Let's Pray

 

Ephesians 6:10-20

 "Let's Pray”

16 August 2015 St. Andrew’s Chapel Singapore

            If you are like me, you’ve probably heard or read this passage many times in your life. Paul’s vision of protecting ourselves with the whole armor of God is especially vivid. It brings forth the vision of a knight in shining armor going out to defend what they believe is good and right in the world.

            Looking at the news, or just the world around us, we know this passage is especially relevant today for we see destruction and suffering everywhere we choose to look. Understandably, we want to protect ourselves and our loved ones from every bad thing in the world. A passage like this fills us with hope that we can protect ourselves and stand up to the onslaught of the “powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

            Sometimes we read this passage as a way to build up our defenses and hunker down in our own cocoon shielded by the indestructible force field named God. Other times we read this passage as a call to arms, the Gunny saying stand up, buckle up, shuffle to the door. For there is a battle raging and we need to get out there and do our part.

            But, what if we look at this passage as a daily routine to get ourselves ready to face the world? What if this is the equivalent of waking up, getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing our teeth, gathering everything we need for the day, and stepping out into the world? What if this is how we should continually prepare ourselves to worship everywhere?

            Truth, righteousness, proclamation, faith, and salvation. These are all the things Paul tells us we need to put on or carry to withstand the evil in the world. Wise words from a spiritual hero.

            But, as I reflect on Paul’s words here, I keep coming back to his emphasis on prayer. While all of the armor of God is important, prayer seems the thread that connects it all and keeps the armor ready for whatever it may encounter. If prayer isn’t vital to our survival, Jesus wouldn’t have taught us a certain prayer to get us started. And it is important to note that what we call the Lord’s Prayer was given during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ own kind of call to arms.

            There are two questions we should always ask with a spiritual practice: what it is and how do we do this practice? Let’s explore the what question first.

Many years ago, a series of questions and answers about our faith was written and a few of the questions dealt with prayer. The Larger Catechism defines prayer as, “an offering up of our desires unto God, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of his mercies.”

I belong to the PCUSA and, in our Book of Order, we define prayer as:

“the heart of worship. In prayer, through the Holy

Spirit, people seek after and are found by the one true God who has been revealed in Jesus Christ. They listen and wait upon God, call God by name, remember God’s gracious acts, and offer themselves to God. Prayer may be spoken, sung, offered in silence, or enacted. Prayer grows out of the center of a person’s life in response to the Spirit. Prayer is shaped by the Word of God in Scripture and by the life of the community of faith. Prayer issues in commitment to join God’s work in the world.” Book of Order W-2.1001

Sometimes our needs are such that words can’t adequately express how we feel. So we use dance, song, art, poetry, etc. Or we groan on the inside. All of these are types of prayer. 

Anne Lamott, an irreverent writer who really can speak to our feelings and struggles in our walk with Christ once wrote, “Here are the two best prayers I know: ‘Help me, help me, help me,’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

We may think that statement a bit simplistic, and maybe it is. But, sometimes the simple answer is the best answer. While my denomination defines 6 (not 2) categories of prayer, I think even these formal categories can boil down to Anne’s two:

Adoration-Praise God for being God

Thanksgiving-Gratitude for what God has done

Confession-Repentance for what we have done or failed to do

Supplication-Plead for ourselves and the gathered community

Intercession-Plead for others, on behalf of others and for the whole world

Self-Dedication-Offer ourselves for the purpose and glory of God.

            Now that we are all experts on how to define prayer, let’s turn to how to pray. First off, there is no one right way to pray. Prayer is messy. It looks weird from the outside. Sometimes it is orderly and formal, other times it’s off the cuff and meandering. It can be individual or corporate.

            Well thanks, Chaps you aren’t helping us out. No I’m not. And that’s because it isn’t my job to help you pray, that’s the job of the Spirit and I sure don’t want to stand in the way of something that makes an entrance with “a sound like the rush of a violent wind” filling this entire chapel with tongues of fire gifting us with many gifts including prayer.

Our friend, The Larger Catechism can guide us by describing how the Spirit is our guide in prayer saying, “We not knowing what to pray for as we ought, the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, by enabling us to understand both for whom, and what, and how prayer is to be made; and by working and quickening in our hearts (although not in all persons, nor at all times in the same measure) those apprehensions, affections, and graces, which are requisite for the right performance of that duty.”

Prayer isn’t our words, but rather inspired words. Even when we are asking for supplication, Anne Lamott’s help me, help me, help me prayers. And I’ll admit, that’s probably my most popular form of prayer. Even in what we may view as selfish moments, prayer is guided by the Spirit giving voice to our groans.

When we pray, we typically use more than one of these six categories at a time. The key to prayer is not hitting the categories or trying to pray a certain way. Paul recognized we are horrible at prayer and that we need the Spirit to interpret our prayers to God. Jesus knew we needed help so gave us a starting point. John Calvin once wrote, “Our prayers depend on no merit of our own, but all their worth and hope of success are founded and depend on the promises of God.” The point is not how you pray or what form you use, but that you pray and maintain that contact with God.

            So let’s explore some different prayers. Typically, us Christians find ourselves uttering formal prayers in worship and using laid back and shorthand language at home. Because of the wide variety of language in prayer, let’s have a little audience response. I’m going to read some prayers and we’ll see if we can determine who wrote, said, or even sung these prayerful words.

“In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life.” (Mumford and Sons)

 “Make us instruments of your peace, where there is hatred, let us sow love.” (attributed to St. Francis of Assisi)

“My feets is tired, but my soul is at rest.” (Rosa Parks)

“O Lord, break the internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers.” (Tina Fey)

“May the angels protect you, trouble neglect you.

And heaven accept you when it’s time to go home” (Lady Antebellum is one of many to sing this song)

            “You held me down, but I got up already brushing off the dust. You hear my voice, you hear that sound like thunder gonna shake the ground.” (Katy Perry)

            “I’m not trying to stop a hurricane, I’m not trying to part the ocean waves. I’m just trying to find a way to make it back home.” (American Authors)

            As these examples show, prayer is our speaking to God in the best way we know how. But, prayer isn’t always spoken. Here’s a video of a prayer done as a group movement to a song some here may find familiar. (Share the Well).

Prayer doesn’t have to be something that takes energy or movement, it can be sitting in silence waiting to hear the still small voice of God. How we pray is not the point, the point is that we do pray.

            When asked about how to learn the arts, and prayer is definitely an art, David McCullough, the author of books such as John Adams and 1776 states, “The great thing about the arts is that you can only learn to do it by doing it. And if a child gets that idea early, that that’s how you learn things, by doing it, that may be the most important thing you give them.”

Or, in the immortal words of the sage prophet Yoda, “do or do not, there is no try.”

So let us leave here today committed to prayer. It’s definitely something that could use some work and dedication in my own life. Prayer is a practice, which means we may never totally feel comfortable praying. That’s ok, God knows what we’re trying to say even if we aren’t sure. We just need to commit to the act of prayer in whatever way best allows our heart to speak with God.