Teach us to Pray!

Jesus was praying in a certain place… When you find your sacred space for prayer it will be something you come back to again and again.  It is good to have a certain place…a place that is all your own, a place for just you and God and nothing else…

So today we find ourselves addressing prayer, not practice but prayer. You see prayer is, by definition

noun

noun: prayer; plural noun: prayers

a solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship.

"I'll say a prayer for him"

synonyms:

invocation, intercession, devotion;  archaicorison "she stood in the chapel listening to the priest's murmured prayers"

a religious service, especially a regular one, at which people gather in order to pray together.

"500 people were detained as they attended Friday prayers"

an earnest hope or wish.

"it is our prayer that the current progress on human rights will be sustained"

Now todays Gospel starts with a particular prayer…the disciples say to Jesus, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples…

The words are famous, to say the least, infamous.  Yet the words in today’s Gospel are not quite the words we pray.  What is taught as the lord’s prayer?

“The Lord's Prayer, our "Our Father," or "Pater Noster," is a prayer found in two occurrences in the New Testament. While often referred to as parallel passages, they are only so in relative content and not in circumstances.  It appears that Jesus taught on prayer at two different times, one recorded in the gospel of Matthew, the other in the gospel of Luke.  Since the focus of both was to teach people how they should pray, without using rote repetition, it makes sense that the principles of the content would be similar in both occurrences, but without a need for them to be perfectly identical in wording.

The passage in Matthew was given in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, starting in Matthew 5:1, and it introduces prayer, starting in 6:5, by emphasizing that prayer is not something to be done for public accolades much less in a manner copying pagan with memorized and repetitious mantras or unintelligible mutterings:

Matthew 6:5-8   "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  (NIV)

The account in Luke was, more simply, in the context of a direct question from Jesus' disciples. They knew that John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray and they wanted Jesus to do the same for them (Luke 11:1).  Both their question and Jesus' immediate positive response testify to the fact that they already understood the importance of prayer, something that Jesus has clearly modelled in his own prior actions (e.g. Luke 9:18, 28 as well as immediate circumstances of Luke 11:1).  Since knowledge of how John the Baptist's disciples prayed appears to have been common among the public (Luke 5:33), this is likely the circumstance that fueled the disciple’s question to Jesus”[1]

We take our wording and the way we say the lord’s prayer for granite and yet there are probably as many versions as there are nations on this planet.

For example, in the Message 2002 the prayer is written this way;

“Our Father in heaven, reveal who you are. Set the world right; Do what's best --

As above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.
You're in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You're ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.

The New Zealand prayer book has it this way;

Eternal Spirit
Earth-Maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, source of all that is and that shall be, Father and Mother of us all.
Loving God, in whom is heaven.
The hallowing of your name echoes through
the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples
of the earth!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and forever.
Amen.

Parker Palmer wrote it this way;

Heavenly Father, heavenly Mother, Holy and blessed is your true name. We pray for your reign of peace to come, we pray that your good will be done, let heaven and earth become one. Give us this day the bread we need, give it to those who have none. Let forgiveness flow like a river between us, From each one to each one. Lead us to holy innocence Beyond the evil of our days — Come swiftly Mother, Father, come. For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy: Forever your name is All in One.

And finally, a retranslation from the Aramaic;

O Breathing Life, your Name shines everywhere! Release a space to plant your Presence here. Imagine your possibilities now. Embody your desire in every light and form. Grow through us this moment's bread and wisdom. Untie the knots of failure binding us, as we release the strands we hold of others' faults. Help us not forget our

Source, yet free us from not being in the Present. From you arises every Vision, Power and Song from gathering to gathering. Amen - May our future actions grow from here!

**** “[2]

Now the resource I used for these few translations interpretations had 7 typed pages full. 7 pages! why is that? Maybe because the Lord’s prayer was meant to be a framework not a wrote prayer set in stone.

There is a sequence in Terrance McNally’s Play corpus Christi right after Joshua raises Lazarus. Joshua and Lazarus have a conversation and after being told to live life to the fullest and pray Lazarus bows his head and starts grumbling out a prayer of misery.

“Not like that: on your knees, head bowed, your eyes closed! You’re not afraid of God. Like this: standing tall, eyes open, smiling even, your arms open to Gods Love. This is how we talk to God.”[3]

My whole point is that there is no right way and or wrong way to pray, no right way or wrong way to pray the Lord’s prayer. I am sometimes tempted to leave it out of the bulletin to see what would happen if we all prayed it our way.

Some would never use the word father, some may use parent, some may use mother father, creator, Abba, Abba/Amma, great spirit.  Some may use the word trespass others debts others may just ask for forgiveness as we seek to be forgiving. Some people do not like Kingdom for it represents an oppressive society and yet others love kingdom for it represents a just loving world. I guess that depends if you are looking at the kingdom Christ is imagining vs the ancient roman empire.

Prayer and its language should be personal. It is about your relationship with God.  It is about a relationship that can be only defined by you. 

Which is interesting because as we read further in this gospel Jesus tells us a story of the persistent neighbor.  You have a friend show up unexpectedly and so you go to your neighbor’s house and ask for 3 loaves of bread.

Not one but three and he (your neighbor) yells down I am in bed my kids are asleep go away.  But you stay and you knock and you yell and now the neighbors have heard the ruckus, his kids are awake and the dogs in the whole neighborhood are barking and so, according to Jesus, the neighbor will come down and give you the three loaves of bread you asked for…along with the 911 call and the restraining order!

If we can listen with a spiritual ear, we hear Jesus saying to not be afraid to pray and pray often and because God loves you God will answer your prayer.  Now what do I say about that? 

You hear it here every week, you will hear it here again later.  But remember this In Isaiah 55:8-9 it is written, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

God has God’s ways and when we enter into prayer we are reaching out to the other, the sacred, the one whose name is beyond all names and understanding and we leave our cares, our concerns, in that realm.  That is why our prayers may be answered in ways we will never see, comprehend or even venture to recognize.

And again, if we listen to this passage with our spiritual ear, what is the answer to our prayers? Is it literally a loaf of bread?

Let’s hear this from the Message;

“Here’s what I’m saying:

Ask and you’ll get;
Seek and you’ll find;
Knock and the door will open.

^10-13 “Don’t bargain with God. Be direct. Ask for what you need. This is not a cat-and-mouse, hide-and-seek game we’re in. If your little boy asks for a serving of fish, do you scare him with a live snake on his plate? If your little girl asks for an egg, do you trick her with a spider? As bad as you are, you wouldn’t think of such a thing—you’re at least decent to your own children. And don’t you think the Father who conceived you in love will give the Holy Spirit when you ask him?”[4]

What do we get when we pray?  How are our prayers answered?  With the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the adversary.  The answer to your prayers is God sends the Holy Spirit to us.  The spirit is there as our companion, as our gift to guide us.  This is how prayers are answered.

So, if you hear some preacher say ask and it shall be given just send me, dot, dot, dot… If you ever hear someone say I just didn’t pray hard enough, or I was not deserving, or God doesn’t answer prayers…The answer is yes God does! Yet, the answer to our prayers isn’t always what we expect but it is what we need and we all need the Holy Spirit.

Spirit of the Living God fall afresh on me!

Our Loving creator in heaven, holy held is your name, above all others. Grant to me today what I need and not what I want. Please forgive me my short comings and give me a forgiving heart. Give me the heart of Christ. I pray that I am not tested but if I am, I pray to endure with your grace. Amen.

I pray God’s kin-dom come, for we are all of one family in God and the sooner we understand the concept of a Kindom of God then we can work to bring it about here on earth Just as we know it exists in the heavenly realm.

I prayed this yesterday, I pray this today and I will pray this tomorrow knowing that the answer is already with me, around me and guiding me in the form of the holy spirit. And  I Pray the same for you, each of you today and everyday  Amen!

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[1] https://notjustanotherbook.com/thelordsprayer.htm

[2] https://www.elkgroveumc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Alternative-versions-of-the-Lord.pdf

[3] McNally, Terrence. Corpus Christi: A Play. New York: Grove Press, 1999.

[4] Peterson, Eugene H. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2003.