FINDING YOUR PRAYING STYLE
SEPTEMBER 14, 2008
This morning, with the return of smiling
children’s faces, with the joy conveyed by sharing balloons they will give us
all later on, and with the official beginning of Sunday School after a summer
away, we commence a new year right here at our church today. Now, of course we
know that January 1is really New Year’s day, but, those of us who have
children in school understand that there’s another calendar at work in our
lives as well. And, as we enter this new beginning, as we gather to see our
children go off to class and learn their Bible lessons, here in this sanctuary
we’re spending a few weeks taking time to talk about the subject of PRAYER. We
start the new year with FIVE
SERMONS about one topic, the topic of PRAYER!
Now, friends, I want to suggest that even though
our little ones are not in our sanctuary right now, what we are talking about is
something that is important for them as well as for us and I’m going to
encourage those of you who are parents to spend time telling them what we
discussed this morning while they were in class downstairs. I’m going to ask
you this, just as I am going to encourage you to get your hands on any sermon
you might miss in this five week series, including last week’s, either by
picking it up on our back table or online, because I’m convinced that PRAYER
is an important topic for all of us to spend serious time thinking about
seriously. You see, when you pray to God, when you tell someone you are praying
for him, you are praying for her, you are taking yourself where? You are moving
outside of yourself, you are thinking about someone else, you are declaring in
that very act of PRAYING that YOU are NOT the center of the universe, you are
saying, in this act , that beneath all the circumstances of this life and far
below its very surface, there is a force, a power, a breath and a spirit that
holds us all together, that guides us and keeps us moving, that can give us
strength and courage for the passing of every hour. When you pray, you’re
saying that THERE IS A GOD!
Last week, I told our congregation that in these
five weeks, I’d like us to look at THE WORLD OF PRAYER by exploring THE WORLD
OF US. And so, we are going to continue to do that today in a way that I hope is
both helpful FOR YOU and will offer something that YOU CAN SHARE WITH OTHERS,
younger or older! So, to this end, I have dubbed today’s sermon with the
title: ‘ FINDING YOUR PRAYING STYLE.’
Finding
your praying style! In other words, how do you pray? When you tell
someone ‘ I will pray for you’, if your response is really deeper than that
perfunctory ‘ God bless you’ after a sneeze, how do you do that? WHEN do you
do that? Now, I’d like to suggest, and this is important in discussing prayer
with anyone of any age, that a key phrase in here is the phrase ‘ YOUR
STYLE’, for, just as there are different LEARNING styles ( some people learn
best by hearing, others by seeing or reading, still others by DOING, hence the
phrase HANDS ON), so too are there different PRAYING STYLES. Allow me to
elaborate if you would. Well, really, I guess you’ve got no choice:
For many people, prayer works best as a SET
ROUTINE. You get up in the morning and say your prayers. You do the same at
night. I have friends who even when eating a meal in a restaurant will pause to
pray silently just before they even eat a bite. Some people will pray in their
own words. Others will have set prayers they say on a regular basis, with
favorite prayers repeated daily. Some, following the prescription of the Book of
Kings and Ephesians, will say their prayers on their knees, as my Dad always
did, so long as he had his strength. Still others find it best to pray while
sitting or standing or walking or running or accompanied by gestures and signs
that enhance for them this encounter with the spiritual, this encounter with the
divine. I’ve seen couples who
pray together, either in their own words or with formulas, families who won’t
touch a morsel of food lest they have offered a prayer before. Some people make
sure they read a passage from the Bible every day, others keep a written list of
those they are praying for, still others play and sing hymns in their cars
or when they are alone (that’s me!) or watch meditative YOU TUBE video
clips on their computers ( that’s me as well!). I’ve talked to people who
just build in a few minutes of absolute, uninterrupted silence each and every
day and others who carry on an internal conversation with God as they are going
about their daily work. Still others have special places to which they will go
when they need to enter the spirit of prayer....They will slip into a church (
when I was in college, I used to wind my way to Holy Cross’ chapel every day
and when I go back to my alma mater, inevitably it’s one of the first places I
like to go!) or they will go down to an ocean or lake or take a walk in the
woods or jump in their car. Others, such as I, will tell you with all
seriousness that they can feel prayerful on certain days on certain baseball
fields. I used to have a standing 5:30 am Saturday golf game for years
highlighted by the rising of the sun which I’d see from an elevated tee. Other
people will tell you that they really do their serious praying when they go to
church on Sunday morning, that singing hymns and listening to other people
brings things out of them they never even knew were there. There’s no one
perfect way to pray and even in citing all of these many examples, I have barely
even scratched the surface!
But, before we go any further here, there’s
something we have to say. So often, when we thinking of praying, the image we
have is that we are ASKING. We are asking God for something
..either for ourselves or for others-----We are asking for health or well
being or good fortune or peace or recovery or any number of very important
items. Now, let’s
understand......praying for ourselves or someone else is good, desiring HEALTH
or PEACE or SOMEONE GETTING A JOB is a wonderful thing.....BUT......
BUT..................You see, when Jesus taught us The Lord’s Prayer,
Jesus really taught us something
about...PRAYER. Let me explain: Luke chapter 11........The
disciple of Jesus sees Jesus praying and utters those words that form the theme
for this sermon series. He says to Jesus: LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. The TEACHING
Jesus offers is what we have come to know as THE LORD’S PRAYER or THE OUR
FATHER. Now, to really get inside the essence of prayer and to teach prayer well
to our children, we’ve got to go face to face with how that prayer begins. OUR
FATHER, WHO ART IN HEAVEN, HALLOWED BE THY NAME . Will you repeat it with me? (Repeat)
What’s happening here, dear friends? You see,
what often gets lost in prayer because prayer is so often associated with ASKING
is that at the heart of prayer you have two things going on:
1.
You’re
placing yourself voluntarily in God’s presence and opening yourself up to
God’s Spirit ( you are acknowledging that beneath the surface of your life, in
that depth of depths which is encapsulated in the word HEAVEN, there’s GOD!)
AND............
2.
You’re
praising God for being God, just praising God for being God!
Now, those two simple points can be easily lost
when we go to God with our gimme lists, however well intentioned they may be, or
even when we thank God for all that we enjoy in this life( ‘ I thank you, God,
that I’m not poor LIKE THOSE OTHER PEOPLE!’. LOST! It is so easy to lose
sight of the fact that way beyond anything we can even begin to imagine, there
is a God, a God who has a lot more to be concerned about than just us, YET,
despite this, IS concerned about us and passionately devoted to our well being,
both now and forever!
Now, this morning,
instead of just talking about all of this, I’m going to try to encourage us to
do it. I’m going to encourage us to both PLACE OURSELVES IN GOD’S PRESENCE
and then TO PRAISE GOD, only if we are willing, of course!
Here’s how we will
start: I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and just settle in on one
simple phrase, trying to block out distractions. The phrase: GOD IS HERE, WITHIN
ME AND AROUND ME ( silence)
Good......now open your
eyes and take advantage of these clear windows to God’s world....In silence,
just look outside...... ( silence)
Good......go to your
GREEN HYMNAL and turn to # 463.....Look at the words VENI SANCTAE SPIRITUS...universal
words meaning COME HOLY SPIRIT......Close the book and close your eyes and if
you are comfortable with it, with your mind closed to any distractions, follow
Jim and sing those words (CHANT)
Now, open your
eyes......BLUE HYMNALS # 4.....stay seated as we sing together, in simple praise
of God, inspired by words that might speak to your souls. In this singing, we
are praying....( SING ONE VERSE OF’ HOW GREAT THOU ART’)
In your pews, you will
see a handout. We’re going to sing another song. It’s a song of praise but
it’s in a different style. In some churches, when people sing this, their
hands are waving and their bodies are swaying. A lot of us more reserved
Northern religious types get uncomfortable with this but you really can’t
argue with them because the enthusiasm with which they sing their praise is
clearly right here in the Bible, in Psalms that encourage people not just to
make of their praise a
me and God thing, but to sing it out ‘ in the assembly of the
faithful’, as Psalm 149 so vividly states!
So, then, Jim will get us ready here by playing the first part of this
contemporary hymn and then we’ll
get on our feet and sing a Refrain of praise ( Music leader plays through
verse---ALL STAND AND SING REFRAIN.....’ SHOUT TO THE LORD’)
And while you are
standing, will you join me in resinging those familiar words of praise you know
so well, putting your heart and soul into what we call THE DOXOLOGY.
( we sing DOXOLOGY)
OK, please be
seated..... As we come to the end
of this message today, I want to encourage you to do something very important
each and every single day: I WANT TO ENCOURAGE YOU TO PRAY! PRETTY ORiGINAL
WORDS COMING FROM A PASTOR, WOULDN’T YOU SAY?
Well, they may not be original but they sure are overlooked, for if you
want to have a relationship WITH God, if you want your life to be more than
fleeting pleasures and unending pains, praying is important.
It really is! Those of you blessed
with the gift of children,
teach them that and teach them well. Find your own style and
help them find theirs. But , whatever you do, pray, for, above all, prayer is an
act of LOVE, a response to what God has done for YOU.
Oh, how Paul Tillich’s words ring so true, true
for you and true for our children:
Sometimes
in a moment of despair a light breaks into your darkness and it as though a
voice is saying YOU ARE ACCEPTED! YOU ARE ACCEPTED, accepted by that which is
greater than you.
And, so, in response, do we pray:
OUR FATHER....