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Westminster Presbyterian Church
Bradenton, Florida

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Teach Us To Pray: The Place of Prayer

Posted by wpcbradenton on August 9, 2010 at 12:24 PM
“Teach Us to Pray: The Place of Prayer”
Hebrews 11:1-3; 8-16
The Reverend Chris Adams
August 8, 2010

We continue this morning with our sermon series “Teach Us to Pray.”  This is week three...

The first week we talked about prayer as the mark of our community.  The Lord’s Prayer marks us as the people of Jesus Christ.

Then last week we talked about prayer as trust in God.  I suggested that when we pray, that is what we are doing; we are trusting in God.

Today, I want to talk about prayer as hope!  That’s the next theme I believe to be important when it comes to any conversation about prayer.  Hope is what we are all about.

In fact, hope is what we have always been about as God’s people.  Hope that the world could be a different place.  We hope that God’s mission, sometimes understood in its Latin form as Missio Dei, as the purpose God was sent into our world as Jesus would be fulfilled.  

Even in the beginning, hope is what we have been about.  Look at the scripture lesson for today.  In this anonymous letter to Jewish Christians, the writer reminds them here what the life of prayer has always been about.

 It’s actually expressed here as Faith, but I wonder, couldn’t we just as easily insert the word prayer?  Prayer then is the assurance of things hoped for... By prayer we understand that the world was created by the Word of God...

I know I am taking some liberty here with our scripture.  Please forgive me for that.  But if faith is what is in our hearts and our souls, then certainly it could be expressed in action as prayer.  Faith is the essence of our being, but prayer is what we do.  

That’s what we have been talking about these last two weeks.  Prayer as community, prayer as trust.  Prayer is not supposed to just sit on the shelf with the other things we store up and keep.  Prayer is an action word.  If you can’t do anything else for somebody in need, somebody that needs a little hope, can’t we pray for them?  What about prayer as an action world of faith?

So, by prayer Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out...

And by prayer Sara herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age...

You see, in essence faith and its action word prayer is the hope that things can be different.  Sometimes even when we can’t see any possible way that things could be different, we pray and we discover that they are.  Has that ever happened to you?

Abraham didn’t believe his life would ever be different, but in prayer he obeyed and became the father of faith for us all.

Sara would never have believed that she could conceive a child, but in prayer she came to understand that a child was exactly what was to happen to her.

Do you see?  Prayer is the hope for things not yet seen.  Things that are sometimes invisible to us in every other way become visible in and through prayer.  That’s what our scripture lesson for today tells us.

Faith, and its action word prayer, is the assurance of things hoped for.

So here’s my question for you.  Why don’t we pray?  If we really believed that through prayer the world could be transformed according to the mission of God, then why would we not pray?

I have another short video for you, as we consider that question.  Check this out: 

 
So I have been involved in a little experiment this week.  On Monday, after I reviewed this video again, I decided to take action.  It was a very minor thing, but I decided to write on my hand.  If I truly believe that prayer is the hope for things not seen, then maybe I thought I should figure out a way for it to be seen.

So I wrote the word PRAY on my hand.  Just like you see it right now.  It’s a simple word, just four little letters.  I wrote it in permanent ink so it would be there for as long as possible.  I also wanted to commit to PRAY, and permanent ink seemed appropriate.

Then I just went about my way.  Every once in a while that first day, I would glance at my hand and there it was, PRAY.  It became a reminder for me.  It became a reminder that God has more in store for me in faith and in hope and for the world in which I live, and so as an action I could take to acknowledge that, I PRAY.

I have to admit that at times I would just stare at that word on my hand, not fully understanding even what it meant entirely, but wondering.  Sometimes it would cause me to say something to God, and other times it just raised my awareness to listen.  Maybe, I thought, God is trying to show me something about His way for the world through this word PRAY?

Then I started noticing things about the word PRAY on my hand...

The first thing I became aware of was that almost nobody even noticed it was there.  Or if they did, they didn’t comment.  Maybe they saw it and were afraid that if they asked me about it I might want them to PRAY, so they pretended not to see it.  Or maybe, I keep my hand closed too much, and don’t allow it to be seen.

So I started wondering.  Maybe that’s what happens to prayer.  People are afraid of it, especially when they see it in other people.  How many of us pray at meals at home, but somehow don’t think to do it when we are at restaurants?  Do we show others our PRAY, or do we keep prayers hidden from others.  Are our hands clenched tight and closed?

It was just a word on my hand, but somehow it was becoming more meaningful than that to me as a witness to prayer in the community in which I live.  One person that actually noticed it, after I explained what I was doing, told me I should write it on my forehead.  That way nobody could miss it.  But that seems like it’s too in your face (literally).  You’ve all met those people.  They want everybody to know they are praying, but somehow it seems phony and for show.  Putting it on my head would just be for show.  Prayer should be visible to others, but not phony or flashy.

Then I started to notice that no matter how hard I pressed down with the marker, and how dark I tried to make the word PRAY on my hand, I just couldn’t get it to stay there all day.  No matter what, after a while it would just start to fade away.

I wondered if that’s what is meant by PRAY without ceasing.  Sometimes we think we can just start the day with prayer and that it then is with us all day long until we PRAY again at bedtime.  But if the writing on my hand is any indication, and by the way I think it is, prayer is something that has to be re-done several times a day if we expect it to be there with us all day.

But there’s more... I also noticed that the length of time it remained on my hand was directly in proportion to what I was doing with my hands.  The harder I worked, the quicker it disappeared.  If I was just sitting at my desk on the phone or typing at my computer it stayed there for the whole time.  However, I did a little yard work at one point, and when I took off my gloves PRAY was completely gone.  I also noticed that the dirtier my hands got, the more I washed them, and the quicker PRAY disappeared.

Again, I wondered if that could mean something.  The more we do during the day, especially the harder the work is, the more we need to PRAY.  And the messier the job is, the more we need to PRAY.  Blood, sweat, and tears fades PRAY.

You see, most of us see it as just the opposite though.  We have a real busy day, hard work and all, and we say I just don’t have time to PRAY today.  But I would suggest that on those days, PRAY is even more important to pay attention to.  That is if we expect it to be there when we want it.  There were a couple days this week when I had to carry the marker around in my pocket with me, just to keep PRAY on my hand.  

So that it would be there when I needed it to remind me that God has something else in mind, not only just for me, but for the world in which I live.  Remember, PRAY is the hope for things that are not yet seen.  PRAY is action for people of hope.

You see, there was a day when I needed my PRAY in a big way this week.   One day this week, I turned the corner to pick up my children at school, and as I did, I saw the school surrounded by fire trucks, ambulances and police cars.  I had to stop almost immediately because of a police line blocking the road. 

Now those of you who have children or had children can imagine what goes through your mind in that split second.  Oh my God, what has happened?  What if I had just picked them up early today?  What if I have to call my wife in Costa Rica and tell her something horrible has happened?  All this in just a second or two.

You see in that moment, that few seconds of parking my car and walking to that line, I imagined only what I could see in my worst imagination.  What I could see was that there is an emergency over there, and my children are there.  

At that point, I wanted to hope for what I couldn’t see.  That even though my mind was racing with all sorts of thoughts to the contrary, that they were okay and safe.  In that moment, consciously or not, I was in hope mode.  I needed my PRAY.

In that moment, my friends, I looked down at my hand.  I wanted to see that word PRAY to remind me that prayer is for hope that is not yet seen.  But you know what... it wasn’t there.  I had been working out before I went to get them, and the combination of that workout and the sweat it involved had totally wiped PRAY off my hand.  

But here’s the funny part.  I knew it was supposed to be there.  In that moment, because I had written it so many times during the course of the week, PRAY was in my heart even if it was not on my hand.  My little experiment had taught me the greatest lesson I could ever imagine about prayer.

Prayer is not something we practice, only when we need it.  It’s something we only practice, for the times when we need God.  What I mean is, before that day and even after, PRAY was something I was doing as an action of my faith.  If I really believe that prayer is a way for God to change the world into more of what God wants it to be, then it is something I want to do.  It is something I practice as a way for God to change our world.

But then that moment comes, when my world was the one that God needed to change into something of hope.  There comes that moment in all of our lives, when what we hope for is not yet seen, but we hope for what it might be.  It is in that moment that prayer becomes the most important thing we might do.  

In that moment, it is our ability to let God take our hope and change it into something we can see that makes all the difference for us.  It is in that moment, that our daily practice of PRAY, without ceasing, without end, and without inhibitions comes to serve God’s kingdom in our hearts and in our world.  And most importantly, because we have been practicing it, it is there.

It turned out okay for us.  The kids were safe, the school had a fire, but had done a great job in getting them to safety.  In just a few seconds really, I was able to find out that my worst fears were not realized and that my hope was.  They were fine.

I don’t know if PRAY had anything to do with it.  I don’t mean to suggest that PRAY is all about us; or even that when we PRAY that bad things don’t still happen.  They do.  But I do believe that PRAY is about how God can use even us, and the circumstances of our lives, to change the world a little more into what God intends for it to be.  When we PRAY, we hope, and more and more, God shows us hope in what is not yet seen.

That’s what happened for Abraham and Sarah.  They received more than they could have imagined.  That’s what the writer of Hebrews knew to be true, that they could be included in what God was doing in the world.  That’s what I experienced in my silly little experiment, my PRAY taught me a few things about prayer.  PRAY is about hope!

When you leave, I have a faith action step for you to take this morning.  When you get home today, if you want take out a permanent marker and write PRAY on your hand, just like I did.  Let it be a reminder that God intends hope.  Let it remind you to PRAY without ceasing for all the good things that are not yet seen.  Let it be a part of your world for a day, or a week, or maybe even longer if you want.

When you watch the news, look at your hand and PRAY.  When you see something miraculous and wonderful in your midst, PRAY.  When you get that phone call that your dread, or come upon something you fear could be the worst you can imagine, PRAY.  

It’s not magic.  It’s maybe even a little silly.  But I wonder what God might do with PRAY for you...  Could it be that God can bring hope in what is not yet seen in your life and in our world?  After all, that’s really the place of prayer.

Thanks be to God for the Place of Prayer.  

Amen.

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