I was scrolling through Facebook the other day, and a friend posted something funny. He said, “Don’t just hope. Truly believe your email has found me well!” It wasn’t five minutes later when I too opened an email that said, I hope this finds you well. My friend’s comment reminded me a bit of what prayer can be like. I talk with people about all sorts of things, and one of those things is ofcourse prayer. After all, I am sort of a professional prayer. But here’s a little secret; sometimes I don’t feel like I’m doing very well with it at all. I get stuck, I get tired, sometimes I even wonder if God is listening. I think all of those things are valid feelings for all of us. Life can just be hard, and it can be really difficult to figure out this whole prayer thing.
Our own Robert Brown invited me into a Conversation about prayer, that began with a short clip of Bishop Doyle saying that prayer was a conversation with God. As Robert and I spoke, some of what came up what that God loved us like and even more than a parent loves a child (after all, some of us have difficult relationships with parents), and I said that prayer wasn’t just something that I did, but it was a way of life. God’s love for you and for me is so great, so encompassing, that we should live our lives saturated in prayer or conversation with God. And here’s another newsflash: even when we are angry, even when we are struggling or doubting, all of those words are prayer; because here’s the thing; God already knows how hurt and how angry we are, so we might as well tell God. The Psalms of Scripture are FILLED with lament where the psalmist dispairs about life and about how they feel like God is absent. Even Jesus felt as though God was absent when he was crucified.
In our gospel lesson today, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray; nothing fancy, nothing earth shattering, just simple requests for daily sustanence, for forgivness, and for safety from evil, and an acknowledgement that God’s name is Holy. Seems pretty simple. The prayer is so important to our lives that it is said in every official service of prayer and worship that is in our prayer book. It’s also a good place to start when we get stuck.
We are so familiar with this prayer that I think we can tend to just say it without even thinking about it. How do we allow ourselves to get to that point? I think perhaps because we don’t even dare to hope that God is listening or that God cares.
What would happen if we dared to hope that our prayers were heard? What would change in our lives if we took the Lord’s prayer and really believed that our heavenly Father was listening, and that God listened with more love than we can ever imagine? What if those words became tender words of love that we said because we loved God and believed that God might actually answer us?
I talked last week about how I think the bottom line for the spiritual life is relationship. Over and over again we see Jesus ignoring social constructs of the time, and reaching across differences to build relationships with all sorts of people from all sorts of places, including those who many considered enemies. It’s no different with the Lord’s prayer. Jesus is trying to tell us that praying to God is just like having a loving relationship with a parent who cares about us. Then he goes on to talk about how even in our self-centered sinfulness, that even we can give good gifts to our children – how much MORE so is that true of God?
And here is our great dilemma: Sometimes our prayers aren’t answered, which is why it probalby feels like God doesn’t care. I can remember praying for Danny after he was born for his physical healing from the pneumonia and heart defects that sent him to the NICU. I also prayed for his bloodwork to come back negative for Down Syndrome. I remember being so incredibly afraid of what his diagnosis of Down Syndrome would mean to our family. It was a rough few days as we waited for those results while also watching him slowly get better in the NICU.
Obviously, my prayers abuot Down Syndrome were not answered that way that I had hoped. And, I don’t want to make light of anyone’s prayers of desperation that we have all prayed; I don’t know why those prayers aren’t answered. I’m sure many of us prayed in solidarity with our neighbors to the west of us during the horrific flooding that killed so many. Even now we continue to pray for people to find their loved ones so that there might at least be closure. It doesn’t get any more desperate than that. So why should we pray? Why should we gather at the funeral of a loved one and pray these words that we know so well? Why should we dare to hope that those words make a difference?
Well, as I taught my confirmation classes, some of this is mystery. When ever we involve ourselves with God, whenever we reach toward God in our desperation or in our joy, there is mystery involved. Everything we do when we come to this altar and this rail, is mystery. We cannot explain why Jesus is present in the bread and wine; we cannot explain what happens when we pray, but if we dare to hope that God is listening, then we know that something happens, even if it doesn’t seem to happen right away. What I am sure of, is that God hears and that God is present even in our greatest sorrows and even in our death. We are never alone even when it seems that we are in the darkest of places. And so we dare to hope that we matter to God because somehow we figure out that we DO in fact matter to God more than we could ask or imagine. As I got received the news of Danny’s initial diagnosis of Down Syndrome I realized that I was no longer afraid, but was ready to roll my sleeves up and get to work on being his mom. Knowing that I would be able to lean on God and on my community of faith helped me get through those early days of wondering what the hell I was doing. And I have continued to receive graces I never thought possible. Turns out Danny didn’t need to be healed; I did. And, I suspect most of us need to be healed in some deep, mysterious way. So, beloved, make prayer your job; make it a way of life. Dare to hope that God is listening even if the words seem old and worn. Jesus prayed all the time, and even though the cup wasn’t taken from him, he continued to trust. Thanks be to God that because Jesus trusted the Father, we are able to trust that God is with us, always. So pray; Pray as though you believe you will be heard. God IS listening.
