Engaged with God
July 29, 2007
Luke 11:1-13
John W. McNeill
[Luke 11:1] He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."
[Luke 11:2] He said to them, "When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
[Luke 11:3] Give us each day our daily bread.
[Luke 11:4] And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial."
[Luke 11:5] And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread;
[Luke 11:6] for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.'
[Luke 11:7] And he answers from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.'
[Luke 11:8] I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
[Luke 11:9] "So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.
[Luke 11:10] For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
[Luke 11:11] Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?
[Luke 11:12] Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?
[Luke 11:13] If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
I’ve been a pastor for 25 years. I’m still trying to figure out what it is I’m supposed to do.
Last week I talked about sermons. I don’t think of them as the final word. Conversation starters. Start you living and thinking into a life in the presence of God. Not trying to save you the trouble of thinking, living, experiencing.
As we look at today’s lesson I think it’s interesting that the disciples have noted that Jesus had finished praying. They ask Jesus to teach them to pray. They might have asked Jesus to pray for them.
They understand that they are not to be spectators on a relationship that Jesus has or something that Jesus does. Instead they want to be instructed to do what Jesus is doing.
When I was in the Congo two summers ago, I did some preaching. I had conversations with a variety of people. In most instances the people to whom I spoke were not fluent in English. I had to use a translator. In the Congo people speak their mother tongue, Swahili, and also French, because of its colonial history with Belgium. Only a few have learned English.
The people I felt closest to, was able to be particularly friendly with were those who spoke at least some English. I decided while I was there that before I would return, I would make sure I learned enough French to carry on basic conversation. So Martha and I have been taking French over the last couple of months.
Although it is easier to hire or use a translator than learn a language, my own experience is that It is more difficult to establish a personal relationship through a translator. There is something about direct spoken communication that makes a connection. If you were to marry a non-English speaker, one would learn the other’s language. One would not hire a translator.
The disciples ask Jesus to teach them French, so to speak, not to translate for them.
They seek to be in direct conversation/communion/relation to God.
To pray is to relate directly to God.
Note that Luke’s version is different from Matthew’s version and Matthew’s is the one we tend to use. There is elaboration on a couple of verses in Matthew.
When you pray, not if you pray.
The first concept that is demonstrated is the foundation of how God is called upon. Our Father is translated Abba, familiar, Daddy. Intimate, not aloof. Think of it as the male correlate of Mamma.
Already perhaps some of the assumptions we bring to prayer about God are undermined.
If that’s the way it is, maybe we don’t need a translator or someone else to pray for us, but we can begin to pray ourselves and open ourselves up to live in the presence of God.
Look at the Lord’s prayer:
Establishes groundwork for relationship with God. Over the last year or so I’ve changed my use of the Lord’s Prayer in my own prayer practice. I now use it at the beginning of a segment of my prayer time. Because it establishes the setting for my prayer as I share my concerns with God for the day.
Hallowed be your name. (who art in heaven) God is still God. If God weren’t God than it would not be such a big deal that God was daddy.
Your kingdom come, your will be done. God, you’re in charge. You know more than we do. We are limited.
Asks three things: daily bread, forgiveness, safe from trial.
Lord’s Prayer is good to know when we are tongue-tied before God.
What do we want? Do we want to pray? Do we want the relationship with God? Or do we want what we suppose the relationship with God will give us?
Good stuff, safety, prosperity, health?
Let us understand again what the Lord’s Prayer is fundamentally teaching us is that Prayer is not magic. It is not a matter of learning what they teach at Hogwarts.
God as the somewhat recalcitrant ruler in the heavens. An aloof being up there who sometimes intervenes and sometimes doesn’t. Prayer is the way we get that power to intervene on our behalf.
God’s relationship to the world is bigger than that. The whole earth is full of God’s glory. Being able to open our hearts and minds to that is a matter of spiritual practice.
Prayer is not so much to ask God. Prayer is opening our heart to the power of God’s presence and releasing ourselves into God’s loving
Want to do it, try to do it, practice it,
That’s why Paul uses the image of death for baptism. We die to ourselves and live for Christ.
Trust God.
Live in consonance with God.
Means we are all beginners. When do we ever fully learn French or English? When do we know all these languages can express?
That’s the goal.
Last verse of today’s reading is critical for understanding the rest: give the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the connecting link.
Quote about being a saint. Scariest quote I have ever read. [From Henri Nouwen’s introduction to Thomas Merton’s Life and Holiness]
In his autobiography The Seven Storey Mountain, Merton remembers a conversation with his friend Bob Lax. While walking on Sixth Avenue in New York City one spring evening, Bob Lax suddenly turned around and asked him:
Lax: What do you want to be, anyway?
Merton: I don’t know; I guess what I want is to be a good Catholic.
Lax: What do you mean, you want to be a good Catholic?... What you should say … is that you want to be a saint.
Merton: How do you expect me to become a saint?
Lax: By wanting to.
Merton: I can’t be a saint. I can’t be a saint…
Lax: All that is necessary to be a saint is to want to be one. Don’t you believe that God will make you what He created you to be if you consent to let Him do it? All you have to do is desire it.
If you don’t want to do that, pray to want to do that.
I’ve finally come to the conclusion that’s my job as a pastor: to convince you (and me) to want to become saints: those who are fully in tune with the love and power and presence of God.
If we want it and ask for it, seek it, knock on its door, we will receive and find, and the door of life in God will be open.