Prayer part 1

Prayer: Is it really all about me?

Prayer is important and central to our spiritual life as Christians. One of the amazing statistics is that something like 97% or 98% of Americans report that they pray. As amazing as that is even more bewildering is that a lesser number of Americans report that they believe in God. Regardless of what the difference between the two statistics means, the fact that so many people pray points to the fact that we reach beyond our selves for comfort, strength, courage, help or other needs.

Now let me put in a disclaimer. There is no correct way to pray. Neither required words nor dictated postures.

Now if you have been asked to offer a public prayer in front of a prestigious audience you might want to give some thought to the poetry of your language and the theology of your thoughts. But in our personal prayer life we are building a relationship with God and are invited to simply offer the words that come to mind and heart. They do not have too be in King James English or perfectly formed sentences. That is not the way we talk to each other why should it be the way we talk to God.

Nor is there a required posture. As Episcopalians we have been taught that we stand to praise, sit to listen and kneel to pray. Even though sometimes we now stand to pray. But we can pray to God in any posture we choose. If posture or place has a purpose in prayer it is not about pleasing God but about helping to focus us on God as we pray.

Many years ago when I was in seminary I, and a group of other students were having a discussion with one of our professors about prayer. I have to admit that I did not like this professor. (We had gotten off on the wrong foot to start with, I assure you through no fault of mine.) As I look back he was trying to broaden the narrowness of our experience as well as the narrowness of our minds. He commented that while praying in the chapel had its appeal he preferred to pray in his office leaning back in his chair with his feet on his desk. I said it sounded like napping to me. I assure you my grade rightly reflected my inability to embrace new concepts and to broaden my horizons.

There are no correct words, no required postures; prayer is about turning to God.

I titled this first sermon about prayer; Prayer: Is it really all about me? Because I thought that sounded a little edgy. We don’t usually give titles to sermons but I had a Methodist friend who preached at a church where he had to have a sermon title for the marquee in front of the church. In fact the sermon title was suppose to go up first thing Monday morning. He taught me that sermon titles should be a little edgy and unclear enough so that you could decide later what you were really talking about. He said his favorite that he used at least every other year was “Grace, Not Just a Blue Eyed Blonde.”

Prayer is about me because what I bring to God in prayer is me. Myself is the only genuine offering I have for God.

Jesus and the Prophets tell the people that God does not delight in sacrifices offered with ritual correctness. What God wants is for us to open our hearts. The biblical phrases that come to mind are:

Rend your hearts and not your garments.

What God desires is a contrite heart.

So the first thing I do in prayer is offer myself to God, or I offer the situation or the experience of the moment that concerns me.

Secondly Prayer is about me because it is I who must turn to God in prayer. God is not like my Mother who so many years ago would say, “You need to go to your room and do your home work.” No, at some point I have to awaken to my need to pray.

Prayers can take all different forms:

There are short immediate Prayers like: “Oh God I hope these brakes work!”

There is the habit of prayers offered weekly in public worship, or daily or even several times a day following a pattern of morning, noon, evening or late evening.

Prayer can be with words from the prayer book, or words poured out from the heart or prayer can be in silence sitting with God.

In prayer we are building a relationship with God and the more time we spend on the relationship the deeper and stronger it grows.

Finally prayer is about me because through prayer I want to involve God in my life. In prayer I open myself to God that my life might be a story that God and I write together. God does not want to control my life like a puppet master nor do I want to be left to go it alone. But together I believe we might write a beautiful story for my life. But as I seek to involve God in my life through Prayer I am left with one of the difficult questions of prayer. Do I pray specifically for what I believe I need or do I pray openly saying “God, thy will be done.” There is scriptural instruction for both. I believe on the one hand in prayer I should bring my question, my need, and my crisis to God asking God to help me understand. But at some point I also should take ownership and responsibility asking God to give me the confidence or courage to act. There are times also that I may feel called to claim the victory or the healing. But I offer this analogy as I seek to find a balance between my solution and God’s will.

When I was young and would take my car into the repair shop I would want to make sure that the guy at the shop knew I knew something about cars. So once I took the car in and said it needs a tune up. I came back to pick it up, paid the money, got in the car and it still ran lousy. I went back into the shop to complain questioning whether or not they had tuned up the car. He assured me he had but that also a tune up was the least of its problems and not the main reason it was running lousy.

So I learned to spend more time talking about the problem before I even begin to think about the solution.

In prayer I bring an offering of myself to God. Praying that by inviting God to be a part of my life God and I might write a beautiful story together.