Year C, Pentecost 7, Luke 11.1-13, Prayer Changes Life

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

In Romans the 8^th Chapter it is written:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

“Tell us about your personal life of prayer.”

That is a question that I’ve was asked in my interview for the position in Sandpoint twenty years ago.

I actually rather resented the question.

The reason being, that if I have to tell a call committee in an interview about my “personal” life of prayer, and be judged on that basis, then it is no longer a “personal” life of prayer, but a “professional” practice.

It’s not that I don’t have a personal life of prayer.

I do.

But it is quite private.

Over the course of my life and ministry I am often called upon to offer prayers, many times at the most critical moments in their life.  There have also been those times that I would pray for a person who is dying, knowing that my words may very well be the last words that person hears in this world.

Whether I’m asked to pray before a congregational meal, or in a hospital room, there is a bit of a performance about it.  At least I can’t help but feel the necessity of doing a “good job” at it, after all, I’m a pastor and pastor’s ought to be able to pray well.

The truth is that sometimes the words flow easily, as naturally as a conversation with someone we love.  That of course is what prayer is.

At other times, though, finding the words is just difficult.

More times than not, this is where I find myself in my personal prayer life.

Professionally, I’m paid to find the right words.

Personally, I don’t always know how to pray as I ought.

But I’m very good at sighing.

“What did you say?” Karla will ask.

“Nothing.”  I reply. 

“You sigh and groan a lot.” She responds.  “A lot.”

And that, I believe, is truly the Spirit interceding for me, with those sighs too deep for words.

“Teach us how to pray.” The disciples asked.

And so Jesus taught them what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that has been on the lips of nearly every Christian since.

Teach us how to pray.

I’ve had another struggle with prayer over the years.

It’s the whole “the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike” thing.

Does prayer work?

I pray that people will be healed.

                Sometimes they are.

                Sometimes they are not.

The same can be said for people who never pray at all.

Some of them live, some of them die.

What difference does prayer make?

I don’t know the answer to that question.  What I do know is that Jesus did teach his disciples to pray, and so we do.

Prayer, in this regard, is a most basic act of obedience.

We pray because Jesus taught us to pray and told us to pray. 

Not only does he tell us to pray, he tells us to be persistent.  Almost as though he is saying that we can wear God down and get him to do what we want by just continuing to nag him time and time again.

And yet our experience is that often, even when we persist, our prayers are not answered as we like.

“God always answers prayer,” people say, “it just that sometimes the answer is ‘Yes’, sometimes it is ‘No’, and sometimes it is ‘Not yet.’”

But again, my cynical side struggles with such a response.  How is that any different than not praying at all.

So if we’re sick, and don’t pray, we will either get well, or not, or maybe it will take some more time.

You see those three possibilities cover all the bases. 

And so what difference does prayer make?

Sometimes, the reason that it’s hard to come up with a satisfactory answer is because we are asking the wrong question.

Often, when we ask if prayer works, what we are actually asking  is if I always get what I want when I pray.

The answer to that is quite simple.  “No.”

No, I don’t always get what I want when I pray.  Nobody does. 

But there is something that always happens when we pray.

When we pray, we develop a faithful relationship with our Lord and God.

Prayer is no more about asking God for one thing after another, than a conversation with our spouse is just about getting our own way.

We don’t just talk to our spouse when we want something.

We talk to them because we love them, and that’s what lovers do.

We talk to them because we care for them, and that’s what caring entails.

We talk to them because we enjoy it.

We talk to them because our day is not as good without it.

And sometimes, we simply sit in silence, yet know that they are still there at our side.

That’s the way it is with prayer.

We talk to God because we love him, and care, and enjoy it, and benefit from it.

And sometimes, we simply sit with God in silence, knowing that even then, he is still there.

“3If 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!”

Here I’m going to tell you what is most important.

If you were confirmation kids taking sermon notes, I say, “Write this down”.  It’s the main point.

Prayer is about the Holy Spirit, not about our getting what we want.

Prayer always involves the Spirit.

Without the Spirit we cannot even so much as say “Our Father.”

And so to pray is to experience in a first hand, concrete way the presence of God’s Spirit in your life.

Sometimes when people pray they talk about “praying in the Spirit”, and by that they mean praying in tongues or other such charismatic practices.

What I’m saying is that all prayer is ‘praying in the Spirit’ because whenever we pray the Spirit is there.

And whenever the Spirit is present in our lives, we are drawn into a relationship with the Father and the Son.

Finally, there is one thing that prayer ALWAYS does.

Prayer always changes us.

I may not be able to change you with my prayers.

I may not be able to change God with my prayers.

But always, I am changed.

As I pray, I will grow and mature in my faith and relationship with God.

It’s that simple.  It will happen.

Every time.

And one of the changes that will take place is that I will develop a sense of gratitude toward God, and an appreciation of all that God’ has done for me.

Amen.

Year C, Pentecost 6, Colossians 1.15-28, God’s Grace is sufficient.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.  Amen

Paul writes:

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.

In Ephesians the 2^nd Chapter he also writes:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.  He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,  and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.

And finally in 2 Corinthians Paul writes:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:  everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

There is a theme here, a consistent message that runs through all of the Apostle Paul’s teaching.

Though it has been proclaimed as the Gospel throughout the ages, it remains one of the hardest things to believe, and even harder to embrace.

It is done.

We didn’t do it.

We cannot do it.

But Christ can and has.

You who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, (Christ) has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.

One interesting thing to note about this is that Paul writes in the past tense.

This reconciliation has already happened.

There is no expectation placed upon us regarding our future actions, because the reconciliation has already been accomplished in Christ.

We still to this day tend to fall prey to the belief that somehow, in some way; our salvation depends on what WE do. 

What?

Is the work of Christ not enough????

Christ reconciled you so that he might present you to the Father, “holy and blameless and irreproachable”.

“He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances.”

“In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”

If our status before God depended on our ability to obey the law, we would all be doomed to condemnation.

We would remain “estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.”

But God would not allow this to happen.

He went about the work of reconciling the world to himself that we might be in him.

It is done.

We didn’t do it.

We cannot do it.

But Christ can and has.

And he has done it for you.

That is the first message of the Gospel for us to embrace.

Everything is “cool” between us and God.

The second aspect of the Gospel that challenges us, perhaps even more, is to recognize that we are not the only ones Christ has reconciled.

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.  For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.

 In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself.

You have been saved.

God took care of that.

But you are not the only one God chose to save.

So get over any notion that you alone have been reconciled to God.

Paul’s biggest challenge was not with those who had never heard of God and salvation.

Quite to the contrary, among the Gentiles his message of the Gospel was well received.

Rather it was his own people who struggled to accept that Christ’s reconciling work might extend beyond Israel.

Having been reconciled to God in Christ we are no longer on the outside looking in.  We have been “brought near” by the blood of Christ.

But now that we are part of the inner circle, we look at others as ‘outsiders’, failing to realize that the same grace covers them, as covers us.

The temptation is to think that those people, those who are different than us, must repent of their sins and become “holy and blameless and irreproachable” before they might become part of the body of Christ.

How is it that we who understand that we are saved by grace, and not by anything we have done, can look at our neighbor and insist that they, on the other hand, must do something in order to be saved??

This is the thing.

The same grace that covers our sins, covers our neighbor’s sins, regardless how different our neighbor may be from us.

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.”

God was not just reconciling us.

As Paul writes in Galatians the third chapter:

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.

And again, those words from 2 Corinthians:

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

There is a message that has been going viral on Facebook.

“I’d rather be rejected for who I accept, than accepted for who I reject.”

The point is that our ministry, if we are faithful to Christ, is a ministry of reconciliation.

It is about bringing people together who once have been estranged and hostile to one another, and to God.

And we do so, not because all people have been, or even could be righteous on their own accord, but because God’s grace is sufficient for all.

And that, my friends, is the most controversial thing you will ever hear me preach.

It is what makes the Gospel itself so offensive.

God’s grace is sufficient for all.

God’s grace is sufficient for me.

God’s grace is sufficient for you.

God’s grace is sufficient for my neighbor.

God’s grace is sufficient for those far off.

God’s grace is sufficient for those whose sins are quite evident.

God’s grace is sufficient for those whose sins are deep secrets.

God’s grace is sufficient no matter who you are or what you do.

God’s grace is simply sufficient.

For you.

For me.

And for ‘them’ whoever ‘they’ might be.

Amen

Loving My Neighbor, Year C, Pentecost 5, Luke 10:25-37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.   Amen

“Teacher,” the lawyer said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Sometimes the question is the problem.

“What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

In asking that question, the lawyer already presupposes the wrong answer.

To ask what I must do, is to assume I must do something. 

But what if eternal life is a gift, not a reward?  That’s what grace teaches us.  That’s what we believe and profess.

What we couldn’t do for ourselves, Jesus did for us.

The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

That contrast, between ‘wages’ and the ‘free gift’ is so important.  We will sin.  And if our eternal salvation is dependent on our getting what we deserve, we’re in trouble.

But eternal life is a gift, not our wage.

Going back to the lawyer’s question, there is another thing to note.

He not only asks ‘what must I do’, he asks specifically about ‘inheriting’ eternal life.  Inheriting.  Not “earning”.

I recently received an inheritance from my father.  I didn’t do anything to earn it or deserve it.  I was named in the will, alongside my brothers and sisters, the ELCA, and Flathead Bible camp, not because of my own merit, but because mom and dad loved us (and the Church and Bible camp) and they chose to give their estate to us.

That being said, the only thing I ‘did’ was to survive my mother and father.

The inheritance was their gift to me.

Because eternal life is an inheritance, what we have done doesn’t matter.  What God has done is what matters.  That’s grace.

That’s the first point.

But there is a counter point to that.

Jesus says that the lawyer is correct.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

What we do matters.

Love God.  Love your neighbor.

Do this and you will live.

How do we reconcile that with eternal life being a free gift?  It seems like a big contradiction.

Back to the question.

The lawyer asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Here I’d suggest to you that the problem is with the word “must”.

Love is a gift, not a reward.

Love cannot be compelled, but rather is contagious. We love because we have been loved.

We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, because God first loved us in that way.

Were it not for God first loving us, we would not be able to love God in return.

But love cannot be commanded or demanded.  It cannot be coerced.  It is instead, contagious. 

My wife doesn’t love me because of what I’ve done.  The love we share is a gift, a precious gift.  In many ways, I don’t deserve it.  And neither have I earned it.

Having said that though, love changes everything.

It changes how I act.  It affects what I do.

I treat Karla differently because I love her.  But she doesn’t love me just because of the way I treat her.

If that were the case then when I failed to treat her as I should, she’d quit loving me.  That’s not the way love works, though.

Love is always freely given, or it is not given at all.

Love demands nothing, but affects everything.

That bears repeating.

Love demands nothing, but affects everything.

So the first point is that there is nothing we can do to inherit eternal life for it is a gift.

The second point is that we are to love, and that affects everything we do.

Now comes the big question.

Love who???

Well, first of all, we are to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.  Got that.

And also, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

But who is my neighbor?

When the lawyer asked Jesus that question, you get the definite sense he was trying to get off the hook.

Who is my neighbor?  Who am I to love?

And so Jesus told a parable.  A man is robbed and left for dead alongside the road.

Two of the religious people of his day passed by him, but did nothing.

A foreigner, saw him and cared for him.

Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

Who are we to love?

“Your neighbor.”

“But who is my neighbor?”

We struggle with this commandment on two fronts.

We question who our neighbor is.

And we debate what is truly loving.

All of us have people we struggle to love.

And all of us wonder how we might truly love those we do care about.

Here is where following Jesus can get really controversial. 

Some have been thrown into prison for providing water to migrants in the desert of the Southwest.

What is the loving thing to do in a circumstance like this?

Remember the parable of the last judgment and Jesus’ words “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me”?

Some would say that the loving thing to do is to provide food and water to these people in the desert, regardless whether they are legal or not.  They see this as ‘loving our neighbor’. 

Others see this as aiding and abetting criminal activity and in fact, those who have done this have been charged with crimes and put in prison.

Who are we to love?  And how are we to love?  And when are we to love?

Like I said, trying to follow Jesus can be controversial.  Not everybody agrees who our neighbor is and who to love them.

Karla and I grew up in very different neighborhoods.

I grew up in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota.  For the most part I knew only white people and Lutherans at that.  That’s a pretty small cross section.

Karla on the other hand grew up in the inner city of Seattle amid all sorts of religious, racial and ethnic diversity.

It was easier for me to love my neighbor than Karla, because almost all of my neighbors were just like me.

Who is my neighbor???

When Jesus tells this parable of the Good Samaritan, he changes the question.

The question we should ask is not “Who is my neighbor?”, but rather “Who can I be a neighbor to?  To whom can I show mercy?”

The point Jesus is making is this.

You may not have the opportunity to love and care for all people, but who can you show mercy to today, at this time, in this place.

There is nothing we can do to inherit eternal life for it is a gift.

We are to love, and that affects everything we do.

And finally, that we are to love and show mercy to those we have the opportunity to do so.

This is what it means to live as a Christian.

• We are loved by God.
• We are called to love God and our neighbor in return.
• And we are therefore to show mercy as God has shown mercy to us.

Amen.