsibility to care for her and to remain at her side. And yet, she goes forth with audacity and unashamedly before the judge to stubbornly make her request.  

We come willing and with audacity and with stubbornness before the One who can make a change, we come persistently and consistently.

The widow voice within us cannot let go.

This is the hopeful courage that resists the injustice in our lives and in our world.

The Spirit fills the heart and bubbles it up with strength to act when there is no strength. The Spirit acts within us to go beyond ourselves.

And perhaps, that is the Good News for us today.

It is in our daily persistent prayers-“give us this day our daily bread”-our stubborn faith that God will provide-that God’s amazing love for us is a promise that brings it all around-even if we have to wait-we will not give up. For the Kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven. The Scriptures remind us, “For the Kingdom of God is within you.” 17:20-21

That’s all well and good you say to me, that’s only half of the story, what about this unjust judge?

Is this judge an image of God?

How can we imagine such a capricious being? How can God be so frivolous?

This judge says he has no fear of God or respect for others. What does that mean?

Is he granting to this widow the answer to her request just to keep her quiet;

to protect his reputation?

Is he giving her what she wants to keep himself from being publicly embarrassed? Is it that she won’t leave him alone that people are beginning to wonder about his ethics? How can God be compared to this judge?

What have we learned about God as we’ve grown up? Nothing like this guy, for sure! We’ve learned that God is faithful and loving.

God claims us as his children.

God’s love is so persistent for us that God chases after us continuously with love for us even though we keep running away. Hosea.

God is relentless in love to the point that Jesus was among us-God incarnate-persistent-stubborn-fully present.

Jesus who gave his life for us so we in turn can have the fullness of life.

There is no doubt of God’s unfailing and sacrificial love for us as we have been taught.

Perhaps then this judge who has no fear for God and no respect for others

is how

we see God in relation to our unanswered prayers and our frustration in a broken world.

Perhaps this

is how

we see the lives of the faithful who pray and one prayer is answered and another goes unanswered.

Perhaps our witness of God, our experience of God is of a being who has no respect and no fear.

Perhaps we feel that God is just NOT fair.

That is exactly where the gospel writer Luke wants us to be with this parable of Jesus. He provides us with the definition of justice that Jesus proclaims: respect for others and the fear of God.

Which brings us back to stubborn prayer.

An unjust judge grants the request of a widow who puts herself at great risk to receive a measure of justice.

Her stubborn persistence brought about change, no matter how she felt about the judge.

No matter how we feel about God: just or unjust; we can have the widow’s voice and come to God over and over again.

We have a widow’s voice within us.

Let us act with stubborn prayer, with unrelenting faith (the faith that Jesus will find on earth) and publicly come before God seeking justice for all. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” Amen.

Resources: Karoline Lewis (2); Feasting on the Word (1).