Read the Book

Sermon-9 Pentecost-Proper 12-July 25, 2010
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
How many of you are happy, satisfied with your prayer life? (raise your hands)
How many would like to have a better prayer life? (ok, again?)
Everyone wants a better prayer life. There are two questions, usually, that when asked, make Episcopalians curl up like a slug on salt: Do you know your Bible? And how is your prayer life?
Listen, the holiest man in Israel during Jesus’ time wasn’t Jesus-it was John the Baptist. People were always coming up to Jesus, or his disciples, and asking, “why aren’t you more like John?” Like today. Jesus’ disciples go up to Jesus while he’s praying and demand, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."In other words, “WHY CAN”T YOU BE MORE LIKE JOHN THE BAPTIST-A GOOD PRAYER?”
So they ask Jesus, not for a prayer-but how to pray. And he gives them 42 words. 42. How often do you hear a prayer that you remember? You hear beautiful prayers, inspiring prayers, powerful prayers, long, long prayers-but how often do you hear prayers that you remember? The Lord’s Prayer that we repeat every week is from the Gospel of Matthew and is quite a bit longer than this one. Jesus teaches his disciples several things in how to pray. First, he teaches them. Keep it short.
In the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, there's a story about Macarius the Great (born c. 300), a former camel driver. One day someone asked him how to pray. "There is no need at all to make long discourses," he advised. "It is enough to stretch out one's hands and say, 'Lord, as you will, and as you know, have mercy.' And if the conflict grows fiercer say, 'Lord, help!' He knows very well what we need and he shows us his mercy."
Secondly, when Jesus teaches his friends how to pray he tells them, “start off by talking to God as if he’s a loving parent.” The word Jesus uses to begin this prayer is Abba. The closest word we have to that is “daddy.” Father, Jesus begins. When you are praying, talk to God as if God is a loving parent-very near, very accessible,
So, make it short, make it intimate. Then he tells them-make it simple:
There is a wonderful story about Mother Teresa and a famous ethicist who came to work at her house of the dying in Calcutta, at a time when he was seeking a clear answer to how best to spend the rest of his life. She asked him what she could do for him, and he asked her to pray for him. She said, "What do you want me to pray for?" And he said, "Pray that I have clarity." She replied, "No, I will not do that – clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of." The ethicist observed that Mother Teresa always seemed to have the clarity he longed for, but she laughed and said, "I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust. So I will pray that you trust God." (from Kate Huey)
Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, and make it from the heart.
Jesus says, ask for your daily needs, ask for forgiveness, pray to be protected.
Anne Lamott writes in Traveling Mercies that our two best prayers are, "help me, help me, help me" and "thank you, thank you, thank you" (p. 82).
Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart.
And then Jesus gives them a couple of bonuses. Two more pieces of advice from parables. Don’t be passive in your prayers: Ask, search, knock. Tell God what you need, don’t wait, don’t hold back. Tell God what you need, don’t be passive. Tell God what you need. Don’t wait, don’t be passive. (Got it, yet?) Do you remember what we say before the Lord’s Prayer, “And now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we are bold to say,”
And finally, Jesus tells them, BE PERSISTENT. Only persistence is a bad translation of the word. A better translation than persistent is, “shameless”. BE SHAMELESS in asking God for what you need. Grovel, lose your dignity, plead-and keep begging. BE SHAMELESS when praying to God. Go to God as if she is your mom and you are afraid she will forget, pray to God as if he is your dad and you want him to know something that is very important to you.
Ok, how do you feel about your prayer life? Inadequate, lacking, INEFFECTIVE? Want some advice? Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart, be bold, be shameless. And pray. A lot.
Don’t worry about the length, the height, the depth of your prayers. Don’t worry about your language, your faith, how beautiful they are. Don’t worry that your prayers may not be good enough, holy enough. Jesus wasn’t considered holy enough either.
One last story. When our son Kyle was about 11, he had a book review due in two days. Kyle was very smart but he wasn't always a good or "prepared" student. So I was somehwat surprized one night when a friend of his called up to ask Kyle about the book report. We only had one phone so I heard all of Kyle's side of the the conversation. The friend kept explaining to Kyle how he hadn't read the book and wouldn't have the report done in time-and how much trouble would he be in. Kyle answered, "Read the book." The friend explained that he was a slow reader and he hadn't even started yet, and Kyle replied, "Read the book." The friend went on and on trying to get Kyle to understand that it was just too hard for him, he was inadequate, and that he would never get the report done. And Kyle grew increasingly exasperated with his friend, and Finally just exploded at him, "IF YOU HAD STARTED READING THE BOOK INSTEAD OF CALLING ME YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN FINISHED BY NOW!"
It does not matter if you are a lousy prayer, if you don't know the right words, if you have a poor faith, if you are unworthy, inadequate, ineffective. Jesus was not considered a great prayer, and yet we all say his prayer every week. Make it short, make it intimate, keep it simple, make it from the heart, be bold, be shameless. And pray. A lot. Or, if you have trouble remembering all that just remember this, Read the book.