A Prayer for All Seasons and Reasons. Luke 11: 1 13; Col. 2: That s the opening request for today s scripture lesson:

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1 A Prayer for All Seasons and Reasons Luke 11: 1 13; Col. 2: 6 10 Who taught you how to pray? That s the opening request for today s scripture lesson: Lord teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. The disciples in Luke had seen Jesus go off to pray often. Luke to the Gospel that focuses on prayer more than the others When the Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus in his baptism It s the Gospel of Luke that says: he was praying When Jesus is healing people in Luke 5 it says: He withdrew to a deserted place to pray. And Luke is the only Gospel that notes before Jesus called his disciples: He went out to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer. And immediately after feeding the 5000 in Luke 9 the text says: When Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples Near him, he asked them, Who do people say I am. So the disciples knew that Jesus spent time in pray, They just didn t know how to pray themselves. So they ask only in the Gospel of Luke: Lord teach us to pray. It got me thinking, who taught me to pray? I believe my mom taught me the children s bedtime prayer: Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep.

2 I don t recall her teaching me the last part of the pray: If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. I think we just launched into the blessing part: Bless mommy and daddy and Mark and John I think my mom didn t want be to worrying about dying each night. And our mealtime pray was taught to my children by their great grandfather Pop pop taught them: For this meal and all our other blessings, Lord we are ever thankful. So I wonder who taught you to pray at mealtime, at bedtime. Those prayers stick with us for the rest of our lives so they are blessed gifts And the person who teaches us those prayers becomes a prayer partner For the rest of our lives. So thank God for your prayer teachers. The nice thing about the Lord s Prayer is that it is a prayer for anytime. I remember when I was visiting Israel. We were meeting with a Sufi Sheikh and we wanted to worship together And he said he would lead us in a prayer if I would offer a Christian prayer And so I chose the Lord s Prayer. And as we 7 Christians in the prayer circle were saying this prayer with our three Muslim and three Jewish friends, I realized that it was a prayer they could actually say as well. And this past couple weeks, when we were remembering the life and faith of three saints in the church: Wes Reed, Ruth Nichols, and Gary Jones; this prayer was one of the common elements said by community in all three of the services.

3 There is something assuring and something comforting about the community Joining in this prayer together: Hearing voices of all ages sharing the prayer Jesus taught us. I don t know when I learned the Lord s Prayer or who taught me but I believe it was a prayer I learned in the Body of Christ. I learned it by listening and saying it with others. Isn t that amazing It is a prayer that we learn from the whole community. And it is a prayer that is appropriate for all seasons and all reasons. If you are tired of singing the Johnny Appleseed prayer at mealtime You can say the Lord s Prayer Give us this day our daily bread. If you are with someone who is overcome by guilt say the Lord s prayer: Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors and the Luke version may be particularly helpful here: Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. You probably noticed that the version of the Lord s Prayer in Luke is different From the Matthew version that we normally say. We re not sure why that is except that perhaps the Luke version Is an early version and the Matthew version was the version That evolved to be used in corporate worship. Like much of Luke, the Lord s Prayer here is more personal. Not Our Father but simply Father and perhaps in the original Aramaic Jesus said simply Abba or Daddy. For Jesus, prayer is personal.

4 Luke doesn t relegate God to a far away heaven Who art in heaven But Luke does certainly give honor to God s name Hallowed be your name. As a reminder that every pray should honor God s name. And Luke never shies away from pushing the limits of social outreach, So when Jesus says Your kingdom come in Luke he is truly advocating For our earthly kingdoms to reflect God s heavenly kingdom where the barriers between men and women, And the barriers between rich and poor are broken down. Remember in Luke s version of the Sermon of the Plain Jesus says: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. And Luke 6: 27 is the place where Jesus says to all those gathered: But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you Do unto others as you would have them do to you. When we start to think about the Lord s Prayer in those terms, We realize that the Lord s Prayer is the prayer that we need for This season. Even as we pray in the Lord s prayer: Do not bring us to a time of trial. We find ourselves in a time of trial in our nation and our world. We are in a time where fear seems to prevail and revenge seems to be the way. And that is not how God s kingdom breaks into our world. That is not the message of Jesus Christ. That s not what we ask for in the Lord s Prayer so we need to pray it more fervently.

5 And Jesus gives us a couple off to the side stories to remind us to be persistent in prayer and to have confidence in God s answers. You know I have been praying for peace and racial harmony For nearly 30 years of ministry. There are times that I wonder if God is listening and then I end up At Second Baptist Church yesterday for a conversation on racial tensions With police and county officials and Lincoln Students and clergy And I realize that my prayers for peace and racial harmony are not Prayers that can be answered in a week or month or year But they are prayers that I will pray for my whole lifetime. And by praying persistently, I am also listening persistently for God And I am open to how God might use me, even me, as God reduces racial tensions, feeds hungry people, comforts the afflicted, cares for children. The example that Jesus gives of the friend asking a neighbor for bread To feed another friend is not the story of one person doing it all But rather the story of community working together. And that is the way prayer works. God hears our prayers And sometimes God uses us to answer the very prayers we pray And other times God might use a stranger like the Good Samaritan but God is listening to us And our prayer is us listening to God as well.

6 Lately people have gotten cynical about other people saying I will pray for the victims of the latest shooting I will pray for the families of fallen police officers I will pray for the victims of the latest terrorist attack. But that is because they don t understand prayer as Jesus teaches us. Ask search knock. These are not passive words but imperative, action, go do words that Jesus challenges us with in his teaching on prayer. They words call us to act under God s direction. Think about it. When you ask a question, you have to respond to the answer. When you seek something and ultimately find it, then you must do something. When you stand at a door and knock it is just the beginning of the interaction you will have with the person who answers the door. And in prayer that person is God Holy Spirit. So thank the people who taught you to pray today they gave you a great gift Now use that gift the Gift of Prayer the gift of the Lord s prayer So that we might just glorify God who sent his Son to save us; That we might see God s kingdom breaking into our broken world; That we might realize that God has given us enough daily Bread, if we are willing to share with our neighbor; That we might not only receive forgiveness but share God s Forgiveness with others and end the cycle of violence; We are in a time of trial and testing. I pray that as we listen to God that we will be delivered from evil for Thine is the kingdom and power and glory forever.