God’s grace, peace and
mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Teaching Prayer, and
my focus is Luke 11:1-4. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist
wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the
Lord.’” Now that our feet are standing within your gates, we rejoice
to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move
our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy
Trinity. Amen.
If you have ever tried
to teach a child how to pray, you know how tedious and joyful a task it is.
Whether the child is your son or daughter, grandchild or a boy or girl in your
Sunday school or Vacation Bible School class, teaching The Lord’s Prayer,
Luther’s Morning Prayer or meal prayers can take some time, but after the child
has learned the prayer by heart, you know that it will never be forgotten.
Case in point. When I
visit people bound to hospital, nursing home or personal beds, when all senses
have left them, I am always surprised that frail bodies and minds can still
recite by heart prayers learned decades earlier. The Lord’s Prayer never leaves
them. That said, let me say that the three points of today’s sermon are (1) teaching
children to pray; (2) Jesus teaching his disciples to pray; and (3) what Luther
teaches us to pray.
First, teaching
children how to pray. Our granddaughter, Emma, stayed with us two weeks
recently. We chose to have her pray with us when we recited evening prayer and
said meal prayers. With the latter our eight-year-old Emma did fine adding a
person for whom we should pray. Reciting evening prayer was another matter. I
noticed that she was not saying anything when we spoke the psalms and other Bible
passages out loud. After a couple of days, it dawned upon me. Eight-year-olds
cannot read aloud like adults can. It’s a bit intimidating to read aloud if you
cannot pronounce all the words. However, she did speak the Lord’s Prayer and
the Glory Be. So that was a good sign.
My point in having her
pray with us was to exercise some spiritual modeling. I learned this from my
mother and father. When we were young boys, there were some Sundays my dad had
to work at J&L. My parents owned one car and we lived 8 miles from our
church. Every once in a while, we rode to church with one of our neighbors, but
occasionally we were not able to make it to church. On those Sundays, my mother
had us recite prayers and Scripture passages with her. During Lent, she led Friday
devotionals.
In addition to that,
my parents alternated praying with us before we went to sleep. They would get
down on their knees next to us and together we prayed aloud the prayers they
taught us. There were times my dad would turn in before us, and I recall that
he would be on his knees praying before retiring. As he got older, he would sit
in the living room and read the Bible.
When we became
teenagers, Dad took us to monthly devotions at church with the men’s group. It
was a great way to meet other men who prayed publicly. I was impressed that
Monaca’s school superintendent and many other men who worked as electricians,
managers, salesmen and so on gathered for prayer and fellowship. I can still
picture those memories as everyone, including teenage boys, wore suits or sport
coats with ties.
Did my parents know
the impact of their spiritual modeling? Do we know the long-lasting effects of
teaching Emma to pray? Do you know the impact your personal prayer life has
upon your children or grandchildren? Generally, we do. Specifically, we do not.
Teaching anything to anyone may have unexpected results. One being, that
teaching someone to pray – or anything else for that matter – may humble the
teacher.
Imagine being Henry
Mancini’s piano teacher, Einstein’s physics professor, Dolly Parton’s voice
coach. Imagine how humble Joseph and Mary must have felt at some point as they
taught Jesus how to pray. Scripture offers insight after they found their son
in the Jerusalem Temple. If your most successful student’s accomplishments do
not humble you, take a lesson from Jesus. My guess is that in his humanity,
Jesus must have felt humble that his followers were asking him to teach them
how to pray. And so, we segue from my first point to my second, Jesus teaching
his disciples to pray.
In Luke-Acts, prayer
is intimately associated with the word, common life, table fellowship and
hospitality. Last week, as we read the Gospel passage on Martha and Mary,
we heard the importance of this association. In Acts 2:42, we read that the
first believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” Later,
in chapter 6, we are reminded that when the Church chose the first deacons to
wait on tables, the Twelve said, “’We will devote ourselves to
prayer and to the ministry of the word.’ And what they said pleased the whole
gathering, and they chose Stephen” and six others and “set
them before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the
word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied
greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the
faith.” So, we see that prayer is related to Devotion to the Word,
common life, table fellowship and hospitality.
Earlier in chapter 3,
Luke distinguished Jesus from John the Baptist and showed how the Lord received
the Holy Spirit while he was praying in the Jordan River. Here again, in
chapter 11, we find Jesus at prayer in the company of his disciples. Once he
finishes, they ask him to teach them how to pray as John taught his disciples.
Jesus’ followers needed a prayer suitable to their identity as the Lord’s
disciples, and so, fittingly, they make this request by addressing Jesus as
Lord, as did Martha in last week’s passage.
According to the
prayer, they are to address God as Father for they share in the Lord’s divine
life or sonship. Like Jesus, they too will receive the Holy Spirit, if they
pray for it. In short, this passage distinguishes Jesus’ disciples from John’s,
just as the baptism account in chapter three distinguished Jesus himself from
John. Here, Jesus also reveals how those whom he had chosen are related to the
Father, and what this relationship demands of them and what they can expect
from it. In other words, this passage is not only about memorizing a prayer, it
is about the life of Christians journeying to and living in the Kingdom.
The Lord’s prayer is
for those who accept to follow Jesus on his journey to God. Recall at the end
of chapter 9, how Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem and how several had more
important duties and chose not to follow him. The disciples who followed
Jesus recognized that it was necessary that he be with the Father and that they
too press on in the Christian mission toward the Father. The Lord’s prayer is
the prayer of those who received the promise of the Holy Spirit, verse 13 of
today’s Gospel. As such, it is truly the Lord’s prayer and not merely the
prayer of Jesus.
To understand that, we
know that before his death, Jesus had only begun to act and teach, as the
opening verse of Acts reveals. After his resurrection, when God made him Lord,
he continued to act and teach – as Peter stated in Acts 2, “Let all
the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord
and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” And the Lord’s prayer
is the prayer of those who were taught by the experience of the Risen Lord and
know that they are God’s sons and daughters. That, folks, is Gospel.
Finally, my third
point, Luther teaches us to pray. Learning how to pray has always been an
interest of mine. As long as I can remember, I wanted to learn how to pray in
order to have a deeper, fuller, richer relationship with God. Some points about
prayer I have learned from my parents and pastors, others from professors and
printed books, and still others from workshops, retreats and friends. I have
come to know and appreciate prayer as the necessary foundation of our work as
church and individuals. It is communal and personal. Martin Luther shared this
knowledge and appreciation throughout his life.
He frequently wrote
and spoke about prayer, and emphasized that God commanded us to pray and that
God promised to hear us. For that reason, our prayer should be frequent, bold, honest
and forthright. Prayer’s starting place is not the human but rather God.
By now, you should
have read through Luther’s Small Catechism at least once in your life. If you
have not noticed, it is a book of prayer. Luther placed first the Ten
Commandments, a confession of how God wants us to live. This is followed by The
Apostles’ Creed, what God does for us. Then comes prayer, in the form of the
Lord’s Prayer, as a response of God’s command and promise.[1]
In A Simple Way to
Pray, Luther wrote that prayer should “be the first business of the
morning and the last at night. Guard yourself carefully against those false,
deluding ideas which tell you, ‘Wait a little while. I will pray in an hour;
first I must attend to this or that.’ Such thoughts get you away from prayer
into other affairs which so hold your attention and involve you that nothing
comes of prayer for that day.”
In his Large
Catechism, he advocated daily prayer. “From youth on we should form the
habit of praying daily for our needs, whenever we are aware of anything that
affects us or other people around us, such as … neighbors.” He continued by
reminding us of God’s command to pray and promise to hear us before writing, “I
would like to see people learn to pray properly and not act so crudely and
coldly that they daily become more inept in praying. This is just what the
devil wants.”
As I was preparing
sermons these past few weeks, I have also been driving to Pittsburgh to visit
my cousin, Joan, who is suffering from cancer that metastasized in her brain.
Right now, she’s in hospice. All treatment, including physical therapy, has
been discontinued. Joan is now waiting. Just waiting. What would Luther have to
say to her?
Friends, prayer
happens in the midst of darkness, the darkness of night and despair. Commenting
on Genesis 15, the story of Abraham, whose descendants were to be as numerous
as the stars in the night sky, Luther wrote these words: “The fact that Abraham
is commanded to look at the stars is proof that this vision occurred at night,
at a time when Abraham was sighing and lamenting. It is characteristic of
sublime trials to occupy hearts when they are alone. For this reason, there is
frequent mention in Holy Scripture of praying at night and in solitude.
Affliction is the teacher of such praying. This because Abraham was occupied
with these sad thoughts, he was unable to sleep. Therefore, he got up and
prayed; but while he is praying and feeling such great agitation within
himself, God appears to him and converses with him in a friendly manner.”
God spoke to Abraham
in a friendly manner. Such insights come only through Luther’s personal prayer
time. … Back to Joan. I spoke to her several times about her situation. She’s
well aware of how this will end. While she experiences the effects of brain
cancer, she is very confident about how the Lord Jesus will welcome her. She’s
quite hopeful about salvation and eternal life. She’s also more concerned about
her older sister’s welfare than her own. She prays many moments throughout the
day because prayer is not new to her. Without her lifetime of prayer, she would
not handle this situation with such hope.
My friends, have you
ever gotten up in the middle of the night, agitated about something? Have you
been given the bad news about someone you love, and could not sleep? Like
Abraham, did you go outside and look at the dark sky? Did God speak to you in a
friendly manner? Did you turn to God in prayer?
Four hundred seventy-one years ago, Martin
Luther gave you The Small Catechism for your spiritual benefit. If you
have a copy, I encourage you to prayerfully meditate upon its words. If you are
teaching your children or grandchildren how to pray, turn to it for assistance.
If you are reading it as your spiritual companion, let Martin Luther and the
Three Persons of the Trinity guide you deeply in your life of prayer, and may
the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your
hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Mary Jane Haemig, “Practical Advice on Prayer from Martin Luther,” Word and
World, Volume 35, Number 1, Winter 2015, p. 22.
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