C.S. Lewis. I Say a Little Prayer

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Esmond Wilkerson
7 years ago
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1 Sermn by Rev. Stephen Drakefrd St. Matthew s Anglican Church, Islingtn Pre-sermn prayer: A Speaker's Prayer Frm all my lame defeats and h! much mre, Frm all the victries that I seemed t scre; Frm cleverness sht frth n Thy behalf, At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; Frm all my prfs f Thy divinity, Thu, wh wuldst give n sign, deliver me. Thughts are but cins. Let me nt trust, instead Of Thee, their thin-wrn image f Thy head. Frm all my thughts, even frm thughts f Thee, O thu fair Silence, fall, and set me free. Lrd f the narrw gate and the needle s eye, Take frm me all my trumpery lest I die. C.S. Lewis The mment I wake up Befre I put n my makeup I say a little pray fr yu While cmbing my hair nw, And wndering what dress t wear nw, I say a little prayer fr yu Frever, and ever, yu'll stay in my heart and I will lve yu Frever, and ever, we never will part Oh, hw I lve yu Tgether, frever, that's hw it must be T live withut yu Wuld nly mean heartbreak fr me.

2 Sermn by Rev. Stephen Drakefrd St. Matthew s Anglican Church, Islingtn We are perhaps familiar with that Dinne Warwick classic sng n lve and prayer. But what is prayer? Why Pray? What d we expect frm prayer? Hw d we knw if their prayers have been heard and answered? Hw can I pray fr thers? Hw can prayer becme a rich experience? When shuld I even ask fr prayer? What is Prayer? As we ask these questins and as we are hnest with urselves abut ur practise f prayer we need t knw that we are in gd cmpany. Abut 2000 years ag a grup f peple (wh we wuld expect t knw better) were asking the same questins. I expected they prayed a little, but they wanted t pray a little better: Luke 11:1-4 [Jesus] was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, ne f his disciples said t him, Lrd, teach us t pray, as Jhn taught his disciples. 2 He said t them, When yu pray, say: Father, hallwed be yur name. Yur kingdm cme. 3 Give us each day ur daily bread. 4 And frgive us ur sins, fr we urselves frgive everyne indebted t us. And d nt bring us t the time f trial. The disciples were the grup in questin and like us 21 st century disciples: we bserve thers practising the art f prayer, and ntice that the persn wh practises prayer may be nt smething and we want t knw what they d. We stand alngside the disciples f yre and say: Teach us t say a little prayer! The simplicity f Jesus answer is what we nw pray tw r three times weekly: The Lrd s Prayer. S as it turns ut, we already are praying and as it turns ut anyne wh is attending this wrship service tday is praying at least 12 times: the centering prayer, the cllect fr purity, the cllect f the day, the prayer fr the children, the prayer befre the sermn, the intercessry prayer after the sermn, the prayer ver the gifts, the eucharistic prayer which includes the Lrd s Prayer, the prayer after the gifts, the dxlgy, and whatever clsing prayer yu persnally make! Yes prayer is pretty imprtant t us and we practise it quite a bit. And then we think f all the prayer that is ffered thrugh this place and the pprtunities t learn t pray. I have already mentined the Frmal prayers bk in service, But there are less frmal ways t pray t: Partners in Prayer Ministry (prayer Chain) Wednesday Evening Prayer meeting (resumes this week) Praying that ccurs in small grups Peple wh make cmmitments t private prayer Praying with shut -ins

3 Sermn by Rev. Stephen Drakefrd St. Matthew s Anglican Church, Islingtn Hspital visits and prayer And imprtantly, Stevie B s new curse starting Wednesday n Ignatian Prayer But t what extent is it perfunctry and t what extent are thse prayer prfund cnnectins with Gd? T what extent d we take ur experience f prayer with us int ur day t day lives. Well, that is, as they say, up t yu! Perhaps with all this prayer being ffered all we simply need t d is pay attentin! S I want us t recgnize that we are already praying. Nw the questin is, Hw might we deepen ur prayers? And we wind back t ur riginal questin: What is Prayer? And I think the answer t the real questin What is sul-satisfying prayer? is this: deep cnnectin t Gd. Ging Deeper int Sul Satisfying Prayer As Jesus anticipates that questin with his physical disciples and us his current disciples What is sul satisfying prayers he says this: Luke 11: And he said t them, Suppse ne f yu has a friend, and yu g t him at midnight and say t him, Friend, lend me three laves f bread; 6 fr a friend f mine has arrived, and I have nthing t set befre him. 7 And he answers frm within, D nt bther me; the dr has already been lcked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannt get up and give yu anything. 8 I tell yu, even thugh he will nt get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because f his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs. 9 S I say t yu, Ask, and it will be given yu; search, and yu will find; knck, and the dr will be pened fr yu. 10 Fr everyne wh asks receives, and everyne wh searches finds, and fr everyne wh kncks, the dr will be pened. 11 Is there anyne amng yu wh, if yur child asks fr a fish, will give a snake instead f a fish? 12 Or if the child asks fr an egg, will give a scrpin? 13 If yu then, wh are evil, knw hw t give gd gifts t yur children, hw much mre will the heavenly Father give the Hly Spirit t thse wh ask him! Persistence. It is all abut persistence. Thse series f parables Jesus just tld are all abut persistence. D yu want t get clse t Gd? D yu want t have satisfying times f cnnectin? D yu want t after prayer knw that yu have been prfundly in cntact with Gd? Then frankly, it is smething that we have t wrk at. Take Dinne Warwick fr example. She wrked at prayer. When did she pray? The mment she wke up, as she puts n her make-

4 Sermn by Rev. Stephen Drakefrd St. Matthew s Anglican Church, Islingtn up, as she cmbs her hair and decides what t wear- she prays! Oh if I had a prayer-life like hers! It s nt say a little prayer, it s say a lt f prayer. It s a lt f practise. And her musical pp message is the same as Jesus. And it s a lt f prayer because the bject f her prayer is her lve. The bject f the practising Christian affectin is lve t; lve fr being cnnected with Gd. But is Gd Listening? As Prg Rckers Pink Flyd asked in the 70 s, Metalheads Def Leppard in the 80 s and cuntry singer Kate Hall asked in the 90 s Is there Anybdy ut there; Des Anybdy really care? and if musicians are asking the questin, prbably many f us are years ag arguably the greatest prphet in the Old Testament asked the same questin. Gd! Are Yu listening? Read in the subtext- after all I have dne fr Yu- Are yu listening? 1 Kings 19: At that place he came t a cave, and spent the night there. Then the wrd f the LORD came t him, saying, What are yu ding here, Elijah? 10 He answered, I have been very zealus fr the LORD, the Gd f hsts; fr the Israelites have frsaken yur cvenant, thrwn dwn yur altars, and killed yur prphets with the swrd. I alne am left, and they are seeking my life, t take it away. 11 He said, G ut and stand n the muntain befre the LORD, fr the LORD is abut t pass by. Nw there was a great wind, s strng that it was splitting muntains and breaking rcks in pieces befre the LORD, but the LORD was nt in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was nt in the earthquake; 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was nt in the fire; and after the fire a sund f sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went ut and std at the entrance f the cave. Then there came a vice t him that said, What are yu ding here, Elijah? The biblical narrative seems t supprt the answer: Yes Gd is listening, and answering. Hwever the listening and answering is cming t him is anther frm and is challenging Elijah s presumptin, pride f devtin, cmmitment, and self-centeredness. Ging back t Jesus, when he said ask Gd fr anything ; he then added the zinger, in accrdance with yur relatinship with Gd s Spirit. Here s the practical reality: d we pray mre frequently fr parking spts than we d fr each ther? I dn t think Gd is really that interested in ur cnvenience, but Gd is interested in ur cncern fr each ther. But enugh frm me, what abut yu:

5 Sermn by Rev. Stephen Drakefrd St. Matthew s Anglican Church, Islingtn 1.What are yur cncerns abut prayer? 2. What is yur experience f prayer? 3. Wuld yu like t be part f small grups s that they might have thers t pray with and share? Let s clse with saying a little prayer: Lrd, teach us t pray. Amen

JESUS IS GREATER THAN

JESUS IS GREATER THAN THE HIGH PRIEST CHAPTER 4 FACILITATOR S NOTE Chapter fur has many things t cnsider. REST! D yu want rest? All f us d. Unfrtunately, the Israelites missed ut n their rest due t disbedience.